Someone Tell Me About Fat Tire Ale

Any good? Worth making a clone? I hear alot of people talking about it but am unable to get it down here in SE GA.

 

Good beer. If I remember right, it's been a prize winner for New Belguim Brewery. My very first brew was a Fat Tire from a kit. I now have a Fat Tire Clone in the primary ready to rack to secondary (my 8th brew.)

 

good amber ale. I've made a Fat Tire clone from Austin homebrew (www.austinhomebrew.com) that was very good

 

I like it as well. Very smooth beer, with a great taste. Very worthy of cloning.

 

Fat tire's my personal favorite beer, I've got my first clone in primary right now. I would definitely give it a try.

 

I also like Fat Tire. Very good taste. I made a clone but messed it up. Didn't taste anything like the original. May try it again.

 

I like it too. I have to give full credit to Fat Tire as being the beer that started turning my tastes toward craft beer instead of BMC.

I haven't had one in years, but I drank it back in the late 90's when it was all over Omaha.

I'm glad I found the clone recipe for it, even if it isn't right on it brings back pretty good taste memories. :rockin:

 

yeah, my roommate just brewed his fat tire brown ale clone yesterday. i also have never tasted it, but it smelled dang good. it seems like quite the popular beer to brew though, i'll try to look for it next time.

 

It recently became available in my area, so I grabbed one. It's good, it has a nutty flavor that I have never tasted in beer before. So, I'm brewing what I hope is a good clone of it Monday.

If you decide to brew a clone, I'd stay away from the recipes that feature Belgian yeasts. According to my local beer guru, New Belgium uses fairly traditional American Ale yeasts.

 

I'm drinking one now that was brewed with Belgian yeast...it tastes just like Fat Tire. Personally I don't think the yeast makes a great deal of difference with Fat Tire, because the bisquit malt flavor is so dominant.

 

You wouldn't happen to have the recipe, would you? I want to see how it compares to mine.

 

Fat Tire Clone
9 oz US 80°L Crystal Malt
6½ oz German Munich Malt
4½ oz Aromatic Malt
3 oz Belgian Biscuit Malt
4½ lb. Alexanders Pale LME
2½ lb. Munton’s Extra Light DME
1/3 oz. Yakima Magnum @ 15%AA (5 HBU)
1/2 oz. Hallertau
1 tsp. Irish Moss
1/4 oz. Willamette
WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast

This is taken from Beer Captured, with a couple of mods. My LHBS doesn't carry Victory malt...he claims it's the same thing as bisquit malt, and suggested I try a little aromatic malt instead. I did that and liked it, but I think next time I'd drop one of the two (bisquit or aromatic) just a bit, as the "bisquit" quality is pretty pronounced. Also, I think I'd add a bit more Yakima as it's not quite balanced, and somehow it needs that faint pepper hint that the real Fat Tire has...I'm not sure if that's supposed to come from the yeast or the flavor hops.

 

Here's a Fat Tire tribute kit from my LHBS - basically all the same ingredients El Pistolero listed:

http://www.undergrounddigital.com/perfectsignature.htm(middle of the page).

I'll also add my endorsement for Fat Tire as a very good beer - it's not hard to get around Chicago, but I tend to only drink it when I'm skiing out west. Very common in the bars around the resorts.

FWIW, the Wee Heavy just below on the page is what's currently in my Primary. If it's 1/10th as good as the original it'll be in heavy rotation in my future brews.

 

yeast always makes a difference, especially with a belgian. northern brewer has a good recipe with the particular yeast new belgium uses, or they did have. i'd like availability of clones for some of their other beers also. i think it's worth brewing.

 

I tried Fat Tire when I was in Arizona... did not like, but I had 2 just to be sure. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it had a slight "peachy" undertone, subtle, but enough that I noticed.

 

Tried it....and was kind of underwhelmed. It's been that way with every New Belgium beer I've tried. I like other Belgians more than Mothership Wit, and other black lagers more than 1554.....

 

I lived in Colorado for about 10 years and this was always the house "standard" of many people. I loved it, then kind of OD'd on it after a while.

It was one of the first microbrews to burst on a bigger scene out of Colorado, and helped push New Belgium to a new level. Excellent taste for the style, and you will be surprised at how it doesn't really fit any mold. It is one of those types of beers that pretty much everyone likes, from the BMC group to "I only drink good micros" types.

Sweeter taste with just a bit of sourness, and not hoppy at all, at least not in a sense of other craft beers we see. Good all around year beer, but not a summer chug beer.

I would doubt that anyone would not like the beer or style.

 

Add me to the list that is not a fan of Fat Tire.

As a Colorado native, I've noticed that you pretty much get inundated with Fat Tire as the one beer on tap that isn't BMC. I'm not saying that it's not a good beer, as so many like it, but it feels like it's reached the Sam Adams level in these parts where it's the only tap in many restaurants that doesn't have the word "Lite" on it.

Having said that, I'll stand behind any of the Denver area micros and would urge you to give a go.

On a side note, New Belgium's best beer, IMO, is the 1554.

 

+1 here. 1554 is one of my faves to get when i'm out west. also a big 90 Shilling fan.

 

I'm not a huge fat tire fan either. It's decent for the price, and better than a lot of beers, but relatively bland. I did like the mothership wit though, pretty good representation of the style.

 

I also thing 1554 is their best brew. I do like the seasonal 2 below also

 

Fat tire is a great beer! It is pretty much my "BMC". I don't think you could ever go wrong with it. I think there are alot of other great brews out there some are even better than Fat Tire, but for an amber it is truly in a class of its own. I think NB's best beer is their Abbey Ale, and Mighty Arrow is quite the delicious spicy pale ale. To each their own though.

