“100% Wisconsin malt of six different varieties impart the natural toasted color to this bottle conditioned unfiltered ale. Clean hazelnut notes result from these carefully chosen barley malts. Hops from Slovenia, Bavaria and the Pacific Northwest give Fat Squirrel its backbone. When the going gets tough, remember to relax a moment and enjoy the “Fat Squirrel” in your neighborhood.”

Drink Indigenous: The motto of the local Wisconsin brewery. Only the locals and those visiting “America’s Dairyland” are privileged enough to sample the line of fine brews from New Glarus, which have never been distributed beyond state lines. Being that I’m currently only about 2.5 hours from New Glarus, I’ve had the opportunity to sample a few of their beers both on draft and bottled. If you haven’t already realized, this post is going to focus on my thoughts of their year round brown ale offering; Fat Squirrel.
Fat Squirrel is a nut brown ale, that I would say is brewed on par to the style and very drinkable at 5.8% ABV. From the bottle, it pours an amber color and remarkably clear for an unfiltered beer. After pouring, there is almost no head and the head that does develop dissipates quickly. With a whiff of this beer, the aroma smells rich with a hint of brown sugar/maple syrup with a malty background, almost no smell of hops.
With the first taste, I can already tell this a beer I’ll definitely enjoy. The medium, light body of this beer makes it go down smooth, but high carbonation levels almost seem to take away from it. My initial thoughts upon first sip was lots of caramel with a nice bready, malty finish. The brown sugar shines through in the taste of this beer as well as standing out in it’s aroma. I enjoyed the way the taste lingered on the back of my tongue between sips. This brew finishes pretty dry, making it easy to kick back with a few.
After enjoying a six pack of this, I can see why New Glarus keeps this beer on rotation year round.
Stay tuned for my thoughts on other offerings from Wisconsin’s favorite craft brewer!


with acidic/tannic prickliness. As it has warmed up and my pallet has become accustomed to the flavors the flavor of the beer has evolved. The intense sourness has tapered off and the earthy complex components have come forward. I really enjoy the California versions of lambics. I wish they would make more of this stuff.
was buying my ingredients. But they did have a Belgian Golden Strong Ale yeast (Duval). So I ended up with a hybrid of a beer. This was my first all grain beer and I has turned out very well. There is an aroma to it that I do not like but the flavor is awesome. 
































