From the Negev Brewery in the Tefen Industrial Park (sharing facilities with Malka and Herzl) comes Mangolicious, a sweet beer with a hot kick. It's made with mango puree and scorpion pepper extract, one of the hottest peppers in the world. Alcohol by volume is a modest 4.5%.
Mangolicious was introduced on tap at the Tel Aviv Craft Beerfest, but only later were bottles put on sale. After I got some, I met with fellow IBAV Tasters Oded, Bat Sheva and Manny to try it and bring you this report.
It pours out a semi-hazy yellow color. The aroma is mango – strong, fresh and sweet – but little else. Manny especially appreciated the smell, which he compared to an outdoor orchard.
The first sip brings a more balanced fruit taste – and then the pepper hits your throat like a jolt of tabasco. Bat Sheva thought that the mango taste was less sweet than the aroma – "an improvement." We all liked the playful about-face from the semi-sweet fruit to the burning pepper, although Manny felt that a higher alcoholic volume would have improved the beer.
Oded pointed out that Mangolicious promises mango and hot pepper, and that's what it delivers. "It's a tasteful beer, but it needs something more," was his final pronouncement.
