So, you hated the Mango Beer Sorbet

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

I was quite surprised to see the Mango Beer not only make it to the "Better than ceviche" list but apparently get the second highest number of votes. I was initially perplexed. The beer from which it was made went over well and I've gotten a number of compliments on it. I'd started with a homebrew wheat beer kit and added some brewer's mango flavoring. The decision to make it into sorbet came from the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Cookbook, where they mentioned that beer has just the right sugar and alcohol quantities to be dumped into an ice cream maker without further adulteration.

Fortunately for me, I encountered a man who was actively discussing the sorbet when I walked past. He used the phrase "Tasted Rotten" and then talked about the hops probably being at fault. He not only disliked it, but had a good idea as to WHY he hated it. I'd just decided I needed to pick his brain, when one of the people to whom he was speaking pointed at me and said "He made the sorbet." This was about as good an introduction as I could have hoped for.

What followed was an enlightening conversation about where I had gone wrong and where I might go in the future. Before I post some of the ideas that came from that conversation, I'd like to get some feedback from all y'all.

Why did you dislike the Mango Beer Sorbet?

What did you hear about the Mango Beer Sorbet?

What would you do differently?

As you can guess from this post, I intend to revisit the flavor, believing it has potential. No doubt, everyone who tastes the revised flavor next year will be glad of any feedback I get now. :)

Comments

[nacht_musik]

I disliked the intensely bitter flavor of the mango-beer sorbet. I didn't try the unfrozen beer in question, but I do tend to less enjoy beers made with lots of bitter hops. If I were making something for myself, I'd probably do a sweeter belgian ale, and possibly even add some sugar syrup.

I know the human tongue can't taste sweetness as well in cold things -- syrupy-sweet mix freezes into merely-sweet ice cream. Is bitterness similarly muted by the cold?

Did you try making one (or more) tiny test-batch before your final freeze, to see if you needed to add sugar, or dilute the beer (with water or with less-bitter beer)? With the liquid nitrogen, it's super-easy to freeze a quarter-cup and see how it tastes....