The Philippines craft brewer opens sales in the US with its exotic range of ube, mango and honey beers

Engkanto Brewery, one of the Philippines leading craft brewers, is making its Paint me Purple Ube Lager available in the US market, according to an announcement by the brewery.

In the Philippines, ube is a very popular, purple-coloured, sweet tuber of the yam family. The Engkato lager is brewed using native ube, desiccated coconut, and imported malt and hops.

On the brewer’s website, interested US-based consumers are directed to the website of Brew Without Borders, which is the Californian-headquartered importer of the beer. In addition to online sales, Engkanto has also set up distribution of the beer to Filipino groceries, fine dining Filipino restaurants, and regular restaurants in California.

The move marks the first step in rolling out the company’s US sales strategy, according to Engkanto’s managing director, Ricard Basora: “The US already has 5,000 excellent lagers or double IPAs, so why would anyone buy beer from Philippines? Our strategy is to enter the market with our most exotic products: Honey Ale, Mango Hazy IPA, and Ube Lager. We feel these beers fit the bill: Honey Ale is made with honey from the Philippines’ mountains; Mango IPA features some of the world’s best mangoes; and our Ube Lager.”

The opening of sales channels in the US market adds to a growing international access to Engkanto products, which are already available in Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and the UAE.