Just in time for Spring comes Anchor Mango Wheat, a beer that is, as the brewery describes it, ale made with natural mango flavors. This is actually a year-round selection, so you don’t have to wait for Spring to enjoy it, though I find such fruit themed beers best in the warmer weather. Anchor says the beer was introduced in 2015 and first canned in 2016. For April of 2017, two beers each from Anchor and Brooklyn breweries are featured as beers of the month at Taco Mac. Anchor Mango Wheat is one of the two Anchor selections, along with Blackberry Daze IPA.
Anchor and Brooklyn are two of America’s classic craft breweries, though Anchor has a much longer and more storied history. Still, it makes sense pairing them together for April, and I was uncertain which brewery’s beer to select. The fact that it was Thursday night and a free Anchor Mango Wheat logo glass was offered with any beer of the month purchase made up my mind for me.
Mango is often mentioned as a fruit flavor thrown off by some of today’s modern hop varieties like Mosaic. Interestingly, there are no Mosaics in this beer.
From the Anchor website:
We are excited to present our refreshingly unique craft-brew, Anchor's Mango Wheat™; an ale made with sun ripened mangoes. Mangoes (Mangifera indica) are native to southern Asia, but Californians have enjoyed fresh mangoes since the 1850s. In 1857, Wide West reported that the mango "is at once the richest and most delicate of all fruits and all other fruits are comparatively insipid beside its intensity of taste. There is something in it which is nothing less than voluptuous.”
Ingredients, also from the website:
Malt Blend of Two-Row Pale & Wheat Malt
Hops CASCADE & GOLDING
Anchor Mango Wheat has an alcohol content of 4.5% by volume and is reasonably priced at $6 for a 20-ounce mug or pint at Taco Mac and $8.99 a six-pack in cans. Interestingly, this is the first fruit beer I’ve ever tasted from Anchor.
My mug of Anchor Mango Wheat arrived a golden orange color with a fizzy, short lived head and mango and melon in the nose. Taking a sip, the beer has tart wheat on the palate followed by explosive mango fruit, then balanced tart wheat and fruit in the finish. All in all, this is about what you would expect from a mango fruit beer, and kudos to Anchor for balancing it and keeping it from being cloying. That makes it refreshing and drinkable.
A beer I look forward to drinking more of this spring and summer.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft