Troegs Brewing Co. Nugget Nectar
It happens every spring. As the weather turns towards warmer temperatures and more sun, my enjoyment of hoppy IPAs is renewed. I find myself browsing store shelves looking for my favorite hoppy beers – Green Flash West Coast IPA, Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye and Racer 5, Founders Double Trouble, Victory Hop Wallop, Smuttynose IPA, and others. Instead of imperial stouts enjoyed while sitting in front of a warm fire, I find myself looking forward to savoring an IPA while sitting on the porch, basking in a late-evening sun.
And so a couple of weeks ago I finally noticed those bottles of Troegs’ Nugget Nectar sitting on the shelf. It comes out in February, but it wasn’t until the start of March that my eyes opened up enough to see it. Having heard about what a great, hoppy beer it was, I decided that it was time to give it a try.
Nugget Nectar is brewed by Troegs every February. The original gravity is right around 1.076, based on the ABV of 7.5%, and the beer weighs in with “93ish” IBUs. The malt bill includes Pilsner, Vienna, and Munich, and the hops used include Nugget, Warrior, Tomahawk, Simcoe, and Palisade. More varieties of hops than you typically find in a beer, even for a double IPA. And those are just the hops used in the boil. After cooling, the wort is run through a hopback that contains whole leaf Nugget hops, and then the beer is dry-hopped with Nugget and Warrior hops. So exciting, a total showcase for hops!
The result? An impressive, delicious, very refreshing beer.
Tasting Notes
Nugget Nectar pours crystal clear, light amber in color, with a fluffy white head that forms and drops slowly, leaving loads of lacing on the glass. The nose is a veritable citrus bomb! Grapefruit, lemon, lime, and pine hop aromas explode out of the glass. A hint of malt peeks in, but this is a hop show. On the palate, the beer is crisp and light, with citrusy hop flavors and a notable if not overwhelming degree of leafy hop bitterness. A welcome yet soft malt backbone supports the hops. The finish is a bracing clash of bitter hops and sweet malt. The bitterness really leaps in with both feet, followed by a wave of sweet malt.
In sum: wow! This beer is great. Supremely hoppy in a very refreshing way, and ably hiding the 7.5% alcohol. Not thick and syrupy the way some high-IBU beers are, instead this one really showcased beautiful hop aromas and flavors, providing just enough malt to keep it almost (but thankfully not entirely) balanced.
Go get some before it’s all gone!
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