Anyone else not crazy about New Belgium?

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MeatyPortion

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I had their Fat Tire when I was in Idaho in 2008 and wasn't impressed, especially since everyone was talking about how great it supposedly was. That was before they started to distribute it here in Wisconsin. Fast forward to today when I see a bomber bottle of their Trippel in Woodman's liquor store. I decided to give it a try. Wow. It was absolutely horrible. I poured most of it down the drain. I can't figure out if I got a bad bottle or if the people that like this beer are delusional.

Any experiences, good or bad, are welcome.
 
I will have a fat tire if it is on draft here, its good but not great, I agree the Trippel is no bueno. I do like their Mothership wit, a pretty tasty beverage in my opinion.
 
Fat Tire is flavorless. 1884 is good.

Some of their sours kick ass. Too bad they're impossible to find.
 
Yeah, they are pretty average. It's a good brewery for BMC drinkers to drink to make the move to better craft beers. They have some good stuff, but most is pretty meh.
 
There's nothing particularly good about them, but nothing offensive either, which means I can take a 12-pack of Fat Tire to any get-together and everybody is satisfied. They're also very cheap here, so it's my party beer of choice. I never buy it for drinking at home just because there are so many better options.
 
I like their 1554 and their sour series (I've had La Folie, their Kriek and Biere de Mars so far). Fat Tire is the beer that got me interested in microbrews. I've expanded immensely since then, but I still wouldn't turn my nose up at Fat Tire these days.
 
1884 is good.

Some of their sours kick ass. Too bad they're impossible to find.

I can never find the 1884 or the sours... the 1554 on the other hand, is indeed pretty good. :)

I have wanted to try some of their sours... not had a chance yet. I feel the same. It is decent beer. More power to them for going national, but I would just as soon drink sweetwater or terrapin here. Great folks at the brewery for sure. And a really good business plan.
 
yummmy 1554, i had it on tap in St. Louis at B.B's blue bar. Delicious, I can't find it around D.C. I currently have a Black ale from AHS in the secondary, can wait to bottle and carb it up!!!
 
Fat Tire, IMHO, is the least of their brews. It's a good goto beer if there's nothing better. Lots of places around here have the usual BMC... and Fat Tire. It works for that.

Mighty Arrow is one of my favorite beers and you should give that one a try. Their trippel is really good even if it's not quite a traditional trippel. 1554 is really good too.

Don't base your judgement on New Belgium on Fat Tire alone. It's a decent beer, but not amazing by any stretch of the imagination.
 
Fat Tire, IMHO, is the least of their brews. It's a good goto beer if there's nothing better. Lots of places around here have the usual BMC... and Fat Tire. It works for that.

Mighty Arrow is one of my favorite beers and you should give that one a try. Their trippel is really good even if it's not quite a traditional trippel. 1554 is really good too.

Don't base your judgement on New Belgium on Fat Tire alone. It's a decent beer, but not amazing by any stretch of the imagination.

I view Fat Tire as THE bridge beer for BMC drinkers. That's just been my experience with the people I've seen.
 
I am not a fan either. I really haven't had a beer of theirs that I would buy.

I think Fat Tire tastes dirty. Mighty Arrow is drinkable, but nothing great. 1554 is OK, but again, average. I would put then just below Widmer, but that is my opinion.

There are so many beers that are better, and cheaper. For example, Bridgeport isn't my favorite brewery, but the Hop Czar is $6.99 a sixer, same as NB beers.
 
Fat Tire, IMHO, is the least of their brews. It's a good goto beer if there's nothing better. Lots of places around here have the usual BMC... and Fat Tire. It works for that.

Mighty Arrow is one of my favorite beers and you should give that one a try. Their trippel is really good even if it's not quite a traditional trippel. 1554 is really good too.

Don't base your judgement on New Belgium on Fat Tire alone. It's a decent beer, but not amazing by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm not basing it on Fat Tire but also on their Trippel, which I wouldn't bathe a dog in.

I just had a St Bernardus Tripel, which is delicious, so it's not the style at all that I don't like.
 
Love 1554, but everything else of there's tastes infected to me.


I'd rather drink BMC than Fat Tire. It honestly makes me queasy.
 
Many of New Belgium's beers have a very similar taste. I think their house yeast is pretty strong.

Elysian Brewing in Seattle started contracting a lot of their brewing out to NB, so some of their beers have that taste.

That being said, I really don't have any issues with most of the NB beers I've tried, and I'd take a Fat Tire over BMC any day of the week.
 
I'm not basing it on Fat Tire but also on their Trippel, which I wouldn't bathe a dog in.

I just had a St Bernardus Tripel, which is delicious, so it's not the style at all that I don't like.

Well, I guess this proves it....

Some folks just have no taste. ;)
 
Many of New Belgium's beers have a very similar taste. I think their house yeast is pretty strong.

Elysian Brewing in Seattle started contracting a lot of their brewing out to NB, so some of their beers have that taste.

That being said, I really don't have any issues with most of the NB beers I've tried, and I'd take a Fat Tire over BMC any day of the week.

Not only do they contract a lot of Elysian beers, but they do some awesome one-offs. The pub on Capitol Hill had a black lager that was part brewed by Elysian and the other part was a NB sour. I could have sat there all night drinking it.

Edit: Fat Tire is okay, I really like 1554, haven't tried the wit yet and all of their sour series I've had I really like (La Folie, Kriek, etc)
 
A new NB brew I just had the other day was their Ranger IPA, which I thought was pretty good. Not my favorite IPA, but certainly not last on my list, either. I also like Le Terrior.