 

I wouldn't brew the Midwest kit for Fat Tire. I brewed the extract with the BelAbby alternative liquid yeast and its not good at all. Its been in the bottle for 2 months now and its still not good. I can drink it but its really nothing I would want to make again. I do like Fat Tire and would like to make an AG clone at some point. I also like the Mothership Wit, Mighty Arrow pale ale and 1554 although the 1554 is a 1-2 beer max for me due to the robust flavors.

 

I hadn't had a Fat Tire in a while and thought that I didn't really like it anymore.

Well I decided to buy a 12 pack as it was on sale and proved myself wrong. It is a great beer and has got me thinking about a clone down the road.

I have brewing the mini-mash kit from NB before and turned out ok, but not as good as the original.

Also has anyone else noticed a very distinct taste difference sometimes. I swear I have gotten 2 tastes from Fat Tire both in the bottle let alone on draft is totally different too. Makes me wonder if it is bottle conditioned?

 

fat tire is a tough one to nail down. ive been trying it for years and haven' got it to where i want it. i just brewed one yesterday, actually. i use a belgian saison yeast to get that earthy-malt taste. we'll see.

 

FYI Costco sells Fat Tire 18 bucks for a case here in AZ! Thats a GONGA. I wish they had a Variety Pack Case

 

I brewed Midwest clone kit and it taste nothing like fat tire. I thought it tasted horrible at first so i let it sit longer since i didn't like it. It now taste pretty good but nothing like fat tire. I have had people say they liked it and people say they didn't even want to finish it.

I would advise against Belgian yeast when trying to brew a fat tire clone.

 

From Fred's Beer Page:

"If you do not know who this brewery is, they make a beer called Fat Tire. Apparently Fat Tire can allow people to attain spiritual enlightenment, cure cancer, will balance the debt, and restore the ozone layer. Just kidding, but a lot of people really seem to desire this beer, so get ready, because the wait is about to be over."

 

Seriously. I remember when I first joined HBT. All I heard was how awesome Fat Tire was from a lot of people. We didn't have it in Ohio at the time so I never tried it until I came out to Chicago.

Its good. Not ridiculously awesome and perfect in every way, but its good. If Ambers are your thing.

 

If you've not decided yet, don't wanna read the whole thread as my laptop is going to die any second, Make Dude's Clone! I am drinking it right now. I just put it on gas a week and a half ago and it's friggin fantastic. My best homebrew yet!

 

BYO magazine has a clone for Fat Tire.I haven't brewed it so don't know how it tastes.Here it is if interested. Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - New Belgium's Fat Tire Clone -

 

That looks good, I will have to try it soon.

 

i may be on to something with the saison yeast. i have tried every combo of grains bills and come up short. i think they have some special yeast strain made for them. almost all of their beers have the same yeast character. i just bought some bombers while working on the outer banks of NC (since i cant get it her in VA beach). the 1554 and the mothership wit both have this similar yeast flavor that is unique. i am stoked to have some New Belgium in the fridge as my wife spent a lot of time in colorado snowboarding when she was younger. i was quite popular when i got home.

 

The Wife and I went to a tasting a couple of weeks ago when New Belgium came to NC.

I didn't particularly care for the Fat Tire.

I hated the Wit.

But the 1554..... Was very good!

 

When I lived in Denver 15 years ago I was introduced to Fat Tire and loved it. It is probably the main reason I got into homebrewing. I will second all who say a clone is worth trying. +1 on the 2 below

 

Yea, I brewed the same kit from midwest and while it was good. It tasted nothing like fat tire. They dont put any/enough biscuit malt in it for some reason. I was really pissed though when I brewed it cause a couple days after I brewed the special Fat tire yeast strain was released. I wanted to buy it and store it but I was about to go back to college and didnt have the time to properly culture the yeast, etc.

Did anyone who bought the fat tire yeast have any that they stored that I could buy from them?

I want to try my hand at another clone. Fat tire isn't bottle conditioned I assume so I couldn't get my hands on some and culture yeast from it huh?

 

Wyeast has released the Fet Tire yeast as a VSS strain in the past, but it baffles me to think there's any Belgian character in Fat Tire at all. Just because they're called "New Belgium" doesn't mean they're using Belgian yeast.

I would go more neutral on the yeast profile on this beer. Yes, they use a house strain, but from everything I read it is similar to cali ale, but it might attenuate a little less, leaving a slightly maltier beer. The flavor in Fat Tire is from the malts (lots of biscuit) and not so much the yeast.

 

Fat Tire is a completely underwhelming beer. There is nothing offensive about it, but also, nothing makes it stand out from the pack.

Of course, there may not have been much of a "pack" when New Belgium started brewing.

They do make fine brews, just not Fat Tire

I would prefer to clone New Belgium's Abbey, Trippel, 1554, Sunshine Wheat...almost anything to producing a clone of an unremarkable beer.

 

I wish I could clone La Folie.

 

I'm confused!

The other night I had a Fat Tire at the local watering hole and enjoyed a nice malty ale. Tonight I had a Fat Tire Amber Ale I bought from the local grocery store and it Tastes a lot like the Mothership Wit I had the other day.


What's gives? It Fat Tire Amber Ale a Wit, or have Wit overtones? I'm definitely getting the coriander.

Or does my local bar have the wrong beer hooked up?