Pale Mountain Ale
Rainier Brewing Co.

Pale Mountain AlePale Mountain Ale
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From:
Rainier Brewing Co.
 
Texas, United States
Style:
American Pale Ale
ABV:
5.3%
Score:
81
Avg:
3.51 | pDev: 14.25%
Reviews:
17
Ratings:
33
Status:
Active
Rated:
Nov 26, 2021
Added:
Jun 23, 2016
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  10
Rainier Brewing Company has been committed to brewing and offering the finest mountain fresh beers since 1878. Rainier Pale Mountain Ale is no exception. Made with two-row barley to provide a solid malt backbone and hopped with Yakima Valley hops, this light-bodied Pale Ale is well balanced with a crisp, citrus finish.
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Ratings by LiquidAmber:
Photo of LiquidAmber
Reviewed by LiquidAmber from Washington

3.62/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a medium coppery amber with a fine, two finger white head with good retention and lots of lacing. Aroma of light biscuit malt, a bit grainy, and light grassy hops. Profile is a little like an English bitter. Flavor is grainy biscuit malt, with a little brown bread, moderate dry grassy hops; flavor drops off rapidly into a light, but pleasant biscuit / grassy hop finish. Medium bodied with a hint of creaminess. This new ale looks and smells pretty good, exceeding expectations. Flavor starts well with a nice biscuit base, but drops off quickly, revealing the expected mild grassy hops with just a bit too little support. The overall flavor is nice, with some English bitter notes, but overly mild. A huge step up from the bland thing regular Rainier has become, but sadly Pabst pulled the punch on this one. They have a nice base beer here if it was a little more assertive. Probably not going to satisfy experienced craft drinkers, but hopefully may introduce regular drinkers of Rainier to a more robust malt body and some more assertive hops, which can't be a bad thing. Pleasant enough and I happily finished the bottle, but wished for a bit more. Looks and smells quite nice.
Jun 26, 2016
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.46 by LesDewitt4beer from Minnesota

Nov 26, 2021
 
Rated: 2.5 by BEER88 from North Carolina

May 25, 2020
 
Rated: 3.46 by chossboss from Oregon

Jul 25, 2017
 
Rated: 3.46 by Needmorebeer312 from Washington

Mar 11, 2017
 
Rated: 3.5 by NickThePyro from Washington

Oct 22, 2016
Photo of Libeertarian
Reviewed by Libeertarian from Montana

3.19/5  rDev -9.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25
From notes taken 10/04/16:

Nice clear, not particularly bright copper. Capped lemon-white to tan fluffy head of lower moderate retention. Caramel, grass, toasted bread aromas, not strong. All of this on palate, and more. Semi-tart and caramel but also toast and semi-harsh grain throughout, melding well with generic resiny to almost soapy hop bitterness strongest in finish. A nice peppercorn retro-olfaction. Tries too hard to be hoppy, to be honest, but the rest seems a little watered down, perhaps juts too subtle for me. At the same time, not that indistinguishable from many other pale ales that you’d think, being quality craft brewed and all, should be far better. Medium-bodied, abundant fine prickles quickly soften to sloshy suds.
Oct 20, 2016
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

3.54/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Bottle from On the Fly. Clear amber pour with small, tight, creamy head. Sweet caramel malt nose, little bits of toffee and butterscotch. Taste continues on this path, nice slick, medium weight body, goes down easy. Pabst’s Old Tankard. Comes to mind, another blast from the past.
Oct 19, 2016
Photo of Todd
Reviewed by Todd from Finland

3.28/5  rDev -6.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3
Thin, Malt, Fruit, Citrus

A beautiful, clear amber beer with a tall, meringue-like head. Some malts and light fruity hops are present in the nose. Fairly light-bodied and quite smooth, this Pale Ale offers a dusting of malt flavor, faint apple and a very thin and watery citrus hop presence that's bitter—but only for a moment. In fact, all of the flavors are short-lived, right down to the finish, which is very clean. Rainer Pale Mountain Ale is very basic, light, lackluster and nondescript take on the style.

