The flavor-trend forecasts that flood the internet around the start of each year are often analyzed in the context of food or cocktails, yet beer regularly proves to be a strong format for harnessing these different flavors.
It often pays to stay plugged into these trends; if you can find the sweet spot between what feels true to your brewery and what excites customers, you can engage existing beer drinkers as well as those currently excited by that unusual fruit, spice, or other ingredient.
Here, we speak with brewers already incorporating flavors hyped as trending in 2026. We wanted to know: How did these beers come to be? Were they ahead of the buzz or capitalizing on it? And how are they resonating with customers?