Mango Axe Man
Surly Brewing Co.

 

I don’t get much mango. Still a nice beer. Thin mouthfeel, restrained dank, need to try the original - with your mom.

I like it. I'd buy it again.

16oz canned 3-12-25, opened 4-20-25.
1+ finger head of white foam with good retention and early thick lacing. Opeaque orange-gold body.
Mango in the aroma as advertised. Citrus, tropical, and pine aromas as well.
Mango, peach, and some pithy zesty bitterness.
Medium body with a good pop of piney bitterness that lingers in the long and mostly dry finish.
Very Good.

Pours a murky mango flesh orange with a thick white head that leaves a good amount of lacing. Aroma is bold, mango, citrus and pine. Flavor follows the nose, plenty of sweet fruit up front with a good amount of hoppy pine bitterness in the finish. Feel is medium bodied with ample carbonation. Overall, a decent IPA with a mix of west and east coast qualities.

 

 

16oz can. Bottom is stamped 'CANNED ON 11/17/23'.
Cloudy, pale gold colored body. Two fingers of white head turns into an interrupted cap and high ring. Leaves behind partial lacing rings.
Aroma is big with the mango, along with some pine and earthy hops.
Taste has more pine and citrus hops than the nose, but the mango is still prominent. Citrus pith collides with the sweet mango. Stays sweet in the aftertaste.
Medium mouthfeel, with a touch of syrup. Bitterness is there but swamped by the sweet fruit. Very good carbonation.
This one is for the mango fan.

 

Slightly hazy gold color with a decent foamy white head and even some nice sticky lacing.
The aroma is mango, hints of grapefruit, pineapple and caramel.
The taste is grapefruit, pineapple, mango and light caramel malt. The finish is dry with grapefruit zest and pine resin.
The body is medium, moderate carbonation, fairly smooth and drinkable.
Altogether, this is a pretty decent IPA, the mango is more pronounced in the aroma than in the taste, which is a bit disappointing, but it is still a tasty and refreshing brew.

Pours a foggy yellow with a yeasty, clumpy head one to two fingers deep. Aroma is hoppy with citrus, mango is definitely detected. Taste is less hoppy than the aroma sells, but maintains its' mango-ness. Mouthfeel is light.

16 oz cans from Sioux Falls, SD.

Pours golden yellow and slightly hazy. The most prominent thing about this beer is it's smell. Very strongly mango scented and not much else. Unfortunately this does not come through in taste the same way. This tastes like Surly's standard axe man except muddied up by something that is very, very vaguely mango adjacent. This is an alright drink, but doesn't hold a candle to the original axe man

Poured from a 16 ounce can dated 11-17-23 into a teku glass.

Look- Medium gold, moderately hazy, white frothy head, average lacing, slightly above average head retention.

Smell- Mango, medium strength of scent.

Taste- Grapefruit, slight pineapple, sight mango, very slight pine, medium strength of flavor.

Feel- Medium body, average carbonation, moderately bitter, mildly creamy, soft, mildly dry finish, mildly astringent.

Overall- Medium gold with moderate haze and slightly above average head retention. Bouquet was very pleasant, but one dimensionally mango. The taste did not match the nose, as the mango was faint with grapefruit dominating the flavor profile. The body was medium with a soft feel and mild astringency. I was hoping the flavor profile would more closely match the aromatics. The lack of mango flavor left me a bit disappointed and definitely detracted from the drinking experience.

 

From a 16oz can canned on 11/17/23

Murky, dank, and hazy. Juicy looking straw colored pouring beer. A frothy and fluffy looking 2 finger white head tops off the beer. The head dissipates slowly and creates a sticky lacing on the glass.
Holy mango! You can get mango from the hops, and I'm sure there's some there, but the mango is off the charts in the aroma. Not getting anything else here. One dimensional, but expected from the name.
Taste - Well, there's mango in the flavor, but weak. Tons of bitterness that's not pleasing. Oh, this is a muddled mess, and not pleasing at all.
The unpleasing bitterness lingers in my throat. This really drops the feeling of this beer.
Yikes! This is a total mess. I am totally disappointed with this beer. I doubt it would be any better fresher. I do have 2 cans left, and will see if it's better aged.

 

 

I should re-review the original Axe Man, which I now know was under-carbonated & I still buy regularly. Lots of mango, my review said. So they added…mango. Can of sixteen ounces.

Touch more haze than the original, perhaps mango floaties gumming up the clarity, a light gold. Smells like…wait for it…mangos.

Axe Man – Mango is a variation on that distant batch of Axey, just with more aggressive mango. Bitterness is still distinct with a bit of grapefruit pith underneath. Drying.

Give me the uncorrupted version any day. I believe Surly hit the target squarely, but more mango doesn’t turn the needle much for me. Solid beer.