The Chilean Fresh Fruit Association worked with The Long Beach Beer Lab Brewery in Long Beach, CA, to produce a unique Chilean plum beer. A total of 4,000 16-ounce bottles are currently being distributed throughout California.
“The key focus of the CFFA is on retail promotions, but this was a really fun and creative way to utilize Chilean plums,” said Steve Hattendorf, western region merchandiser for the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association. “An importer donated the plums and the Beer Lab created a delicious beer out of them. We look forward to potentially working with the Beer Lab on other fruit-forward beers.”
Headed by BrewMaster and Chief Scientist, Dr. Levi Fried, the Beer Lab is a small manufacturing brewery dedicated to fermentation-forward beverages, including sours, one of the hottest beer categories. According to Nielsen, for the 52 week through May 20, 2017, dollar sales of sour beer styles soared 49 percent in off-premise outlets. According to Dr. Fried, fresh fruits like Chilean plums are the perfect addition to sours.
“Chilean plums were the perfect addition to our crisp farmhouse ale, Milk the Mustache. Blended with our sourdough ale and aged for three months with the delicious hand processed Chilean plums, the end result was a crisp, complex and satisfying beer,” Dr. Fried stated. The Beer Lab promoted the Chilean Plum beer by offering t-shirts, bottles and glassware gift packages.
“We look forward to teaming up with Fruits from Chile in the future on more ‘exbeeriments,’ adding other great tasting Chilean fruit to our beer,” Dr. Fried added.
When it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Chilean summer fruits are in peak supply. Grapes, peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, and blueberries are currently available at retailers throughout North America.