Virgin Islands Pale Ale
St. John Brewers

The Rainbow Foods stores got a few cases of these years back. Something ridiculous like $2.99/6 pack at the time. Figured why not at that price point?

Pours light amber-yellow 1/5" white head. Clarity is there. There is a lot of mango character here, but it is very different from the mango like nose you get from some of those proprietary aroma hops. Smells like one of those bathrooms that goes hard on the air freshener and aloha kind of decor.

Taste is a real mild malt body of session like proportions over a sweet mango concentrate. There is almost no bitter component to the beer. Its like all a bunch of mango extract. This is totally manageable for the first few ounces. Once you get about 3-4oz into it though, it morphs into kind of a chore to plow through. Where it gets even more weird is they have a specific mango beer, but it isn't this one. Like they made two different labels for the same beer. IIRC the mango one is actually more sugary. Either way, these are totally easy enough to change up the pace if you can split them a few ways. Wouldn't recommend drinking more than that at one time though, it gets tiresome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I poured this into a regular pint glass. The appearance is golden with a bright white head, leaving no lacing. The smell is strong mangoes, and the taste is weak mangos with some hops mixed in. The mouthfeel is light and crisp, and this is a drinkable and enjoyable beer.

Beer review from BA Mag Oct 2007.

This Tropical Pale Ale is contract-brewed by Shipyard Brewing Co. of Portland, ME. What they mean by tropical is an addition of mango character--no talk of actual fruit so we can only assume a fruit essence was used.

Good frothing from a steady pour, a few patchy rings of lace are left after sipping. The clarity is fine with a clean dusty golden hue. Unwavering aroma of mangoes, hint of malt behind it and a dusting of hop in the nose. Smooth and crisp like a pale ale should be, with moderate body. Fruity from start to finish with more sweetness up front. The maltiness seems to play rhythm guitar pretty much the whole way with a simple grainy flavor. A big mango character sticks to the beer all the way, even through the kiss of hop bitterness that helps to balance everything out. Hops go earthy-woody really quick. Ghost-like diacetyl funk in the back from the yeast does not draw too much attention. Finishes off with the obvious mango, hint of alcohol and a quick nugget of maltiness.

The mango is a lot to handle as it does not dissipate and sticks to the palate hard. Essence is our guess and a cleaner yeast and hops that are more citric would do this beer some good, perhaps some real mango as well. One is more than enough as the essence kills the palate.

Opened up a bottle of this aat a friend's place. Poured into a pint glass. Not really sure my expectations of this beer as I have never heard of this brewery.

Appearance: Dark orange without much haze. No head whatsoever.

Aroma: Really strong, artificial smelling mango and pear. The fruit is a complete mess, not pleasant at all.

Taste: Thin, watery mango flavor upfront followed by what tastes like a skunked macro. Really unpleasant. A chore to drink.

Mouthfeel: Thin bodied, yet with a sticky feel on the throat.

Drinkability: Despite the ABV, I had serious toruble finishing one bottle.

Overall, a mess. I am a relatively easy reviewer here and I couldn;t stand this. The worst beer I've had to date. The most accurate thing I could compare the taste to is warm, badly flavored seltzer water. Avoid at all costs.

Appearance: light orange/yellow in color, medium-high carbonation, clear

Smell: mango, sweet orange candy, malt

Taste: hops followed by a mango, orange, and malt finish

Mouthfeel: bitter start followed by a sweeter finish, medium body, high carbonation

Drinkability: I believe this is slightly above average pale ale. It does have a unique fruit taste. I could have two or three, but am glad I did not buy a full six.

I only had this when I was actually on St. John. And it fits the bill perfectly. Everything else offered was typical big 3 bullshit. Is this what you will pair with coq au vain? No. of course not. For a local beach brew in the VI, it tastes great and is refreshing as hell. I wish nothing more than I could live there and drink this all the time. I have no problem with the other reviews other than they seem to be to provencial. Its the VI. Come on. Find me a better summer/beach beer. Seriously. If you have a better idea please PM me.

Virgin Islands- Pale Ale

A- Clear light golden orange with a frothy heavy lacing head.
S- Big sweet Apricot, Peach, & Mango juiciness!
T- Light dry citrus hops are dominated by a peach apricot flavor.
M- Very fruity and sweet light dry hoppy finish.

Overall- Not that bad. A total chick beer for a summer bbq!

I got this beer as a gift from my brother. Alas, he only brought one back for me from the Virgin Islands

I really liked this beer, although it was not what I was expecting from a Pale Ale. It had a distinct but subtle mango fruit aroma and taste. It is an easy drinking and refreshing beer for a hot day.
The hops didn't seem to make a huge presence. Overall, I liked it and will search out some more next time I'm in an area where it is distributed.

I checked out their web page and they are now calling this same beer Tropical Mango Pale Ale. This is a much better description of the beer than Pale Ale, with a small mention of mangoes on the neck label.

This bottle was left at my house after a party. I feel obligated to review this beer for the following reasons: It smells and tastes like stale candy--syrupy and dry. It's named Virgin Islands Pale Ale ("created on the island paradise of St. John in the Caribbean" states the neck label) but it's brewed in Portland, Maine. I suppose this might be drinkable if one wanted to drink a wine-cooler/beer hybrid, but I would accept any beer over this one.

Poured into a pint glass with a nice head that dissipates quickly leaving little to no lacing. The beer pours a nice deep golden color.

S: An aroma of different fruits with the mangoes dominating.

T: Surprised, the taste starts off with a nice balance between the mangoes, apricot and the hops. The beer finishes with a nice hop presence.

M: Smooth is the best way to describe it.

D: Nice, I could probably drink a lot of these on a warm day but could also throw a few back on a regular day.

Appearance- The color was somewhere between orange and golden amber. It poured with a beautiful head with hardly any lace.

Smell- A strong presence of fruit hits you right off the bat. I could smell it the second the bottle opened. I was not expecting this but if you read the small print you find that this is a fruit beer. You can smell some hops though. So the beer is not totally invaded by the fruit.

Taste- The fruit once again hits you right away mango and there is almost like a peach or apricot flavor to it. A great thing to be noted about this beer is that you do not lose the ale flavor it is still there. I have had some fruit beers that might as well have been considered wine coolers but this is not one of them. There is not strong hops bitterness but they make their presence known. I probably would have not named this stuff pale ale if I was the owner it is good but it does not taste like pale ale.

Mouthfeel- Light and easy to drink.

Drinkability- Very refreshing and a fun beer to drink.

Appearance: pours a clear yellowish orange color with a one finger head that disappates quickly. Some spotty lacing develops.

Smell: loads of orange citrus and peach sweetness.

Taste:big fruity profile here as the orange, peach, and mango flavors are boldly sweet but not overly offensive. Little else in the flavor profile as some caramel and soft bitterness rounds it out.

Mouthfeel: lightly crisp from start to finish. Short lived fruity aftertaste. Medium bodied.

Drinkability: personally I found this beer to be a bit to sweet for my liking, but you could quaff a few of these in a session. Interesting beer to try.

Picked up fresh of the distributors hand truck. 12oz bottles. Poured into a pounder glass it forms a tight white head that falls to a solid cover. Golden body with quite a bit of carbonation.

Huge tropical fruits to this brew, I mean it is not just dominant it is the end all be all. Mangos, Oranges, Green Grapes, Peach on the backside, and a jolly rancher candied up finish. Very smooth mouthfeel. Carbonation tries to clean up in the end to some success.

Notes: I think its interesting but in the end for me it was too candied up. The clean hops that make a pale enjoyable to me were missing or overpowered by the Gigantic fruitiness.