Brewing companies have taken leaps at adding different beer options to their roster, from low-cal to non-alcoholic to the ever-popular hard seltzers. But now, breweries in Toronto are seeing a popularity rise in beer smoothies.

Rorschach Brewing opened its doors in 2017 and launched a horchata lager. The dessert beer was inspired by a homebrew recipe co-founder Matthew Reiner tweaked to make his own after trying it for the first time in San Diego, California. However, it was a hard sell, at first. Reiner said no one wanted to touch it for the first month that the brewery was open.

“Everyone was asking: ‘What is this? Why haven’t I had this before?’ Once they started recommending it to all the customers the batches flew, and now we have repeat customers that only want the horchata lager,” he said. “It surprises me that it’s some people’s favourite beer.”

The benefit and challenge to bringing something new to the table is some beer lovers are apt to trying something new whilst others are hesitant. The fruit-inspired and smoothie beers and grape ales are on the rise when it comes to a whole new demographic of beer drinkers.

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Photo courtesy of Samuel Engelking