SWMBO likes the Lips of Faith Dandelion beer, although I think it's just sorta OK.

I feel like Fat Tire used to taste better back in the day, but that either it and/or my taste buds have subtly changed over the years, because I don't like it nearly as much as I used to. I agree with 1554. That's a pretty tasty beverage.
 
I feel like Fat Tire used to taste better back in the day, but that either it and/or my taste buds have subtly changed over the years, because I don't like it nearly as much as I used to. I agree with 1554. That's a pretty tasty beverage.

I agree. Fat Tire has changed, or I have. Either way, its just not as....good. I wouldn't call it bad, but it just doesn't have the flavor it used to.
 
Every beer I've had from them lacks body, but I haven't tried the 1554, maybe I should give it a shot since that seems to be the favorite here.
 
I had their Fat Tire when I was in Idaho in 2008 and wasn't impressed, especially since everyone was talking about how great it supposedly was. That was before they started to distribute it here in Wisconsin. Fast forward to today when I see a bomber bottle of their Trippel in Woodman's liquor store. I decided to give it a try. Wow. It was absolutely horrible. I poured most of it down the drain. I can't figure out if I got a bad bottle or if the people that like this beer are delusional.

Any experiences, good or bad, are welcome.


Horrible. Horrible. Vile stuff.

Not that I have ever tried it, cause they don't distribute here but....

Have only tried Fat Tire and found it to be highly over rated.
 
I am with everyone on Fat Tire. Not a beer I enjoy in the least. However, they do a lot of good stuff, and I have had some unique and interesting beer from them (Giddy UP comes to mind). Needless to say, their sour program is both interesting and extensive and I've had. I think I enjoyed 7 out of the 10 I've had, and that's not bad from a sour perspective.
 
I'm not a huge New Belgium fan anymore. When Fat Tire initially hit the market it was a great, nutty brew. Over time and rising popularity it's lost it's trademark taste which set it apart. Now it's really not a front runner in IMHO. I did try their new IPA, Ranger, and was really impressed. I had it from the bottle and am eager to taste it fresh off tap. It's their first true IPA and a departure from their other beers. If nothing else, it's worth trying once to see that the brewery has the ability to make a beer off their normal course.
 
I like most of NB beers. I like to keep Fat Tire around in the summer for when my BMC friends come over. I think it is a nice, solid drinkable beer that can be a nice craft intro beer for the BMC crew. I like their Tripel but really enjoy their 1554, Abbey and Abbey Grand Cru.
 
Fat Tire has definitely changed over the years. I have been drinking it since 1998, and had a long lapse between tastings, so I feel like I was able to better notice the differences than my friend who lives in Colorado. When we spoke about this, we both ended up agreeing on the flavor changes (the loss of nuttiness was something we both noticed), but he described them as more subtle than I did, which we attributed to me being unable to get it regularly.

1554... WOW... one of my favorite beers. Tastes like a smooth brown, looks like a dark porter. Awesome beer.
 
Maybe it's a "better when it's closer" kinda thing, but I like the majority of NB's brews. Fat Tire is their least common denominator beer, so I don't expect a lot from it. Really like the Trippel and 2Below.
 
Well you are allowed to have an opinion of your own of course...

They definitely have a distinct yeast character to their beers, as do other brewers (Magic Hat comes to mind immediately). That you do not like that character does not mean they are a bad brewery. Furthermore, that you did not like all three beers you had is actually strong proof of that point.
 
signed up to Homebrewtalk to chime in on this discussion.

They make average beers imo. They all have the same aftertaste, that's not a pro to me. Not sure why so many like their beers.
 
I dont hate 'em or love 'em. I like 1554, but frankly I never buy any of their stuff. Decent, sure, but I'd rather choose another option.
 
Well you are allowed to have an opinion of your own of course...

They definitely have a distinct yeast character to their beers, as do other brewers (Magic Hat comes to mind immediately). That you do not like that character does not mean they are a bad brewery. Furthermore, that you did not like all three beers you had is actually strong proof of that point.

I tried all 3 with an open mind and all were sub-par at best and I don't get what you mean by your last point. I don't think you know what you're trying to say. Do you mean since I didn't like the 3 that I tried then New Belgium is good? Please explain your logic.
 
I know exactly what I am trying to say, and it was pretty obvious what I meant.

But I guess I can say it in a simpler manner:

The fact that you did not like ALL THREE beers of theirs that you tasted proves the point I made that the distinct flavor their beers have (I offered an example of Magic Hat, which also has a distinct flavor) which has been mentioned by a few people on here is something you either like or don't like. YOU don't like it, HENCE, you didn't like ALL THREE beers you tasted.

Lastly, I wasn't saying that this makes them a good brewery, I was concluding that the fact that they have a distinct yeast profile in their beers means one will either enjoy most of their beers or abhor them just the same.

Re-reading that, I think I know what I meant. Whether you agree with it is not what I was aiming for.
 
I agree that they have a distinct profile but the fact is that their beer tastes bad. You, theorizing that just because I don't like ( 3 beers that I tasted = distinct profile = possibly not a bad brewery ) is flawed logic. There hasn't been a lot of support for their line up here either which is what I suspected. The fact that you choose to believe that it is just their "distinct" yeast is up to you. Me? I fvcking hate it.
 
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