About This Beer
Vault City Bake Off Sago Pudding 44cl 5.8% is a Mango, Coconut & Pandan Smoothie Sour brewed in collaboration with Alive Brewing from Singapore.
Created for Vault City's Bake Off series, Sago Pudding takes its inspiration from the popular Southeast Asian dessert and translates its tropical flavours into a modern sour beer. The combination of mango, coconut and pandan gives this release a very different character from a conventional fruit sour, bringing together juicy fruit, creamy sweetness and fragrant aromatics.
Mango sits at the heart of the beer, providing a ripe, juicy tropical fruit character that works naturally with Vault City's tart sour base. Coconut adds richness and a smoother impression, helping to build the dessert-like character expected from a smoothie sour.
Pandan provides the most distinctive element. Widely used in Southeast Asian desserts, pandan has a fragrant character that can suggest vanilla alongside sweet, grassy and gently nutty notes. Here, it complements the mango and coconut while helping Sago Pudding capture the flavour inspiration behind the original dessert.
At 5.8% ABV, this is a flavour-packed but relatively approachable modern sour. The fruit and creamy elements provide sweetness and body while Vault City's characteristic acidity prevents the beer from becoming one-dimensional.
For drinkers exploring modern Sour & Lambic styles, Sago Pudding demonstrates just how far contemporary sour brewing can move beyond straightforward fruit additions.
Tasting Notes
- Appearance: Rich and fruit-forward with the full appearance associated with a smoothie sour.
- Aroma: Ripe mango and creamy coconut accompanied by fragrant pandan.
- Flavour: Juicy mango provides an immediate tropical character before coconut introduces a smoother, creamier layer. Pandan follows with its distinctive aromatic sweetness and subtle herbal, vanilla-like character.
- Mouthfeel: Smooth, full and creamy, balanced by refreshing sourness.
- Finish: Lingering mango and coconut with fragrant pandan and a gently tart edge.
The three headline flavours play different roles rather than simply creating a general tropical sweetness. Mango supplies juicy fruit, coconut provides richness and pandan adds an aromatic character that distinguishes Sago Pudding from more familiar mango or tropical fruit sours.
Serve chilled, allowing the beer to warm slightly in the glass to bring more of its mango, coconut and pandan aromas forward.
About the Brewery
Vault City Brewing is based in Portobello, Edinburgh and specialises in modern sour beer. Since its founding in 2018, the brewery has become particularly associated with fruit-forward sours, unusual ingredients and releases inspired by desserts, cocktails and sweets.
Vault City builds its beers around mixed fermentation and its house culture before introducing fruit and other ingredients to create each individual release.
Sago Pudding was created with Alive Brewing, an independent craft brewery from Singapore. The collaboration makes the dessert inspiration particularly fitting, with the breweries looking to Southeast Asian flavours for this entry in the Bake Off series.
Pandan and coconut are both closely associated with desserts throughout the region, while mango provides the bold fruit character that works particularly well within Vault City's sour brewing style.
The wider Bake Off series sees Vault City collaborating with breweries from different parts of the world, with each beer taking inspiration from a dessert connected to its collaborating brewery. Sago Pudding represents the Singapore collaboration and brings a distinctly Southeast Asian flavour combination to the series.
Food Pairings
Sago Pudding naturally lends itself to desserts and dishes featuring tropical flavours.
Mango sticky rice is an excellent pairing, echoing the ripe mango character while coconut and pandan in the beer complement the dessert's creamy sweetness.
Coconut-based desserts also work particularly well. Try coconut ice cream, coconut cake or a light coconut pudding, allowing the beer's acidity to cut through the richer flavours.
Fresh tropical fruit is another easy option. Mango, pineapple and passionfruit all work well, particularly if you're serving the beer as part of a lighter dessert course.
For a contrasting savoury pairing, try mildly spicy Southeast Asian food. The fruit and coconut can complement chilli and aromatic spices, although very hot dishes may overpower the more delicate pandan character.
Sago Pudding can also be enjoyed by itself as a dessert beer. Its combination of mango, coconut, pandan and sourness provides enough richness and complexity to stand on its own after a meal.
Try More Like This
If you enjoy the tropical fruit and dessert-inspired character of Sago Pudding, explore our Sour & Lambic collection for more modern fruit sours, smoothie sours and traditional sour beer styles.
TheCru.ie already receives Google search visibility for terms including sour beer, sour beers, sour beer Ireland and smoothie sour, making this the most relevant category for discovering similar releases.
You can also browse our full Craft Beer & Craft Cider selection for new and limited releases from Ireland and breweries around the world.
Vault City Bake Off Sago Pudding brings together juicy mango, creamy coconut and fragrant pandan in a 5.8% smoothie sour created with Singapore's Alive Brewing – a tropical, dessert-inspired addition to Vault City's Bake Off series.
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