Hargreaves Hill Fruitopia 1: Shadows In The Forest

Style
Fruited Sour
ABV
7.5%

After four chapters of their Pursuit Of Hoppiness, the brewers at Hargreaves Hill are moving onto a new story, swapping hops for fruit. Well, sort of... There's still the matter of 17 grams per litre of Azacca, Mosaic and Galaxy added to the first Fruitopia release at various stages of dry-hopping but the point here is the fruit: no less than 15 percent of the total liquid in Shadows In The Forest is made up of fresh blackberries and raspberries.

As you may well expect, the result is rather smoothie like, a dense, blood orange / plummy affair in your glass, although were you blindfolded you might not hit on that image in your mind's eye at first as the lactose hits hardest on the nose. Initial aromas are creamy and vanilla like with the berries and fruitiness from the hops peeking out from underneath like a smothered summer berry sponge. (I'll admit if anyone can say with any confidence where the berries end and the hops begin, hats off, as the fruitier side of Fruitopia 1 is all rather enmeshed.)

Flavours are served up with a similar weighting, although it's on the palate the hops make most notable contribution as there's a drying bitterness running through its midst, the starkest reminder this is indeed a beer – whatever that means these days – and not a creamy, slightly tart smoothie.

James Smith

Published March 4, 2020

Name
Hargreaves Hill
Address

Factory 60
64-86 Beresford Road
Lilydale 3140

Phone
(03) 9730 1905
CBCo Goldy
Black Bad Boy Bao 2024 B

More from Hargreaves Hill

Hargreaves Hill Strawberry & Watermelon Sour
Sour
5.0%
Hargreaves Hill Whirlpool Pilsner & Celestial Fuzz Fruited IIPA
Hoppy Pilsner & Fruited IIPA
5.5% & 8.0%
Hargreaves Hill 0 IBU & 100 IBU IPAs
NEIPA & San Diego WCIPA ft Terpenes
Both 7.0%
Hargreaves Hill The Phoenix '23 & Double ESB
Imperial Red Ale & Double ESB
9.6% & 8.0%
Hargreaves Hill Superdelic Fragilistic Expialid Oatish & Naughty
Oat Cream IPA & Barrel-Aged Schwarzbier
7.6% & 6.0%
Hargreaves Hill Team World DIPA & R.I.S. 2022
Hazy Double IPA & Russian Imperial Stout
8.5% & 11.2%
Hargreaves Hill Team America, Australia & New Zealand IPAs
Hazy IPAs
All 6.7%
Hargreaves Hill Fruit Ninja & Kenneth Son Of Zenith '23
Smoothie Sour & Imperial IPA
6.0% & 8.5%
Hargreaves Hill Sunshine and Roller Skates California IPA
California IPA
7.2%
Hargreaves Hill 18th Birthday Packs
Various styles as indicated
5.2% & 4.9% & 11.5% & 10.0%
Hargreaves Hill Red Vienna Lager & Single Origin Coffee Stout
Vienna Lager & Coffee Stout
5.0% & 6.2%
Hargreaves Hill Barrel-Aged Double ESB & Creaming Soda Stout
Barrel-Aged Double ESB & Sweet Stout
9.0% & 6.0%
Hargreaves Hill R.I.S. 2021
Imperial Stout
11.2%
Hargreaves Hill Phoenix 2022
Imperial Red Ale
9.6%
Hargreaves Hill Paper Hands & Diamond Hands
West Coast & Hazy Double IPAs
Both 7.7%
Hargreaves Hill Guava & Strawberry Sour & Margarita Gose '22
Fruit Sours
5.0% & 4.0%
Hargreaves Hill Uninterrupted Prosperity NEIPA
NEIPA
7.2%
Hargreaves Hill & Four Pillars Gin Barrel Gose 2021
Gin Barrel Aged Gose
5.0%
Hargreaves Hill Knock Off Lager & Pursuit 10.2
Lager & Triple IPA with Fruit
4.0% & 10.0%
Hargreaves Hill Pursuit Of Hoppiness No.10: Triple Hazy
Hazy IIIPA
10.0%