Cebu native Ian Paradies, like many other Filipinos, loves beers - and yet, the selection of beers available in the Philippines tends to point in one direction - the giant that is San Miguel.

Yet, Ian had thought to himself why should that be the case.

To him, beer was a vibrant category with a myriad of styles ranging from ales to porters, stouts and sours, and could even be aged in wooden barrels, or feature local ingredients such as mango, dalandan, calamansi, ube and more. It could be low ABV or high ABV, and even be paired with food - the possibilities are endless.

Why should every Filipino be constrained to commercial lagers.

“Everywhere around the world people look up to and love Filipinos and we have such a great reputation abroad, yet we ourselves often believe that we can’t do things as well as others...But that’s not true, we can do things just as well as anyone else can, and we want Engkanto to represent that”

Neither did Ian believe that the only avenue for good beers should have to be made outside of the Philippines. 

And so Ian set out to create Engkanto in 2017.

The word "Engkanto" itself holds a special meaning in Philippine's native Tagalog, said to mean "enchantment" or that of a mythical quality or spirit, often associated with the spirits of ancestors. The idea being that Ian hopes for the brewery's fans to have a mystical experience through its brews, and at the same time carrying on the culture fueled by the energy and passion from the enchanted spirits of the country's ancestors.

“A lot of people ask me what I would like Engkanto to achieve or become. Truthfully, my hope for Engkanto is really to just be a harbinger for change and inspire people to grow by challenging themselves and the things they are not happy with”

With a focus on natural ingredients and introducing the Philippine consumer to a wider variety of beer styles, Engkanto has grown from strength to strength. What started out as a microbrewery in Makati City has now outgrown its outfit and has now moved to Carmona, Cavite.

Engkanto blends local Filipino ingredients into its brews, from dalandan citrus, to ube yam and mangoes.

But of course he's not in this alone. With the help of American Proclamation Ale's owner Josh Karten, to Engkanto's experienced brewmaster Michael "MJ" Jordan, previously from Shanghai's Boxing Cat Brewery, Engkanto's beers have bagged numerous international awards.

“What really gave me the courage to push forward was my desire to change what I felt was wrong with the industry in the first place, the lack of choice, and the focus purely on commercial products,”

Let's give some of their flagship brews a go!

Engkanto Mango Nation Hazy IPA - Review

This is a 5.7% ABV Hazy IPA, which means it goes through a secondary fermentation on top of the regular IPA, and is made with local Filipino mangoes and Pilsner malt. They've also mentioned the use of some special yeast (which they've kept to themselves for good reason), and also added oats to give it more creaminess.

Engkanto rates this as intermediate on their flavour complexity, and recommends pairing it with meats like burger, BBQ ribs, steak, and also cheese such as gorgonzola blue cheese, mascarpone, jalapeno muenster, habanero cheddar, as well as fruit salads, ceviche, shrimp tacos and buko pie,

Tasting Notes

Color: Pineapple Juice

Aroma: Rich sweet notes of juicy ripened mangoes and apricots with just a touch of pineapple. A really dense sort of estery fruit sugar sweetness. Peak of harvest fruits! A very faint hit of hoppy greenness.

Taste: Ooh really smooth, silky, creamy rush of dried mangoes - surprisingly not as sweet as the aromas would suggest. Here it’s darker and more mellow. A softer but just as rich denseness of dried tropical fruits. The greenness is a notch higher here - almost 50/50.

Finish: Ah the hops finally turns bitter here, while the fruity sweetness fades out. Nonetheless it’s not overpowering.

My Thoughts

This was very enjoyable - true to its name, lots of mangoes in both fresh and dried forms here, providing a really rich and dense sweetness. It’s also alittle bit of a tale of two halves, starting out sweet with a touch of greenness, then 50/50 on the palate, and finally finishing with more bitterness and just a touch of fruit sugars.

It’s really mellow and silky smooth, and very cohesive too!

Engkanto Live It Up Lager - Review

Said to be brewed with "New World" hops, this is rated by the brewery as being more easy-going. It is made using a classic European brewing technique but uses hops grown outside of Europe - hence a New World Pilsner. This is 4.8% ABV.

It is suggested to be paired with meats such as pot roast, swiss steak, sindhi mutton, corned beer and grilled sausage, as well as cheeses like manchego, gouda, feta and brie, also ham, salami, and even Caesar's salad or Thai salad.

