Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Beers with fruit tossed in them are terrible. Squeezing a bit of lime in a Corona is one thing, but trying to choke down some mass-produced swill with fruit tossed in it is something else. Try choking down a bottle of that Shock Top junk from the once great Anheuser-Busch to experience true misery (thanks for ruining an American institution, InBev).

Oh, maybe it's a good time to mention I'm not a fan of fruit beers.

At any rate, a friend of mine brought a six pack of Shiner Ruby Redbird over the other day and it this stuff is surprisingly good. While I was reluctant to give this a try as I was half expecting the frou-frou, "what the hell is this slop?" experience that comes with Shock Top, Blue Moon and other similarly styled beers, Shiner Ruby Redbird doesn't taste gimmicky, cheap or leave an aftertaste reminiscent of Bactine.

What do we have here? A very fizzy beer with a light body that's simply oozing with ruby red grapefruit and ginger. Believe it or not, those two flavors do go very well together. When you add them to a beer that tastes like it was made for these two flavors, you've got something that really quenches in the summer (and, yes, it's been a hot one down here in Arkansas).

Think of it this way. A lot of these fruit beers taste like some run of the mill light junk with some kind of citrus extract dumped in them. Ruby Redbird, meanwhile, tastes rather like the brewers knew what they were doing. Yes, you've got some grain in there, but this beer really emphasizes the tart-sweet grapefruit and ginger. The flavors are quite direct and don't linger for long, but are perfect when served ice cold on a blisteringly hot day.

Will this become anyone's favorite beer? Probably not, but it is a welcome change of pace and proof that a fruit-flavored beer actually be quite good.

Now, here's something to keep in mind. While this is a great summer beer, plain old Shiner Bock may actually be as good or better than this one when the weather is hot. That fact doesn't render Ruby Redbird redundant -- it's just different and a welcome change. This is styled as a craft beer from Texas and it does taste like some care and attention was put into it.

Recommended: Yes