My little Crony

No-Li’s Poser has a new pal – or perhaps a spouse.

Crony, a pleasantly hoppy, sessionable brown ale, is joining the brewery’s recently released Poser pale ale in six-packs of 12-ounce bottles. It will be poured at the pub for the first time Friday starting at 5 p.m., in both regular and extra-creamy nitro versions.

At 5.1 percent alcohol by volume and 30 International Bitterness Units, it has a fuller body and deeper flavor than Poser (4.8, 25).

Damon Scott, No-Li’s brewery operations manager, says Crony was inspired by last October’s small-batch Browne’s Addiction, a bigger brown hopped with fruity Amarillo.

“We just really liked the way the dark, chocolaty malts and that bright hoppiness played together,” he says.

Crony uses Columbus, Cascade and Chinook in the kettle and is dry-hopped with Chinook, Simcoe and Azacca, for an array of fruity, piney flavors and aromas.

The malt bill includes dark chocolate along with regular chocolate and caramel 60. Some sweetness comes through in the middle as the beer warms, but the overall effect is dry and a bit toasty.

“We didn’t want it to be roasty or coffeeish,” Scott says. “The dark chocolate malt is becoming a favorite of ours. It has a richer chocolatiness to it.”

The packaging is similar to Poser, but with richer, darker colors. “We liked the idea of Poser having a friend, or a mate,” says Scott.

Indeed, while Poser was advertised as “your mom’s favorite beer,” Crony is billed as “your dad’s favorite.” There’s even a “Dad” heart tattoo on the bottom of the carrier, like Poser’s “Mom.”

The key is coming up with names that will resonate, Scott says, short and to the point: “It’s like they say, when you name a dog, it should be two syllables, and one of them should be really strong.”

So does that make Crony … man’s best friend?