New Belgium Fat Tire

Brewed by New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Bottle is neat. Pours a clear topaz with a one finger whitish head. Nutty aroma, like cooking flour for a roux. Flavor is similar to the nose. Some spice, nutty flour like flavor with unsweetened tea, slighty floral. Very drinkable for a grocery store brew and as a typical amber. Ranks probably as a third tier beer. Better than a mass produced but not as good as some solid craft brewed bigs.

12 oz. single picked up at Riverside Wine and Spirits in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Best Before: 24APR09. Appearance: Pours a clear, bright amber body with a large, frothy, white head. Fine, thin lacing throughout. Smell: Aroma smelling of biscuits and uncooked dough with a tiny note of fruit and spicy, floral hop scents. Taste: Biscuity malts with a light sweetness. Lightly nutty initially, but as it warms, it develops into more of a grain flavor. Very light hint of pear fruitiness. Floral, spicy hop character with a light bitterness. Finishes dry and crisp. Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: Simple but highly drinkable and refreshing. It leaves me wondering exactly why the public latched onto this with a fervency and cult following.

Hazy light brown with small bubbly head. Sweet and malty with a hint of hops, Very drinkable and decent beer.

Sure, it’s not the greatest beer I’ve ever had, but it is a solid entry by the wonderful New Belgium brewery. Relatively bread-ey, but I haven’t been able to detect anything too complicated in the taste aside from some indeterminate spices.

Crushed with Jakebra. Very biscuty and bready. I only like ambers with lots of hops. The maltiness doesn’t appeal to me. Could be worse I guess...

22oz bottle from dakid. Pours a clear dark amber color with a thick and foamy white head that settles slowly and heavily laces the glass. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of caramel, honey, roasted veggies, some slight nutty and spice notes. Flavor is also sweet and malty with a muted candy sugar note and overtones of caramel, roasted malt, toast, yeast, grass and hints of fruit. Generally medium body with a malty sweet finish.

Thanks to my girlfriend for bring me back this bomber and a matching pint glass from her recent trip to Fort Collins, CO. 22oz brown bottle, with freshness stamp on label (16JAN09). Poured into a Fat Tire pint glass. Appearance: Bright amber and really clear. A thick, fluffy white head formed, and faded slowly leaving a little lacing, and a stable coat across the surface. Nose: Roasted malt (I think of a really mild lapsang souchong), black tea, some fruity-esters. This is what I imagine a traditional British house to smell like around the holidays. Palate: That roasty/smoked black tea thing is amazing and mingles with flavors of citrus and glazed pear tarts. The carbonation is rather light, and the beer is really balanced between bitterness and fruitiness. The underlying earthiness (tea) is a perfect addition to this amber ale. Way out on the finish, there is a note of nutmeg or clove. Notes: A really drinkable beer, I see why people ask for it constantly out here on the East Coast (I’ve worked in Boston, and now in Burlington, VT). It packs a lot of flavor for a beer that seems very filtered and/or racked. I was expecting something more Belgian in style (this is my first experience with a New Belgium brew), but find it to be very British in character. Anyone else get that? (The only exception to this is my later discovery of a spice note, way out on the finish and as the beer warms. Clove?)

Pours amber with a light beige head. Biscuity malt and light hops in the nose. Flavor is toasty malt, caramel, and a little bitteness in the finish.