It’s a Natural: Fruity Libations
South Florida’s craft brewers and its winery have long turned to local growers for sweet inspiration. Schnebly Redland’s Winery and Brewery make wines from avocado, carambola, passionfruit, guava, lychee and mango. Among J Wakefield Brewing’s many inventive beers using fruits is Frida sour ale that uses mango, soursop and dragon fruit. Veza Sur Brewing Company’s proudly proclaims tropical fruits with its Mangolandia blonde ale and Guava Sour ale.
Year-round availability of fruit in Florida is especially appealing to Dogfish Head Miami, the brewery and taproom that recently opened in Wynwood. They’ve connected with tropical fruit growers through the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), says head brewer Paul Frederickson. “I’m scooping up as many fruits as I can,” he says. Starfruit, mangos, mamey sapote, jackfruit, guava, plus berries from points further north and muscadine grapes are among the Florida flavors they’re exploring.
Florida-fruited Dogfish Miami brews include: Star Pucker IPA, brewed with Florida-grown starfruit; Madam Roselle, a Florida sour wheat ale made not with roselle, but Florida-grown passion fruit; Immortal Palms, an experimental all-palm-product lager that incorporates açai, hearts of palm, coconut water and palm sugar. “I’m pleasantly surprised at the distinctive flavors,” says Frederickson.
In the spirits world, Tropical Distillers looked to local mango lore in developing their J.F. Haden’s Mango Liqueur, crafted from Florida fruits and bottled in their Jacksonville facility.
Modern mango cultivars with names like ‘Coconut Cream’, ‘Orange Zest’ and ‘Lemon Meringue’ tell you all you need to know about the flavors within. But over a century ago, the sweet mango with a crimson blush grown by Captain John F. Haden and his wife became the first superior cultivar selected and named in the state. The ‘Haden’ mango, distributed widely throughout Florida, is still considered to be an excellent variety.
In creating this product with colleague Andrew Siegel, CEO Buzzy Sklar wanted to capture freshness and peak mango flavor. “Most bars were using an artificial mango flavor or puree, which is expensive and has a shelf life of only 10 days,” says Sklar. Their small-batch liqueur that pairs easily with vodka, rum and tequila and adds a tropical twist to sangrías and spritzers. Each bottle features its own unique batch number and bottle number, paying tribute to one of Florida’s best-known mango varieties.
