Name: LOWRIDER IPA
Brewery: Croucher (Rotorua, NZ)
Style: IPA
ABV: 2.7%
Source: BREW (Rotorua, NZ)
I know what you’re thinking. “You’ve changed, man,” just because I visited Croucher’s brewpub on a Friday night and drank only a half pint of low-alcohol beer. But I’m telling you it isn’t so!
For the record, I was already a bit drunk by the time I arrived at BREW (having consumed a few margaritas at the wonderful South American restaurant down the road), but it’s also the case that I love the Lowrider and would have chosen it either way.
Like the Hallertau minimus, this is what I would call a chihuahua beer. I don’t mean it’s annoying and yappy and popular with Paris Hilton – I mean it’s a little beer that thinks it’s big. It will go out there and fight with the great danes, and… actually this is where the metaphor ends because a chihuahua would get crushed by a great dane, whereas this little beer could kick the ass of some full-strength IPAs.
It has all the sharp, fruity hop character you’d expect from an IPA, enough of a malt presence to balance, and a dry bitter finish which leaves you thirsty for more. And you can drink more, because at 2.7% you’d probably pop before you managed to get drunk off the stuff. It’s not one of those beers which is ‘good if you have to drive’ either, it’s good all the time, any time, even on a Friday night when there are loads of other beers on offer. And that’s why I chose it. Not because I’m not hardcore anymore (let’s be honest, I never was), but because it’s a great beer.
