Since the Untitled Art series began a year ago from Funk Factory and Octopi Brewing, collaborations with guest brewers have resulted in nine beers. Levi Funk, of Funk Factory, and Isaac Showaki, of Octopi, like to keep details of the beers close to the vest, to avoid being pigeonholed. The latest in the series is Mango Milkshake and it hits store shelves this weekend.
What is it? Mango Milkshake is a cloudy IPA in the Untitled Art series created by Funk Factory Geuzeria of Madison and Octopi Brewing of Waunakee. The guest collaborator for this brew is Pulpit Rock Brewing of Decorah, Iowa.
Style: The India Pale Ale (IPA) is all about hops. Depending the variety or varieties used, you’ll find a range of herbal, citrus, tropical and pine qualities in the aroma and flavor. IPAs are usually golden- to copper-colored, medium-bodied. They range from 5.5 percent to 7.5 percent ABV. Hoppiness falls between 40-70 IBUs (International Bitterness Units).
Background: Untitled Art beers are created by Levi Funk, Isaac Showaki and a guest brewer. The beers are made in 50-barrel batches, mostly as experimental one-offs. They usually venture beyond the commonly accepted style definitions. Some of the collaborations so far have showcased Mikerphone Brewing of Illinois, Forager Brewery of Minnesota, Horus Aged Ales of California and 3 Sons Brewing of Florida.
Mango Milkshake was made with Iowa upstart Pulpit Rock Brewing of Decorah. Pulpit Rock opened in 2015 with a small seven-barrel brewhouse in just 800 square feet of space (once a garage within a dairy processing facility). The brewery takes its name from a 2,000-foot outcrop near Stavanger, Norway, in a nod to the mother of one of the brewery’s co-founders.
Pulpit Rock has been making a name for itself as a quaint local brewery taproom, operating in the shadow of Decorah’s well-known Toppling Goliath. Bob Slack and Justin Teff worked at Toppling Goliath before sharing the head brewer title at Pulpit Rock.
“We’ve always wanted to make a milkshake IPA and we’re honored to be chosen for Untitled Art,” says Slack. Both Teff and Slack were on hand at Octopi on November 20 for brew day with Funk and Showaki. The recipe of Mango Milkshake is based on an earlier Milkshake IPA that appeared in the Untitled Art series last summer. However, Teff and Slack got to re-do it as much as they wanted. “We create an environment where guest brewers come and play,” says Showaki. “They can do almost whatever they want.” Teff and Slack jumped right in with ideas for hop selection, base malt, use of lactose, and their own favorite yeast strain.
This led to a beer with a lot of tropical flavor. The decision to use so much lactose (milk sugar) for body also adds a slightly sweet background which takes some of the bitter edge off all the hops. While there’s a lot of mango, orange and grapefruit qualities from the Citra and Galaxy hops, Belma hops has its own distinctive orange citrus flavor along with subtle hints of strawberry.
Mango Milkshake finishes around 7.5 percent ABV. It’s sold in 4-packs of 16-ounce cans for around $15. This beer also marks a switch in the Untitled Art series from 12-ounce bottles to the larger cans.
The one year anniversary of the Untitled Art series will be celebrated on Saturday, Dec. 16 with a special release party at Funk Factory Geuzeria from noon-11 p.m. The event will feature Mango Milkshake, a re-release of Juicy IPA (the first beer in the series) and a new barrel-aged hazelnut imperial stout made with Mikerphone Brewing that’s being offered in 750 mL bottles.
Tasting notes:
- Aroma: Assertive citrus nose.
- Appearance: Looks very thick; “milkshake” is a good description. However, think orange juice with the pulp. A thick, bubbly tan head.
- Texture: Full-bodied, with softness.
- Taste: Huge tropical citrus notes of mango and orange.
- Finish/Aftertaste: The citrus stays around and lingers into a very dry grapefruit bitterness with a fuzzy mustiness.
Glassware: The Willi Becher pushes the citrus aroma to the nose while showing off the bright orange color.
Pairs well with: Pizza. Its tropical hoppiness cries out for some spicy pepperoni, well seasoned sausage and/or a cheese lover’s flatbread with big lumps of blue cheese.
The Verdict: Mango Milkshake has huge citrus aroma and flavor. With its milky orange appearance, it’s easy to associate it with the hazy hoppy beer craze coming out of the northeastern U.S. Over the past year I’ve lost track of how many such New England IPAs and pale ales I’ve tried, several of them actually from the East Coast, and Milkshake IPA stacks up favorably against all of them. Creamy thick from the lactose and with assertive citrus notes of mango, orange and grapefruit, it’s close to being over-the-top — but so addictive. In the end, there’s so much of those tropical flavors, the beer seems to dry out and finish with a lingering earthy bitterness. That’s a little distracting but doesn’t diminish what this beer has going for it: It’ll make hopheads pause and go “whoa.”
