1554 Clone?

I searched and found an old thread regarding this, but I'm hoping to revive the search.

Has anyone attempted this? This clones linked in the last thread did not seem on point, and none had follow-ups regarding how they came out.

I was recently at New Belgium and fell in love with this beer. They call it a black, but I really look at it, by color and also taste, as a very dark brown.

I just brewed an attempt at a 1554 clone today, based on some recipes I've read at various times online. I hunch it'll be missing "something", but my initial taste was pretty good.

5.0 lb Munich LME
1.5 lb Marris Otter
1.5 lb Munich
1.0 lb CaraPils
1.0 lb Aromatic Malt
0.75 lb Carafa II
0.5 lb Vienna
0.5 lb Crystal 60L

0.5 oz Magnum 14.4% AA @ 60
0.5 oz Tettnanger @ 60
1.0 oz Willamette @ 60

I threw it onto a yeast cake from a Munich Helles. It was from a packet of Saflager S-23. I'll be fermenting it at ~65F, maybe 60F if it warms up and I can use my beer fridge again.

Obviously, I don't know how it will taste yet. You'll have to wait at least 6 weeks to know. If you PM me, I'll be sure and respond back. Otherwise, I'm sure I'll forget...

Here is a another HBT thread on it. Check out this TBN thread about it.

I brewed the AHS extract version some time ago. It is on tap in our keezer right now and it is great. I think I left it in primary to long maybe (30 days) and it lost a few of the great esters that you get from the bottled NB stuff. It's still great though and pretty close. Maybe missing some of the chewieness of the NB beer.

I fermented around 65*.

Thanks for the replies. I am definitely looking to go all-grain with this, and I'm torn on whether I want to bottle or keg it. I'm looking at this for my next batch.

I brewed the following recipe back on November 23, 2009. I just opened my first bottle today, and it is a really tasty beer. Roasty, a little bready, dark and IMO, very drinkable. I don't know how close it is to NB 1554 because I've only had one in my life (it inspired me to try and brew it), but it is damn good. I call it "Darkness". Here's the 411:

Darkness
23-A Specialty Beer
Author: Marc L.
Date: 11/23/09

Size: 6 gal
Efficiency: 80.35%
Attenuation: 68.6%
Calories: 171.32 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.051 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 24.26 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 4.59% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 26.7 (0.0 - 100.0)

Ingredients:
6.0 lb 2-Row Brewers Malt
2 lb Biscuit Malt (Mout Roost 50)
1.0 lb Crystal Malt 120°L
1.0 lb Vienna Malt
.5 lb Special B - Caramel malt
.5 lb Wheat Malt
2 oz De-Bittered Black Malt (Mout Roost 1400)
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt
.5 oz Northern Brewer (9.8%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
.5 oz Saaz (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min
.5 oz Northern Brewer (9.8%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
.5 oz Saaz (5.8%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
0.0 ea White Labs WLP810 San Fransisco Lager

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 5.0 gal; Strike: 166.14 °F; Target: 151.0 °F
01:03:00 Sach Rest - Rest: 60 min; Final: 149.1 °F
01:03:00 Sparge - First Runnings: 0.0 gal sparge @ 168.0 °F, 0.0 min; Sparge #1: 3.38 gal sparge @ 201.0 °F, 0.0 min; Total Runoff: 6.88 gal

Notes
Mash temp was lower than planned...150-151.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.3

KayaBrew's recipe is probably closer. I had 1554 again recently in a pub and I got a lot of dark crystal out of it, more than I had remembered. Go light on the roasty grains, a little chocolate and some Carafa special / debittered malt. I wouldn't think there was anything but bittering hop additions in there.

The two descriptions which I got from a friend and this board (but both straight from NB), both said only bittering hops.