Earlier this year, when cans first appeared on shelves in New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, beer drinkers were surprised to say the least. A pale lager made with trendy hops that recall mango, passion fruit, lemon-lime, and blueberry? From a brand owned by one of North America’s largest brewing companies? And yet Labatt Blue Citra, described as a hoppy session lager with "juicy aromas and flavors of tropical fruit," was designed to be just that—an easy drinking beer loaded with the bold, bright character of American hops.

As it turns out, this unexpected addition to the Labatt lineup just may foreshadow the next phase in the evolution of a category. For years now, India Pale Ale has been the best-selling style in the craft segment, dominating tap handles and spawning sub-styles like New England IPA, Brut IPA, and even sour IPA. In response, a handful of innovative lager breweries developed the IPL: higher alcohol, cold fermented lagers loaded with newer hop varieties with vivid flavors and higher alpha acid levels. But in the last few years, consumer tastes shifted again to favor fruity, juicy new school IPAs over the more aggressively bitter IPAs of the recent past.

Enter the tropical lager. Crisp and clean with a moderate level of alcohol, these beers nonetheless deliver ripe notes of mango, pineapple, passion fruit, and citrus. In other words, the very flavors that have captivated taste buds from coast to coast.

“We wanted a beer that tasted like summer, while representing flavor trends that craft beer drinkers, especially here in the Northeast, are looking for: hazy, juicy, tropical,” says Andy Schwartz, brewmaster at Connecticut’s Stony Creek Brewery. And so in May, to meet that goal, Stony Creek released Sun Juice, a 5.6% ABV, light-bodied lager with a bit of cloudiness that tastes like fruit salad in a glass. Naturally, the starring hop is Citra, the same variety in Labatt’s latest innovation.

“[The] biggest challenge was maintaining the lager character and staying true to it, while throwing in massive amounts of hops,” Schwartz says. “We didn’t want the beer to just be an India Pale Lager. We really wanted it to drink like a complex Bohemian Pilsner, while highlighting big, tropical hop notes. I really think the Mexican lager yeast and the Bohemian Pilsner malt lay the perfect foundation for a true lager character with big, juicy hops.”