Fruit, Fruit, Fruit! A Practical Guide to Modern Fruit Brewing Techniques

The proliferation of fruit beers in the last half decade has led to an explosion of new techniques, processes, and types of fruit products for brewers to use in making the best fruit beers. Join Bret Kollmann Baker, COO of Urban Artifact, the largest fruit-using brewery in the U.S., as we discuss the who, what, where, when, how, and why of modern fruit beer brewing. We’ll cover who is making what fruit products, what these different products are and mean for your beer, how to use them and when for a variety of different impacts, and most importantly, we’ll talk about why all of this matters at your home brewery. We’ll finish things up by talking about what’s hot in the fruit beer world stylistically and what lies ahead in regard to your creativity and innovations.

Learning Objectives

• Discover what different fruit products are out there for homebrewers and how to use them
• Explore who is making and supplying fruit and fruit products
• Discuss where and when to add fruit (products) to your beer and what impact the different utilizations have on the final flavor of your beer
• Learn how best to use your fruit (products) to get the intended desired outcome
• Explain how to use fruit in any style of beer
• Talk about why fruit beers are leading the innovation forefront in beer

About the Speaker

Bret Kollmann Baker is a founder and the COO of Urban Artifact in Cincinnati, Ohio. Urban Artifact is the country’s largest fruit beer-only brewery, using over 1,000,000 pounds of fruit per year. With degrees in chemical engineering and brewing science, Bret has been able to help build out a brewery dedicated to handling massive amounts of fruit puree. In addition, Bret is the Beer Ambassador for Les Vergers Boiron, helping them reach more professional breweries with their fruit purees. In his free time, writing, hiking, and working on the Brew Skies podcast are his pursuits of passion.