As reviewed in BeerAdvocate magazine #117 (October 2016).
Oct 14, 2016
 
Rated: 3.7 by Mister_Faucher from Washington

Sep 03, 2016
 
Rated: 4.08 by emwilke from Nevada

Sep 03, 2016
 
Rated: 2.29 by dertyd from California

Aug 29, 2016
Photo of constantine_272
Reviewed by constantine_272 from Oregon

3.36/5  rDev -4.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.25
Dark copper with a head that fizzed up like soda and receded to a thin white layer that left a sticky mess. The nose is a bit bland smelling primarily of mild biscuit malt and unmasked alcohol. The taste is a bit better with the autumn dried leaves and amber syrup notes dominating. A carbonation tang prickles on the finish with a steel aftertaste. I had high hopes for this beer especially considering it was near 14$ a six pack, but the flavor falls short in a single note kind of way. It tastes like a better cheap beer, but still a cheap beer none the less.
Aug 26, 2016
Photo of jwc215
Reviewed by jwc215 from Arizona

3.62/5  rDev +3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
16 oz. bottle:

Pours copper with a lasting head. Web-like lacing sticks.

The smell is of bready grain, soft herbal/floral/citric hop spicing.

The taste is of grainy malt - sweet-leaning. It has a bitter-ish dry spicy herbal/citric hop touch in the balanced finish.

Slightly on the fizzier side, it is smooth, crisp and refreshing.

Light-bodied, it's malt-forward, with just enough dryness from a hop finish, it's a refreshing, balanced "old school" APA. A nice bargain - paid about 10 bucks for a six-pack of 16 oz. bottles at the Safeway in Bremerton, WA. The distributor was just putting it on the shelf - said it just came in, so it was a fresh pack.
Aug 22, 2016
 
Rated: 3.25 by Donkster46 from Washington

Aug 20, 2016
 
Rated: 2.73 by dshansen1184 from Washington

Aug 18, 2016
Photo of Spikester
Reviewed by Spikester from Oregon

3.67/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Clear orange with two fingers of white ten minute head. Rings of lace.
Smell is mostly malt.
Taste is bready malt with some mild floral hops in the finish.
Mouthfeel is light to medium with good carbonation. Finish is lightly dry.
Overall it needs some more hops! More like an extra pale ale.
I would drink it again but no great urge to have it anytime soon.
Aug 18, 2016
Photo of BBThunderbolt
Reviewed by BBThunderbolt from Kiribati

3.14/5  rDev -10.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
A beer that caused a bit of a kerfuffle here in the PNW, being as this Pabst product was brewed in an Inbev facility in Woodinville WA. Old time NWers were just happy to have some Ranier "come home".

16oz bottle into shaker pint glass. Poured an attractive honey gold color with about an inch of of off-white head that had decent retention and light-moderate lacing.

The aroma was basically solid, good malt & gentle hops, but bland. nothing really stood out. Same thing on the palate, nothing wrong, nothing notable. The body was pretty good; full, smooth, and clean. There was just a bit of residual sweetness on the finish though. Overall, nothing special, but a solid lawnmower brew. probably not worth the $12/6 pack price, but maybe grab a sixer to take to a cookout, so everyone can tick it.
Aug 15, 2016
Photo of NorthwestFresh
Reviewed by NorthwestFresh from Oregon

3.68/5  rDev +4.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Appearance: Amber and clear
Smell: Hints of sweet malt, subtle citrus
Taste: Balanced with roasted malt and just a little bit of hoppy bitterness
Mouthfeel: Lightly carbonated and a bit thin, but smooth
Overall: Very sessionable and easy to drink. I don’t usually like Pale Ales as many can be too bitter or thick to drink, Rainier Pale Mountain Ale is not like the rest. This beer is malty and slightly bitter, but goes down smooth. The bottle is cool too and the perfect size for the style. Perfect follow up to Rainier’s famous and award winning lager.
Aug 10, 2016
Photo of Monotone
Reviewed by Monotone from Washington

4.56/5  rDev +29.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.75
A: Clear, bright copper color, 1/2" creamy light tan head
S: Caramel malt, yeasty/doughy, subtle hops.
T: Nice toasty malts, Great low-key hoppy finish, enjoyable minerally crispness.
M: Very crisp and refreshing beer, great CO2.
O: Like original Rainier, it's sessionable and easy drinking. I was a little spectacle but this beer comes off as surprisingly good. Great drinkability and the 16 oz bottle feels good in the hand. Love the vintage label. On my 2nd 6 pack now. This may be my new craft go to.
Aug 09, 2016
Pale Mountain Ale from Rainier Brewing Co.
Beer rating: 81 out of 100 with 33 ratings