BeerBorg

I'm heading to the LHBS tomorrow to pickup ingredients for the next three brewing days - plan on brewing this weekend, then every 3 weeks. I'm doing a few Mr. Beer batches to use up inventory, but want to make an amber. We like Killian's (I know it's a lager), want something like that, not strong hops.

I found Mackinac Island Red from Adventures in Homebrewing.

7.2 lbs Pale LME
8 oz Crystal 120
6 oz Amber
1 oz Northern Brewer hops at 60
1 oz Fuggle hops at 5.
S05 yeast (they list liquid yeasts first, I like working with dry yeast).

I'm mildly concerned that the Northern Brewer hops might not be to my liking. I found a description that says "A strong fragrant hop with a rich rough-hewn flavor and aroma, ideal for steam-style beers and ales. Northern Brewer has a unique mint-like evergreen flavor. "

"Strong" and "mint-like" concern me. I don't like mint, nor the smell of it...

Suggestions? Other extract recipes for a red that's more malty than hoppy? Should I replace the Northern Brewer hops with Cascade? I'm pretty close to a "hop virgin". I used Kent Goldings, Liberty and Willamette (60,25,15) on my Caribou Slobber and Saaz on my Blue Moon and none of those resulted in us not liking either brew. I also have an ounce of Mosaic that I got in early May (still sealed) for free, haven't used it.

Edit - I went with the recipe, the owner said that I won't notice the taste aspects of Northern Brewer hops using them as bittering so not to worry. I got US Northern, not the UK, wasn't sure and it probably doesn't matter a lot. Plan on brewing this on Sunday and splitting into two LBKs.

Have you tried:

1 can: Brew Demons Hell Fire Deep Red Ale
1 can: Brew Demon Red Horse Mellow Amber

Use these 2 cans as you would any other Mr. Beer or Bred Demon Recipe.
Pretty basic recipe but tastes good not too heavy on the hops.

Or try:
1 can of each of the following. Brew Demon Wild Spirit IPA and Red Horse Mellow Amber. I tried this to cut the bitter hop flavor down on their IPA Recipe it cut it down for me I dont like IPA'S just gecause of the over strong hoppy smell and flavor.

Hope this helps...

Thanks, but I'm done with HME's. Now doing UMEs, steeped grains, and hops. Less expensive, more satisfying to make. 5 gal for $21 and change on this one.

As for substituting the hops, BeerSmith suggested substituting the Northern Brewer with Hallertauer or its varietals (Hersbrucker, Mittelfrueh). But I noticed you already got the stuff to brew this. It definitely gets more satisfying to brew when you start controlling more of the ingredients it took to make it, plus it starts to get cheaper.