Mango Upside Down Cake IPA
Southern Grist Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

Tasted in a Spiegelau IPA glass from a one pint can on January 13, 2019. Brewed with El Dorado and Vic Secret hops, lactose, vanilla beans and mango puree.

 

A variety of SG’s base Double IPA, with lactose, vanilla beans and mango purée added, had at Southern Grist’s The Nations Taproom, Nashville, Tennessee, on draft into 10-oz. tulip.

The additions (presumably) cut the head retention and lacing, but add an aroma and flavor of tropical fruit pie, with meringue.

Poured into a snifter. Viscous on the pour. A hazy golden color with a modest white head. Lots of vanilla and lactose on the nose, along with some mango, pineapple, and citrus. The taste was also sweet, but less so than the nose. Nice slightly tart fruity notes. Very soft bitterness. Full bodied and a touch heavy, but this is a "dessert IPA" after all. Enjoyable.

Holy shit, the sweet dried mango in this bad boy! Eyebrow-raising on the first sip. Glorious on the next few. A little haggard on the last few. An interesting ride throughout if you like sweeter IPAs.

I enjoyed Guava Upside Down Cake more, but this is great too.

This seems to be sweeter than the Guava version.

More of a dessert beer. Absolutely delicious and great for what this is.

I love this series of beer.

 

 

Built for those who would rather drink dessert than to eat it, the Southern Grist mad science brewers use the hops that resemble pineapple, and a cakey underpinning, along with the uniqueness of mango puree to give those weirdos exactly what they crave.

Mango and pineapple nearly overwhelm the olfactory senses as the tropical fruit medley abounds in a juicy, radiant, succulent perfume. Deep within its hazy, full pulp orange juice appearance the deep golden ale is turbid and opaque. Flavors that first ensue deliver on those fruity promises but does so with the backbone of angel food cake, light honey and equally light caramel.

Those floral and sweet introductions slowly drift away and leave a hoppy showcase in their wake. Becoming less cakey in texture, the taste tightens and quickly favors the tropical taste of fresh pineapple and mango, but also the subsidiary exotic fruit notes of passionfruit, apricot and cantaloup. Still, the classic taste of red grapefruit and freshly grated tangerine join the mix right before a bitter and herbal closure of spruce and muddled grasses.

As the IPA trends drying, bitter and herbal, the beer retains its confectionary envelope as vanilla, cream and the remnants of honey drift into a soothing, bitter cream aftertaste.