Croucher Patriot

After a rollicking start NZ's really fallen off the rails of late.

Enter Croucher's Patriot, a no nonsense beer in a bottle reminiscent of a baseball bat, clearly designed specifically for fighting anyone stupid enough to even think of questioning the good old yew-ess-of-ey.

The bottle suggests this is an American Black Ale, which didn't really clarify what we were buying at the bottle store. On opening though it turns out this is quite a lovely Black IPA of the choc-cherry variety, putting me strongly in mind of Kooinda's excellent effort in the same vein.

It's sedentary in the glass, good mouthfeel, similar flavour profile. I'd like to taste these side by side to compare actually but for now I give Kooinda the edge for hops, head, and a vastly superior ABV. 7.5.