Beer – the age-old drink – has gone through several innovations over the years. Most have worked, some haven’t. However, that has not stopped brewers from experimenting. They have added different flavors to make the beer more attractive to connoisseurs. One such innovation is adding mango flavor to the beer.
The history of adding fruits to beer goes back a few thousand years to the days of the ancient Chinese & Egyptian civilizations, who used to add honey, dates, pomegranates, etc. to their original beer versions. In recent times, however, the Belgians made the concept more accessible.
Microbreweries in Belgium started making flavored beers from the 1930s. Their small & independent setup allowed them to experiment & innovate on a smaller scale, compared to the global beer giants. The drinkers are also open to experimenting with newer flavors, thus opening up the road for further innovation.
Why Choose Mango?
Mango is arguably the most popular tropical fruit worldwide. When you add mango flavor to craft beer, you get a golden-hued drink filled with the fruity aroma of mangoes with a delicate sweetness and a touch of bitterness. Mango flavored beer is a soft drink as the alcohol by volume (ABV) is within 5% at max. A 330 ml mango beer serving should have a calorie content of around 130-140 & approximately 5 gm carbs.
How Is Mango Beer Brewed?
To brew one keg (close to 60 liters) of mango beer, you would need 10 kg of fermented mangos. You need to remove the stone & extract the pulp. To start with, you would need to put grain & water in the brewer & keep it for four hours. Once it cools down, you need to put it into the fermenter. It needs to remain there with yeast for one entire day.
The next day, you put the 10 kg mangoes in the fermenter to let the yeast process the mangoes. After eight days, the mango-flavored beer is ready for consumption.
Some brewers, to avoid wild yeasts, boiled the mangoes before adding them to the craft beer. It took care of the wild yeast, but it also eliminated the subtle aromas. Thus, what brewers do is – they add mango extract at various stages of brewing.
How Does It Taste?
Many people might feel and even expect that mango beer will have a sweet taste – just like mangoes do. It might be the case if you are savoring a Mango Cider, but not in other cases.
Most types of mango-flavored beer are bitter the way beer is. However, the mango flavor present in the beer evens out the bitterness to a large extent.
When you add mango flavor to beer, the ideal feel of the drink should be – bright but not sharp, full of flavor but not very heavy, filled with the aroma but devoid of the pungency of the tropical fruit.
So all you beer drinkers out there who are still holding on to the plain-Jane beers – it’s time you stepped out a little & try the exciting mango-flavored beer. Many of your friendly neighborhood craft beer manufacturers are brewing it. Go out, have a sip – and enjoy the delicious blend of mangoes & beer!
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