By David Diehl of FLX Words
Sports fans missed March Madness college basketball last year. This year it won’t be the same, but it is back. And what better way to celebrate than with a beer.
Established in Bloomfield in 2017, Irish Mafia Brewing Company has produced a variation of their flagship Double IPA (Devoted IPA) in honor of the tournament’s resurrection. The brew is called Mango Madness Double IPA and you are the first to hear about it.
“At this point, nobody knows about the Mango Madness—the information on the beer hasn’t been made public yet,” says Irish Mafia Owner and “the Don” Mark Mansfield. “The great thing that we do with our double IPAs [is] it’s a series of beers.”
Mansfield explained that when the batches are made, there are fifteen barrels made, and that equals about twenty-four kegs because there is some extra waste in brewing a double IPA.
“That is a lot of beer for our establishment to run through,” Mansfield said.
Essentially, that means that with a surplus of liquid, Mansfield and his brewing team can experiment and make exclusive variations based on the core recipe.
Knowing that March Madness was upon us and you could watch it from the Irish Mafia tap room, Mansfield produced this specialty remix.
“It’s the same backbone as our Double IPA, with this batch we added mango puree halfway through the fermentation process,” Mansfield explains. “We wanted a tart, soft finish—and that’s very challenging in this style. There is a good nose (aroma), that comes from the puree. It has a floral feel, but then that zing at the end.”
The Mango Madness is available exclusively at the tasting room so that you can stay hydrated while you fill out your bracket, but you can find other Irish Mafia brews lowkey at Honeoye Falls Market Place and Mendon Meadows Marketplace.
The Irish Mafia Brewing Co. 2971 Whalen Road, Bloomfield, 14469. 585-257-5172
It was always a goal for David Diehl to return to the Finger Lakes and make an imprint on the beer culture of the region. A Hobart & William Smith Colleges graduate, Diehl spent over a decade in Brooklyn and is excited to be back and taking on Finger Lakes craft beer reviews and commentaries for EdibleFingerLakes.com. He has also been published in Inked Magazine, YRB Magazine, Nerve.com, and The Finger Lakes Times. You can follow his work at FLXWORDS.com.
