DRAFT Magazine

Our bad. When Cerise arrived on our doorstep a month ago, we assumed it was another medicinal, cloying fruit beer and shuffled it to the back of the line. Thankfully, we recently visited Founders’ swanky urban brewery in Grand Rapids, where we had the pleasure of sampling it on tap; now, we’re mildly obsessed.

Launched in April as a replacement for Founders Rubeus, Cerise will stick around through August on tap and in four-packs. It could be mistaken for grapefruit juice in the glass; its bright poppy color is almost luminous. Fifty-five gallons of Western Michigan-grown cherries ferment with the beer in every batch, resulting in a super-tart, sweet-but-not-saccharine beer that tastes pleasantly akin to canned cherry pie filling. The taste harkens to a lambic, but solid effervescence keeps it from being overpowering or sticky-sweet. We’re dying to drink Cerise alongside a cheese Danish, some apple-cider doughnuts, gingersnaps, or some other calorie-laden pastry — not that this brew needs food to bump it up in our book; it’s delicious enough as-is.