Taiwan Mango Beer

Taiwan Mango Beer comes as a six-pack of cans, brewed under the Esplanda label in Massachusetts. The name points to a mango-flavored beer in the style of the fruit beers popular in Taiwan, which usually start from a light, clean lager or wheat-style base and use fruit as the main flavor. No ABV or IBU is listed here, so treat the following as what the style generally delivers. Expect a soft, ripe tropical-mango aroma, a gentle malt body, very little hop bitterness, and a finish that stays on the sweeter, juicier side. Fruit beers in this category usually sit in the 4 to 5 percent ABV range, with bitterness low enough that the mango leads from first sip to last. That profile makes it a good partner for heat and salt. Spicy Thai or Sichuan dishes, jerk chicken, and fish tacos with a chili-lime salsa all benefit from the fruit's sweetness against the spice. Salty fried foods such as scallion pancakes, popcorn chicken, and shrimp chips also work, as do fresh cheeses and a simple grilled-shrimp skewer. For dessert it can sit alongside coconut rice or a plain vanilla panna cotta, though it is better with savory dishes than with anything already very sweet. Serve it cold, around 38 to 42°F, which keeps the fruit bright and the carbonation crisp. A fruit beer that warms much past that tends to turn syrupy and lose its definition. Because the aroma is a large part of the appeal, pour it into a glass rather than drinking straight from the can. A tall pilsner glass or a tulip shows off the color and holds the mango aroma at the rim, and a standard pint glass works fine if that is what you have. Pour at an angle to manage the foam, and leave any sediment or haze in the can as is, since fruit-forward beers often carry a little. For a casual refreshment on the side of a spread, a six-pack goes a long way, and the cans chill quickly in an ice bucket or cooler. A wedge of lime or a pinch of chili-salt on the rim is an easy way to push it further toward savory if you find the sweetness more than you want.