Mirroring the popularity of tropical IPAs, fruit-forward sours, and other flavour-led drinks that appeal to modern drinkers’ adventurous palates, the fruit beer segment has found fertile ground with pubgoers increasingly drawn to drinks that deliver both refreshment and novelty.
According to CGA by NIQ, the category’s volume share of total on-trade beer has grown by 0.4% over the past year, while sales by volume per hectolitre have surged 21.8% to 62,886, with four-fifths of that on draught. Value sales climbed 26.1% to £71m.
“People are really choosing these,” CGA by NIQ client director Chris Sterling told the MA Leaders conference in Norwich on Wednesday 8 October.
“They are a real profit driver and generator so having some kind of fruit beer offering is great.
“Although [the category] is small, it’s seen great rate of sales, value is high and volume is in massive growth. Distribution is down slightly but that’s being exceeded by those volumes and that rate of sale within venues.
“It plays well across a variety of occasions as well. It’s a trend that’s worth pursuing across all venue types and all sorts of occasions. There’s no downside, it doesn’t seem to have a chink in its armour at the minute, there’s a great choice of brands out there as well.”
Embracing the trend
Both pub operators and brewers are embracing the trend. Hall & Woodhouse’s Outland Brewery launched a peach lager in July 2025, while Albert Schloss has long been known for its fruit beer offer, which includes strawberry beer brand Fruli.
Other popular options in the UK include Blue Moon, which is often considered a fruit beer because it is brewed with orange peel, Belgian-style Kriek, a cherry beer, and Cherry Chouffe as well as shandies and radlers, like Damm Lemon. Though Jubel has arguably led the charge for the segment more recently.
London-based pubco Fuller’s introduced fruit beer into its estate in 2019, with about half of its 308 pubs now stocking one, mainly Jubel Peach.
Drinks marketing manager Ed Fryer told The Morning Advertiser (The MA) while it accounts for a small part of Fuller’s range, the segment has a loyal following thanks to the clear marketing of brands like Jubel.
He added the well-balanced brews have a broad appeal: “Fruit beers have the ability to appeal to non-beer drinkers too. We’ve seen it attract promiscuous drinkers who have previously fuelled other booms such as prosecco, gin, flavoured cider and Aperol.”
With 27.8% of drinkers seeking lower-sugar or calorie options, according to CGA, fruit beers also tick the box for health-conscious consumers.
At The Murderers/Gardeners pub in Norwich, owner Phil Cutter said the popularity of Jubel Peach, which sells for £6.30 a pint compared to around £5 for standard lager, had been remarkable.
He explained it has become the pub’s third most popular line over the past two years, after Guinness and Madri, adding the venue goes through an average of eight 30-litre kegs per week.
Subtle flavour
“The younger demographic seem to have switched from sweet fruit ciders to fruit beer,” Cutter said. “Very sweet fruit keg ciders saw growth for a number of years, however, Jubel seems to be slightly more subtle in flavour.”
Data from CGA backs this up, with 36% of consumers saying they find flavoured beer appealing.
Additionally, more than half (53%) of fruit beer drinkers visit pubs weekly, an increase of 15 percentage points on last year, and spend an average of £157 a month, up £39 year on year.
They’re also more experimental, with 48.6% enjoying trying new flavours and a similar number preferring twists on classic flavours.
Most are Millennial males in city centres, with casual meals, after-work drinks or watching live sport proving the most popular occasions for fruit beer.
Top flavour profiles within the category include berry (58.3%), citrus (48.6%), tropical (48.6%), and orchard fruits (47.2%), with berry seeing the sharpest rise, up 20.9 percentage points in a year.
As pubs continue to navigate the competitive and fast-evolving market of fruit beer, CGA urges understanding audiences and staying ahead of the curve will be essential to boost sales and attract new audiences.
With the category’s momentum set to continue, for venues looking to stand out, a well-chosen fruit beer could be the sweetest addition to the tap lineup.
