Well isn’t this nice? Getting ready to take a short trip to North Carolina with my wife and sister in law, I got a pleasant surprise in the form of a growler of Rome City Brewing Company’s Romulus Mango Rye PA. This is a new beer from this Rome, Georgia Brewer. I have only tried one of their beers before (Downtown Brown) and enjoyed it. I stopped by the brewery one Saturday afternoon while in Rome for a visit, but they were closed for a party. In the immortal words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, though, I’ll be back.
For now, though, there is Romulus Mango Rye PA. This beer is distributed to Murphy, North Carolina-well, by me anyway, I brought my growler there and enjoyed it. I am assuming this is a pale ale made with rye and mango fruit but the alcohol level of 5.5%, which is more in line with a pale ale than an India Pale Ale. There isn’t any information on the beer on the brewery website, nor is there on Ratebeer or Beer Advocate. Untappd has Romulus Mango Rye PA listed as an IPA.
What do I think? Certainly, there are rye pale ales and rye IPAs, but again, to me by strength and after drinking I’m sticking with a pale ale. The name Rye PA could connote a Rye Pale Ale, but Rye PA also rhymes with IPA. Does it really matter? IPA evolved from pale ale after all. So why don’t we take a sip and see what we think, shall we?
Rome City Brewing Company Romulus Mango Rye PA pours to a deep orange amber color with a thick creamy head formation and sweet mango fruit in the nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a light undertone of spicy rye over soft caramel malt with more mango fruit. The fruit cancels out a little of the rye I think, but it’s there (I love rye in a beer). The beer finishes slightly bitter with grassy herbal hops. Very tasty rye pale ale with tropical fruit. A little more rye I think and it would be perfect, but hey, I love rye. Can you ever get enough of it? A little more hops would help with the IPA case, too.
The mango fruit here makes this a perfect refresher for warm weather, and the moderate alcohol content helps with that, too. It’s reminiscent of the tropical fruit favoring hops so popular today (e.g., Mosaics) and works well with the beer. Lo and behold, upon my return I found it on tap at Taco Mac. Would I buy it again? That night, I sure did.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
(G)=Growler