#48 – Flat Tire

Style: American Amber
Batch size: 5 gallons
Brewed: May 4, 2013
Bottled: May 25, 2013
OG: 1.065  FG: 1.014
IBUs: 38  ABV: 6.7%

Grains
5 lb Belgian Pale Malt
5 lb Munich Malt
1 lb Victory Malt
8 oz Biscuit Malt
4 oz Caramel Malt (80L)

Hops
90 min: 1 oz Northern Brewer (10.6% AA)
15 min: 0.5 oz Cascade (6.7% AA)
0 min: 0.5 oz Cascade (6.7% AA)

Yeast
2 liter starter of Denny's Favorite 50 (Wyeast #1450)

I realize that the general sentiment towards New Belgium (and specifically Fat Tire) is pretty negative these days, and while I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion, it can’t be denied that New Belgium has certainly made a strong impact in the market. I’m sure this alone is the reason for so much ire…when something gets popular, it can’t be good. But when I go somewhere, I’d rather see all New Belgium handles, than even one single InBev or SAB handle.

So the base of this recipe was inspired by Fat Tire, found on HomeBrewTalk, and I’ve only changed out the yeast, and the flavor/aroma hop. Fat Tire’s biscuity malt flavor is what I am really after here…it is the part of the beer that I love most. When it comes to the hops, it was Boulder Beer’s Hazed & Infused that made me really appreciate bright hop flavor and aroma in an amber (which is typically a pretty boring style…when it comes to hops). Decided to go with some Cascade at 15 min and flame-out, see how it goes this time around, and possibly amp it up in the future (dry hop?!?).

2 thoughts on “#48 – Flat Tire

  1. Ouch, busting on InBev and SAB in one foul swoop! Well hippie, you best check yourself!
    Miller is acceptable as far as piss-beer is concerned. Sometimes you are thirsty, and non-alcoholic water is not desired – Miller Lite is a good alternative to H2O.
    Outside of my hatred for hippies, generalizations like you made are crap! 😛

  2. I guess if the water source was questionable, Miller would do.

    However, I’d say I gave more of an opinion as opposed to a generalization. If you want a generalization, I’ll surely provide one: brewers are beer snobs 😉

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