AHS 50 Cent Beers?

Since i've had a couple shaky batches recently I want to brew something cheap to kind of "get back on my feet". And also because i'm fast running out of money.
I've been looking at AHS's 50 cent beers and am leaning towards a Black Ale, but I don't think i've ever had one before.
Has anyone brewed this one recently or anything else from that list? Some of them look ok but with ABVs of 3.5% on some of them I'm less interested.
Austin Homebrew Supply

this is why they are so cheap, more extract=more money. But I tend to love Black Ales, have you ever tried 1554 by New Belgium, this is a great example of a black ale.

nope, any other examples of a black ale? Maybe if I can find a store that actually has some variety in beer I'll try a few out.

Sam Adams makes a black ale.. pretty tasty, as is the 1554.

I believe the Sam Adams is a Black Lager.

Sean

I think you are correct. Sam's Black Lager is maybe one of my favorite Sam Adams Beers. If I had the ability to keep my beer cold enough to lager I would try to lager. but a 700 sq ft apartment and a limited budget keeps holding me down... (keeping the lady happy is pretty expensive, I think I spent like $500 more than I made because of restaurants and movies and crap...)

knotquiteawake said:

Has anyone brewed this one recently or anything else from that list? Some of them look ok but with ABVs of 3.5% on some of them I'm less interested.
Austin Homebrew Supply

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I've brewed 3 from that list. The Honey Wheat, Belgian White, and the Mexican Pilsner. All of them turned out very good. So good in fact that I just got 2more of the Belgians in yesterday to brew this weekend.

Adam78K said:

this is why they are so cheap, more extract=more money. But I tend to love Black Ales, have you ever tried 1554 by New Belgium, this is a great example of a black ale.

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+1 for black ales. I've had my eye on this clone kit for New Belgium's 1554 at AHS:
Austin Homebrew Supply

knotquiteawake said:

Some of them look ok but with ABVs of 3.5% on some of them I'm less interested.
Austin Homebrew Supply

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I only counted 5 out of the 23 with ABVs below 4% that still leaves plenty to choose from.

some of them look ok but with ABVs of 3.5% on some of them I'm less interested.

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While I've not ever brewed anything from that particular line, I must say that a low gravity session beer packed full of flavor is quite satisfying - you'll never miss the alcohol. Trust me.

In fact, my own March Brown Mild is probably the most requested beer I brew - and it is a staggering 3.0%.

yea, I have had 1554 a few times, its a damn good beer. I would recommend giving a black ale a shot.

I still have some bottles of the black ale I brewed back in December lying around. It's a great beer inspired by the Okanogan Black Ale at North by Northwest, a local brew pub in Austin. It's similar to a schwartzbier in flavor. Sam Adams Black Lager (already mentioned) and Shiner Black are a few similar beers.

I've brewed the American Wheat from the Austin Homebrew 50 cent line. It's pretty tasty and was a big hit at a party.

Rahr and Sons out of Fort Worth makes a black lager, Ugly Pug, that's pretty tasty. I'm not sure what their distribution range is. I only started seeing a couple of their beers here in town a month or so ago.

And as a side note, black lager is excellent in chili.

The AHS Texas Blonde Ale is amazingly good. I tweaked mine with a 1/2 oz. flavoring hop addition. But I think it would have been excellent without it.

Doesn't matter what you call it, but the 1554 clone from AHS is a lager. Make sure you don't get it if you cant do lager fermentations.