Tasting Notes

Color: Light Gold

Aroma: A really interesting immediate note of uncooked rice - slightly umami and starchy, with a very rustic vibe. Very aromatic actually, these aromas of jasmine rice, with a light grassiness.

Taste: Wow! Really smooth and well-rounded with a light carbonation, it’s so texturally enjoyable already. Mellow notes of natural honey, straw and a light bitterness. This is darker than your standard commercial lagers - more rich, but at the same time it isn’t overly dense like some of the European stuff.

Finish: It gets more dense here with slightly more bitterness, a hint of marmite and more on rice crispies and brown rice.  Very refreshing with a good balance between crispness and sweet mellowness.

My Thoughts

This was an incredibly solid lager - one of the best I’ve had by far quite honestly. The jasmine rice aromas were just wonderfully rustic and felt so fresh, while on the palate, it was simple but so well-rounded and smooth and yet had a nicely medium to heavy body that made it the perfect balance of refreshing crispness and sweet mellowness. 

Wonderful, wonderful stuff.

Engkanto Green Lava Double IPA - Review

This is a Double IPA (or DIPA), which means extra hops and malt is used in the process of creating a more powerful brew - and it shows! This is an 8% ABV brew and is rated complex in terms of flavour complexity. Rolled oats was also added to give it more creaminess and haziness.

The brewery says to pair this with sausage, lamb, smoked meats, pulled pork, chorizo, cheddar, sharp cheeses and mango salsa.

Tasting Notes

Color: Honey

Aroma: Bright but dense sweet notes of apricots and pineapples, alongside a just as bright hoppy greenness. Lots of raw honey and slightly more medicinal manuka honey. 

Taste: Really sweet, thick honey and densely sweet notes of red mangoes and apricots, also with some caramel and butterscotch, but blended with a more bitter medicinal note of cough syrup. A really thick, luscious, creamy texture.

Finish: As the honey recedes, the bitterness becomes more apparent here. It finally fades out into more on uncooked rice and Meiji plain cracker buttery wheat sweetness.

My Thoughts 

This is a pretty intense one with more expressiveness and also being more flavour forward. It goes in two separate directions of dense sweetness and more medicinal bitterness which is less cohesive than the rest, which seems to be a result of the accentuated intensity of the flavours. It’s nonetheless thick and luscious, but might be better suited for more seasoned beer lovers who enjoy a wider range of flavours all in one beer.

To be honest, I personally found this alittle discordant and felt pulled in two directions with quite a gap between the two ends. 

Engkanto High Hive Honey Ale - Review

This ale was brewed with pure honey from local Filipino apiaries and farms in Bukidnon, and is brewed at 5.1% ABV.

We're told to pair this with smoked meat, coppa sausage, steak, grilled chicken, pulled pork, pepper jack cheese, cheddar, parmesan and also pico de gallo salsa.

Tasting Notes

Color: Apple Juice

Aroma: More rice umaminess with light notes of honey, and a sourness of Sake.

Taste: A lot more honeyed and sweeter here than the aromas would have hinted at - very well integrated and married. It’s really cohesive, rounded and smooth. Think honey lollies with just a light grassy herbaceous nip. It’s lightly tart with a hint of apricot.

Finish: A gentle dollop of honey syrup and a faint foamy sourness with the same light hoppy grassy bitterness.

My Thoughts

Not so much on the aromas but the palate really surprised with lots of honey, in a very smooth and rounded, well married hefty body. It was like honey lollipops or candy in liquid form. 

I kind of wish the aromas were more honeyed and aromatic, and that there was more complexity on the finish, but the palate was pretty nice and really tasted of real honey.

Overall

I found Engkanto's beers to be really good - consistently across the board they were had fresh aromas, vibrant flavours and good hefty, silky textures, with nice refreshing, crisp finishes.

My personal favourite was the Live It Up Lager, which in my humble opinion, is the best lager I've had to date. As well as the Mango Nation Hazy IPA. The Double IPA was alittle strong for me, while the Honey Ale was alittle too gentle for me, but I could see some folks who would really prefer something turned up several notches or something that was more mellow loving it.

In any case, definitely a solid line-up, very impressed, definitely worth a crack at, and if it couldn't be any clearer, throw your commercial lagers away, because Engkanto is bringing it.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot