Fat Tire clone

Clone of New Belgium Fat Tire. They're a fantastic brewery, and Fat Tire is an excellent crowd pleaser that's easy to drink and easy to like.

There's a lot of debate about their "house" strain of yeast, which they're unsurprisingly secretive about. I've seen suggestions for Wyeast 1792 (an old limited release that was supposedly Fat Tire's strain), WLP001/Wyeast 1056 American Ale (an obvious go-to), a mix of that and Chimay, Wyeast 1272 American Ale II, Nottingham (used in some kits), Wyeast 3655-PC Belgian Schelde Ale (sub WLP515), or Wyeast 1746-PC Pacman (sub Imperial A18 Joystick). I'm trying the Pacman as another homebrewer reported success with it. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/heavily-researched-fat-tire-clone-grain-bill-hop-schedule-what-yeast.167754/

From an interview with a former head brewer at New Belgium: "When trying to emulate Fat Tire Amber Ale, Bouckaert advises that you pay particular attention to the malt bill and the aging process. 'We have a malt character that asks for a lot of light-colored malts,' he says. 'Specialty, Munich and light caramel malts comprise up to 30 percent. For the signature toasted biscuit flavor of this brown-amber beer, add from 5 to 10 percent of malts with a nutty character.' For hops, he recommends shooting for 16 IBUs with a subtle late addition of aroma or dry hops. 'Don't use Cascade or other overpowering hops,' Bouckaert adds." That said, their website lists it as 22 IBUs.