As if Red Bull-laced halo-halo by Los Angeles-based Filipino-Canadian chef Isa Fabro at Coachella Music Festival in 2016 wasn’t enough, here comes two beers that claim to taste like our favorite dry season treat.
In the U.S., two breweries have just come up with sour ales inspired by the flavors of halo-halo—not all of it, though. Minneapolis-based Pryes Brewing Company and California-based Harland Brewing Company’s beers zero in on the flavor profiles of ube, coconut, and mango. It has 7.1 percent alcohol by volume (ABV).
Pryes’ general manager of hospitality Tina McCabe, a Filipina, came up with the idea for this tropical and fruity concoction.
“Our creative director, Charles, threw out the idea of doing a purple yam beer,” said McCabe. “We didn’t have many ideas of flavor profiles to combine the beer with. Initially, it was all about the color. So, I suggested doing a halo-halo beer. I didn’t think the idea would stick. To my surprise, halo-halo made the final list.”
Pryes’ Halo Halo Island Pastry Ale was released in April, although, according to McCabe, their team had their fair share of doubts. “As a team, we knew this beer was going to be a unique challenge to create and market.”
A month later, San Diego, California coffee roaster Mostra Coffee announced a new collaboration with local brewery Harland Brewing Company: Halo Halo Pastry Sour, a strong kettle sour that features toasted coconut, mango, Vanuatu vanilla, condensed milk, and ube. The dessert style sour ale’s ABV is not that far from Pryes’ at seven percent.
This isn’t the first time Mostra ventured into brews, however. Previously, they also made buko pandan India pale ale (IPA) with Harland Brewing Company.
Mostra is founded by Filipino-Canadians Beverly Magtanong and Sam Magtanong.
But even prior to these two breweries, in September 2020, Florida-based brewery Redlight Redlight released its Halo Halo IPA, a creamy, purple milkshake-style American hoppy ale (7% ABV), brewed with ube, lychee, and mango.
Imagine how much more tolerable this heat will be if only these brews were available here.