Coconut Patriot
Croucher Brewing Co.

My wife & I were on vacation in New Zealand yesterday, and we tend to make our vacations into wine and beer tours of the particular country or city we are in. This was one of our many stops.

This beer pours a black/dark brown hue with mahogany edges and light carbonation visible. The head is a light khaki color and is frothy, almost creamy, and dissipates slowly to a thin lacing. 4/5 The aroma is almost like that of a stout with dark chocolate and cold pressed coffee jumping out right away before pumpernickel bread, earthy, and herbal hops come through. The significant hop profile overcomes any real sweetness from the malt, although there is a good amount of the roasted profile of the malt present. 3.75/5 Molasses and sorghum kick things off in the mouth, bringing an earthy sweetness out of the bag right away. These transition to pumpernickel bread, cold pressed coffee, and dark chocolate before the hops come in with notes of pine resin and fresh cut grass. As the beer warms, a bit of Grapenuts cereal comes through in the middle of the flavor profile. The bitterness is medium in strength and lingers a while after swallowing. 4/5 A medium carbonation burn greets the tongue at the front of the sip before leading into the medium body and medium dryness that lingers ever bit as long as the bitterness after swallowing. 3.75/5 For this being a Coconut Black IPA, it is somewhat lacking in coconut. The black IPA really comes through strongly, but the coconut just doesn't make an appearance (or at least I couldn't discern it, maybe others can). Despite the lack of coconut, this is still a very good black IPA and is very tasty. 4/5