Who likes the mango? We like the mango. Oh, oh, oh, we like the mango; especially when it's a juicy sour bomb like this one.
Alphonso is a variety of mango, and if the can is anything ot go by he was also a fearless King and leader of an army of mangoes. Whatever or whoever he was, he tastes cracking in a sour.
Full Circle Brew Co have made sure Alphonso The Mango will hit you in the face hard too, adding 500kg to the base kettle sour. That's right, half a tonne of mango went into this brew. That's more mango than I can realistically visualise.
The amount of mango means it's impossible to escape from - not that you'd want to. And if you don't like mango, what are you doing drinking a mango sour? The aroma is undoubtable and the pour couldn't look more like mango if you shoved chopped up mango in the glass.
Despite the frankly outrageous amount of mango, the initial flavour is the sour tartness that is characteristic of the beer style. Once the initial bite fades you're left with a buffet of mango flavour to enjoy, bringing the sweetness of the fruit to the fore that balances the sourness wonderfully.
The aftertaste sticks with Alphonso, but in a more subtle, measured way that allows the sourness to give it a slightly dry finish that is enough to draw you back.
You'd expect this can design to be orange, but Full Circle have taken the label in a different direction, making the prominent colour green with a white lower that separates the main design from the beer info.
A mango, a King of Mangoes, presumably Alphonso, stands atop a small hill. His body is a mango but drawn onto him are legs, head, crown and sword-wielding arms. Behind him is a concert of other headed-mangoes, which is either Alphonso's army of mangoes, or some kind of festival crowd.
The design is subtle but quite nice, it's a very quaint thought to think about an army of mangoes. There's plenty of beer information on the can which is good to see, but Full Circle have largely let Alphonso do the talking. Rightly so, as he does have an army after all.
Unsurprisingly our search for this online was somewhat hampered by the abundance of actual mangoes, but we found it available online at The Craft Bar for just £4.80.
We got ours from Pangolin, but if you can track this down it is definitely worth while. There's simply no other way to experience the delights of half a tonne of mango without winning the lottery.
