Beer – #89 – Croucher- Pale Ale

Croucher- Pale Ale – that’s it, not much more… Brewed by Croucher Brewing in the Style of an American Pale Ale, and they are in Rotorua, which we of course call Rotovegas, New Zealand

Tasting Notes: Appearance – A rich rose-gold hue, with good head. Aroma – Massive up front fruit with strong freshly crushed grain. Passionfruit and lychees predominate with a stonefruit undertone – fruit salad on weetbix. Grassiness from three Nelson hop varieties compliment the fruit to give an aroma reminiscent of a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc but the grunt in the palate leaves you in no doubt that this is a very serious beer. Body & Mouthfeel – Very smooth with a gorgeous lingering finish. Delicious burps.

Right so that’s a mixed bag of expectations and delivery, for which I’m not thankful and am a bit wary.

It’s very hoppy , all up, all hoppy, the passionfruit I get too. 500ml (9oz) (pint) of a 5% ABV beer pouring golden with a fair decent head.

Revisiting the aroma, again I get the passion fruit but not in a big way, they just are. There’s a fair bit of sour from the hops on the palate, and it somewhat overtakes the passionfruit taste that’s lingering in the melange. It’s really carbonated, almost overly. The taste is long though, there is plenty of energy in the taste with this, defiantly not a front of tongue taste. I get toffee, just because I can, which may be the malts. There is a grassiness too that shows up after sitting in the glass and breathing.

“Serious beer” not so much, “interactive beer” a bit. “Likeable beer”, for sure. This, I think, is my first Croucher Beer, and I’m a bit impressed.

The pdubyah-o-meter pushes all the way up its’ arbitrary scale of things to 7.85 -. Like how I’m getting granular on it :0.

I think that with a decent accompanying thing that this is a beer that would reward you for a whole afternoon session, in and of itself its a bit try-hard, and a shade to much grassy hoppy. not a favourite.