Mauritius is best-known for its beaches, so it made perfect sense that the morning after our arrival, we found ourselves in the island’s only microbrewery, sitting on the edge of a mall that’s far enough inland to mean that you can’t actually see the ocean.

I’ve been meaning to write about the beer side of my recent Mauritius trip for ages (I figured you wouldn’t be too interested in hearing all about my trips to the beach). I thought nowish would be a great time for a tropical island interlude, because with Beer Safari research in progress, my mind (and tastebuds) are about to be solidly focused on South African brews. I was pretty gutted to see that the BBC had beaten me to it by a week, publishing their write-up of Oscar Olsen’s Flying Dodo Brewing Company last Monday, but I’m going to write my version anyway.

Oscar’s mission to bring beer to Mauritius started in 2009 with Lambic, a Port Louis-based beer-centric bar (review coming later this week). It was a huge – and to Oscar  a rather surprising success. Three years later Flying Dodo opened in the Mall of Mauritius in Bagatelle, 15km south of the capital.

“It’s a living museum to beer”, says Oscar, pointing out that Flying Dodo is more than just a brewpub. He wanted to create a beer destination, to educate people and to try and develop a beer culture on the Indian Ocean island. So instead of brewing behind closed doors, the brewery is out in the open. Brewdays are advertised and generally planned to coincide with the bar’s busiest days. For the beer geek, it’s an absolute must, for here you really get to see what goes on during a brew – the mash tun/kettle is made of glass and this beer nerd is bummed not to get chance to see the brewery in action.

The coolest brewery you’ve ever seen?

There are a couple of flagship beers, but other than that it’s all about experimentation. They get a new brewer in every year (all hailing from Bavaria so far), they try to think up new styles and weird brews and they even accept and welcome special requests from their customers.

A beer collection that will make you weep into your pint

Not only can you drink beer and watch it being brewed, you can eat food infused with it, you can admire decor dedicated to it (a vast mural made of bottle tops plus a three-storey beer collection that gives Banana Jam’s Greg Casey bottle-envy) and you can even bathe in it. The beer spa has never quite taken off (seems like such a waste of beer!) but if you fancy sitting in a bath filled with tepid ale, Flying Dodo has you covered.

And what about the beer? Well, the blonde, brown ale and Belgian-style Maerzen are always available. When we were there, we also sampled a smoked rye beer with a smack of sausage on the nose, though you never know what might be brewing when you’re in town. My preferred pint was the brown ale, actually a copper-coloured beer that’s well-balanced and with a lingering hoppy finish.

You’d have to be a particular kind of beer fanatic to take a trip to Mauritius solely for the Dodo (and its more powerful cousin, the Phoenix), but if you’re headed that way, do set aside an afternoon to visit the brewery – and get in touch in advance to ensure your trip coincides with a brew.

Flying Dodo Brewing Company, Mall of Mauritius Bagatelle, tel: +(230) 468 8810, web: www.flyingdodo.com. Open daily 9am-midnight.