06/17/2015
Mmmmm…Mango
Father's Day is upon us! On this special day for dads we think of barbequed meats, farmer’s market ingredients and al fresco dining. For us, hot summer eating and drinking often revolves around refreshing beers and fresh fruit.
Usually when one thinks of fruit in relation to beer, it’s the fruit added while brewing to create unique flavors in the beer (or if you really want to p**s us off, the fruit squeezed into a beer glass, just don’t do it!). You might not think of pairing beer with fruit, but you should. In fact, you should think of pairing beer with everything! Beer is nuanced and diverse enough to go with anything you can shove in your pie hole, (mmm beer and pie…)
Today we focus on the delicious Mango. It is both exotic and familiar, nuanced and refreshing, sweet and herbaceous. The mango is one of those fruits that make us feel like we’re on vacation, even if we’re just eating it in our car in standstill traffic on the 10 freeway, (sigh).
We love cooking with mangoes in the summer, as it adds depth to any dish. We teamed up with the National Mango Board to create some delicious beer pairings for Mango-inspired dishes: Here are a few of our favorite mango-inspired dishes paired with the perfect beer style:
Mango BBQ Chicken Paired with Belgian Golden Ale
One of The Beer Chicks' favorite beer styles of all time, the Golden Ale or Strong Golden Ale got its roots in the Belgian Trappist tradition, and became its own style because it was so often imitated. This style is light golden to amber in color with big, but rounded flavors and usually sports a beautiful huge cotton-like head and has soft tropical flavors and stone fruit notes in the nose. The spice comes through in the finish. The malty sweet welcoming warmth pairs perfectly with the sweetness in the mango BBQ sauce while the effervescent pillowy carbonation will help cool the heat.
Grilled Steak Tacos with Poblano-Mango Salsa Paired with Schwarzbier
Schwarzbier is a German style lager whose name means “Black Beer,” usually opaque and super dark, these beers that range from auburn to ebony. But the deep color of this beer is misleading to many. Schwarzbier is actually a clean, light-bodied beer with mild notes of coffee and chocolate with just a waft of smoke. This beer style is a wonderful accompaniment to charred grilled steak and is the perfect counterpoint to ripe mango, citrus and cilantro.
Mango Turkey Sliders Paired with Hefeweizen
The beautiful Bavarian wheat beer style known as Hefeweizen is an unfiltered cloudy quaff that is low in hop bitterness and high in fruity flavor. This medium-bodied beer has quintessential aromatics and flavors of bananas and cloves that harmonize with tropical mango and balance the savory flavors and juicy texture of these turkey sliders.
Grilled Corn and Mango Salad Paired with Witbier (White Ale)
Witbier (or White Beer) is an ale named after its unfiltered appearance, making it look almost white. Actually pale straw in color with tons of sparkling carbonation, and is typically brewed with coriander, Curaçao orange peel and other fruits and spices. This beer style’s biscuit and citrus notes complement mango, lime and cilantro, while its white pepper notes finish off each bite perfectly.
Mango Board
