Hi Sam and welcome to the forum ,

Cloning commercial craft beers is a difficult process for a number of reasons:

1. They often change from batch to batch, sometimes significantly.
2. Even on the same batch, transportation can have significant effects. So, what is a great beer in my location might arrive to you as being lame and vice versa.
3. Often you will get little, no or conflicting information on the beer.

I actually can't think of a single commercial craft beer that has maintained consistency over any period of time. And, I've had a beer in Eastern Australia, loved it and flown back to Western Australia, had the same beer and hated it.

So, I think the best place to start in your situation is to think on what you love about the beer you tasted. Then see if you can narrow it down to a defined style (BJCP or similiar) as that will give you an idea of the main ingredients.

Then, formulate your recipe with reasons why you are using each ingredient and its quantities. Post it here and see if anyone can improve on your reasoning.

Manage Your Expectations

I've actually done a few clones from scratch and they worked out really well (surprised myself!). Some other beers though, that I've brewed in the past, I can't brew now, even though I'm using the same recipe. This baffled me for a long time until I stumbled across some obscure info I won't go into now as I'm out of time.

Main point is to come up with a plan/recipe and then brew it. The result will either be a match to what you are trying to do or something different, maybe even better? If possible, before you taste, put all expectations out of your mind and pretend this is the first beer you have ever tasted. In other words, blank your mind before analysing.

If you post your recipe here before brewing, you won't end up with a dud so, be confident and post your plan.


PP