New Belgium Brewing: Part 1 Fat Tire

After being laid up for a week from the flu, I fled cold New England for beautiful Virginia countryside, and I couldn't be happier. And as a New England beer drinker, I've heard many gushing tales of a lovely elixir drank from a can while hiking up the Rocky Mountains or skiing around Aspen or whatever. I still get requests at the store from customers looking for it. That beer is New Belgium Brewing Company's Fat Tire amber ale. In 2012 New Belgium Brewing was the 3rd largest craft brewer in America based on volume of Sales behind Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada. And yet I could never get it in Massachusetts, so within an hour or setting foot on the soil of Virginia, I walked into a supermarket and bought a 12 pack of Fat Tire in cans, and mixed up a 6 pack of some of their other offerings, most likely to the chagrin of the staff at Krogers fine supermarkets, but what they don't know can't hurt me I guess.
It's not a top rated hop bomb or hard to find Trappist beer, but I was super excited to crack open a Fat Tire for the first time. And while attempting to keep my expectations down I wasn't disappointed at what I got, an excellently well balanced amber all, with some nice sweetness and just a touch of bitter in the finish.
It's really a beer that I can get behind, a simple sipper beer that, if I'm really in the mood, can down an entire 6 pack (which I did the first night, I'm on vacation, don't judge) and love the taste of it the entire way through. Nothing to overpower my dinner or to leave me feeling too stuffed to move. Love it, and can't wait to buy a 12 pack of Pale Lager and see how the other yeast lives. Coming soon.