Founders Mango Magnifico

I'm no stranger to malt liquor. In fact I spent more than a few nights in college at the local food mart trying to decide between Mickey's, Old English, Colt 45 and Magnum 40 as my pregame beverage before heading out on the town later that night. While I did have trouble deciding which one I thought tasted the best, I knew Magnum 40 tasted the worst. To me it tasted like bottled urine with a hint of kerosine. But this is not a review of Magnum 40(that might work in the future), this is a review of Founders Mango Magnifico, a beer which flavor took me back to my college days and not in a good way.

Founders Mango Magnifico pours a slightly hazy gold with a fizzy off white head that faded quickly. The aroma reminded of the cheap malt liquor I drank in college with a ton of mango sweetness. Frankly, the smell was so sweet I began to worry about what the flavor would bring. Upon first taste, I knew I hated this beer. The flavor is of malt liquor, drowned in candy mango with a boozy, spicy pepper finish. To cut right to the chase, absolutely none of this works together. On its own the base beer would have tasted fine if it was in a 40 ounce bottle and cost about 8 dollars less. Where it starts to go wrong is in adding the mango. It has no place here and normally I enjoy bold tropical flavors in my beer. The habanero pepper finish just seems like someone added it as a joke. If anything, it draws more attention to the fact that Mango Magnifico has a 10% abv by adding to the burn of the alcohol.

I struggled to see if I could say anything positive about this beer because up until I tried Mango Magnifico, I had yet to have a truly bad beer from Founders. In fact, they make some of the best beers I have ever had. It actually blows my mind that the same brewery that makes KBS, CBS, Backwoods Bastard, Mosaic Promise and Blushing Monk could make something this awful. I love when brewers take risks and experiment with creating new flavors but at no point did anything in Mango Magnifico seem like a good idea. The next time I drink a 40 of malt liquor it won't just bring back college memories. It will help me forget this disaster of a beer.

Overall I would rate Founders Mango Magnifico a 0.25/5. This beer is so bad, I felt bad for my sink as I poured it out.

Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!