Marz Community Brewing - "Jungle Boogie" pale ale

Now here's something interesting. It's Marz Community Brewing's "Jungle Boogie", a 5.50% ABV wheat ale made with rooibos. Rooibos (pronounced "roy-boss", literally "red bush" in Afrikaans) is a member of the legume family, commonly used in South Africa to make tea. Around the world, it's also known as "redbush tea" or just "red tea" popular not just as a beverage, but as a homeopathic "cure" for a variety of ailments. Once confined just to South Africa, it's picked up steam in popular markets across the globe. I remember hoarding my tins of Republic of Tea rooibos when it first came out back in the late 90s.

I've only had a handful of beers made with tea, most recently the "Sweet Summer South" from one of the Sierra Nevada "Beer Camp Across America" boxes, so I'm looking forward to trying this. Additionally, this is my first beer by Marz, and I don't think I even have heard of them before seeing this beer. So lots of anticipation here.

It pours swiftly out of the pint can and is light honey-colored on the pour. It generates a snow-white head which sticks to the side of the glass.

The color is hazy amber when candled. Not any aroma at all, oddly.

Well, it's definitely a pale ale - lots of mellow, malty notes and a good balance of hop variants coming through on a mellow texture. It's not bitter, just a short zing of tangy hops. The red tea is just noticeable, mostly in the herbal side of the flavor wheel, and from what I can gather, I think the herbal nature of the tea works well with the rest of the beer, and imparts a bit of sweetness. Overall, nice and mellow with an interesting herbal flavor to it. 

My remembrance of the Republic of Tea rooibos from twenty years ago is what initially drove me to purchase this, and while I like strong beer (and strong tea) it's okay to have a more mellow offering as well. Lighter beers work well with more flavorful and delicate teas, so I can see this being a good beer for a hot summer day. The rooibos isn't terribly pronounced, but I guess I'd rather have it underrepresented than overrepresented. As you can see, this was $6.99, and I've seen it available now in 4-packs of pint cans for $18. So rather expensive in my opinion for what is a tasty yet not-particularly-earth-shattering beer. I got this at D'Vines in Columbia Heights, but I have also seen it at Whole Foods.