Some people used their time in lockdown to get into baking sweet treats. Sauce used it to brew sweet treats.
Their Trubble & Squeak is by no means a boring beer - when it was first released in 2018, we called it a “murky monster” and said it was “like standing in a cricket net, open mouthed and without a bat, being pummelled by a bowling machine loaded with mangoes.” But when the team at Sauce couldn’t open their taproom during lockdown, they got bored and decided to get into Trubble anyway. And what do you do with a mango double NEIPA? Cram it with lactose and vanilla to make a mango milkshake IPA.
Mango Madness smells like a Weis Bar, with sweet mango and vanilla ice cream sitting ever so comfortably side by side. And like that hybrid frozen treat it offers up a two-stage texture in the mouth - creamy and full upfront, with a lighter, cleaner feel in the backend. As it comes to a finish, some tropical and citrus hop character joins the mango barrage, as does smooth coconut. It all wraps up with a bitter little bow, and you’re left wondering how you just drank a 7 percent beer so easily.
Even COVID couldn’t stop collaboration, as Sauce and Bucket Boys proved when they joined forces to brew Zoooom. But while a choc-pecan mudcake imperial stout containing roasted pecans, cacao and vanilla already sounds impressive, this dessert in a can is even greater than the sum of its parts.
The muddy ganache sits heftily on the tongue, oozing with dark chocolate and thickened cream and an undercurrent of nuttiness that complements the chocolate rather than dominating it. But give it a moment and you find yourself tasting something sweeter - caramel fudge, condensed milk and butterscotch schnapps - along with a gentle cocoa powder and coffee bitterness. As with Mango Madness, the alcohol in this one is well-hidden - it’s so smooth that, for all we know, they could be lying about its strength.
Mick Wust
Published June 12, 2020 2020-06-12 00:00:00