When does a beer become a fruit beer for judging purposes? Is it the addition of one piece of fruit, something that obviously has fruit in it or is it a big giant grey area?
It’s when it has the flavor and aroma of added fruit. A beer entered as a fruit beer but having no fruit character won’t get very far, regardless of how much fruit was added.
+1
+1 but I gotta ask, why put fruit in a beer if you do not want the character?
Oh I want the fruit flavor but was just curious about when it becomes a fruit beer. I did a 5 gallon batch of a light coloured bitter with one pound of cherries in the boil and now it is in secondary on 2 more pounds. I know i could have added more fruit but wanted to have a baseline of where it can go from here.
except for in competition, in which case ajk’s point stands, if there is fruit in it it’s a fruit beer. sounds kinda good!
No, you are right, add fruit, its a fruit beer, if the fruit character doesn’t stand out or overwhelms, then its a “not very good fruit beer”.
This is where I am hoping it ends up, somewhere in the middle. It has a nice aroma coming out of the fermenter.