Mango In IPA?

Never thought about it, but that is exactly what it tastes like to me.

 

As someone who has tasted a lot of the real thing, I think most mango has a pine element, sometimes pretty strong. There are hundreds of varieties available in the areas that grow them. We get a pitiful sampling of the ones that ship well. Common flavors are pine, peach, banana, blueberry, pineapple, occasionally even a hint of chile pepper and some unique flavors that are hard to describe. Mango "wine" is pretty common in the tropics but it never leaves its home market... and bottles are known to explode occasionally. Taste ranges from decent to vile; they will all get you drunk fast.

 

The combo of yeast and hops usually throws the fruit esters around a bit. I get a lot of peach and mango from US-05 when fermented on the upper end of temps (with lots of different hops).

 

In the BN interview for Troegs (around 1:32): http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/764
One of the Trogner's talks about making sure you select the "mango Simcoe" and not the "cat urine" Simcoe. Which is what they do for Nugget Nectar.

 

I don't trust that source. Brewers use buzzwords for marketing purposes. Mango is a buzzword.

However, I have no problem admitting some people are pretty sure they taste mango with Simcoe. I am not one of them.

 

Tasting notes for Nugget Nectar directly from Troegs:

TASTING NOTES
Squeeze those hops for all they’re worth! Nugget Nectar Ale will take hopheads to nirvana with a heady collection of American hops. Our Imperial Amber Ale is further intensified with whole flower Nugget hops added to our hopback vessel, resulting in an explosion of citrus, resin and pine.

Mango is suspiciously absent.

 

The website's tasting notes are describing the finished beer (which includes five hop varieties). The brewer/owner was talking about the flavors he is looking for in the lots of Simcoe that they select. You're also discounting the word on the brewer appearing on a homebrewing podcast because "marketing purposes" to instead trust the website...

 

That's right.

 

Mark Medlin, Brewmaster at SweetWater Brewing Company
”Great for any hoppy beer, Simcoe has a bright citrus and grapefruit flavor, with earthy undertones. It’s best used, in my opinion, for late kettle, whirlpool, and dry hop additions. Additions from .5-1.0 lbs/bbl result in a nice flavor/aroma in the beer for whirlpool and dry hop additions.”

Jeremy S Kosmicki, Brewmaster at Founders Brewing Co.
”Simcoe is definitely one of my favorites. Love the piney, grapefruit notes, great for flavor additions and especially dry hopping. Very unique and obvious.”

Russian River - Row 2 Hill 56
"100% Simcoe hops make up this beer from start to finish! It has that trademark Simcoe nose with citrus and pine, nice bitterness and tasty hop flavors round it out."

These fine breweries were apparently unable to source the elusive mango Simcoe hops. Several hop vendors' descriptions were read. I haven't found a hop grower or seller that claims mango from Simcoe. Since Simcoe only grows in three locations in WA, the alleged mango Simcoe should be a lot less rare that it appears to be.