UK fruit beer sales jump 250% as consumers demand flavor and lower alcohol innovations

Fruit-led beers are gaining significant traction in the UK, with a 250% increase in sales volume last year, says retailer Tesco. As consumers increasingly seek lower alcohol options, these “lighter, thirst-quenching beers” — with a typical strength of around 4% ABV — have led the flavored beers launches at 17% over the last five years, indicates Innova Market Insights data.

Fruity beer styles are popular in Western European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Italy and are associated with “after-sport” refreshments, particularly skiing, and cycling.

“The soaring demand for fruit-led brews, particularly lager, has taken the UK drinks market by storm and is the biggest trend to hit the beer scene since the craft boom started more than 15 years ago,” says Ben Cole, beer buyer and category planning manager at Tesco.

“The trend actually has its roots in the craft beer movement because it introduced beers with tropical fruit profiles to more drinkers than ever before.”

Expanding consumer palates

Cole believes the craft movement changed consumers’ perception of “what a beer could taste like” and opened many drinkers’ palates to a wider range of styles.

The trend traces a similar path to the fruit-led “cider boom” in the UK 20 years ago with the introduction of pear varieties, and the reinvention of cider as a refreshing drink consumed over ice by Irish brand Magners, states Tesco.

Soon after, cider manufacturers such as Kopparberg in Sweden started marketing fruit-led variants of the drinks.

Fruity profiles in European beers, such as Belgian strawberry brews Fruli and Bacchus Kriek and, more recently, Radler, a shandy-style beer from Germany and Damm Lemon from Spain, have gained popularity in the UK over the last 15 years.

Meanwhile, younger consumers are looking for bitterness in beer despite their growing demand for flavor innovation, according to recent research by flavor company Synergy. It revealed that 56% of consumers aged 25-34 in the UK like a bitter taste profile in beer. In Germany, this increased to 69%, and in France, it stood at 78%. 

Orange, red raspberry and mango flavors are prevalent in recent flavored beer launches.

Driving fizz, fruit and flavor

Flavored beer launches have grown by 7% over the last five years, outpacing unflavored variants that recorded a 2% CAGR over the same duration, suggests Innova Market Insights data.

Red raspberry, mango, fruit, and orange flavors are gaining ground, with spices and seeds, cake, cookies and pie, vegetables, and dessert flavors emerging among lower alcohol beer options.

According to Tesco, regional UK fruit lager brands such as Jubel are driving this surge among drinkers in the 21-35 age group. The brand offers five varieties of fruit beers, including peach, mango, blood orange, lemon, and grapefruit, and experienced a 300% increase in volume at Tesco.

Jesse Wilson, Jubel’s founder, says its flagship peach lager is “now the fifth biggest craft beer in the on-trade based on CGA reported volumes.”

Flavored beer manufacturers are responding to competition from flavored alcoholic beverages such as hard seltzers, increasing by 48% CAGR in Canada and 30% CAGR in the UK from 2018 to 2022, according to Innova Market Insights data.

Meanwhile, hard seltzers are growing more rapidly, with a projected CAGR of 14.9% from 2024 to 2030, significantly surpassing the 4.7% CAGR anticipated for the fruit beer market from 2025 to 2030.