Nugget Nectar has landed

I've been drinking the 1/2/2014 and it's been phenomenal.

 

Damn you 8 county guys. We have to wait until next week down here.

Last year when the cases first were released it sold out in many places in hours down here in the Philly area. I hope the hype is a little less this year.

 

Buddys Brews on Carson Street just got quite a few cases in. I'd call to be sure they're still in.

 

Was the brewery today. On tap NN was great, haven't gotten into the bottles yet.

I also got a growler of the Scratch Series 130 IPA. Pretty good

 

hopefully by the time this hits NJ it isn't more than a month old, like Lagunitas Sucks was when it finally hit -- and it tasted predominantly malty as a result. you'd think that beer distributors would realize that hoppy beers are time-sensitive.

 

Troegs has said they're making another batch for their other markets - in other words, the stuff bottled in late Dec and early Jan that their 8 county radius got is not going to be what everyone else gets. There are still batches being bottled.

 

They had better keep bottling it, the supply is just getting started, we have a solid 3 months or so of solid availability. I'm going to call today to see when they expect it landing here in the Philly area.

 

Beer Yard expects it this week.

 

This mentality that seems to be prominent on the BA forums about super-fresh IPAs is getting ridiculous. I have a hard time believing this beer completely lost it's hop flavors within a month. Maybe it's not quite as strong as fresh, but not gone. I've homebrewed some IPAs that are big on late hops and dry hopped, that I've drank over the course of a couple months after first bottling, and the hop flavors do not fall off that fast.

If you really want your beers that fresh, then don't buy beer that has traveled almost 3,000 miles. Instead go get some growler fills from your local brewery.

 

It definitely isn't a myth. But some beers are clearly more delicate than others. Having said that, imho NN seems to hold up pretty good for a hoppy imperial amber. In my experience, id say its good up to 4 months.
Sucks... nah you want Sucks as fresh as possible.

edit: of course, results will vary

 

It sucks being one of the last to get distribution but just think of all the early people who will be jealous of us getting our first NN in mid Feb. when they can't get anymore. A mid Feb. distribution also means that if I buy enough and keep it in the fridge, I can enjoy some when the weather warms up.

 

Yeah, I bought a case last year that was bottled in early April, so they'll keep putting out fresh batches over the next few months.

 

Sounds like you need to go teach this inferior brewers a thing or two.

 

I felt this way as well until I did some experimenting and taste tasting of my own and some beers do fall off rather quickly (e.g. Flower Power, Bell's Two Hearted, DFH 60 Minute). I still found them to be enjoyable beers, though, and in some ways even more so than when super fresh; I could see why the uber hop heads would want certain beers to be really fresh, though.

 

Yeah and I bet they weren't in the bottle at room temp or higher for those few months. Your beer in your kegerator is different than a bottle subjected to shipping and distributors/retailers.

 

No, my point was that the problem isn't with the beer, it's with the exaggerated tasting claims of some people on BA. My homebrews are just the best example that I have of personally tasting hoppy beers as they get progressively older.

Go read the endless "Drain pour" forum thread and it's full of people either trolling, having crazy or false expectations, or hopefully just lying about actually pouring out the beer.

 

That's my point. The beer may change a bit, but not "predominantly malty as a result".

 

I just started kegging, so for those beers the first few weeks would have been at room temp as they were carbonating up. Then slowly put into the fridge as I wanted them to drink.

This time of year with Nugget Nectar, even cases of beer sitting in un-refrigerated trucks or warehouses are going to be at lower temperatures due to the weather.

 

Me included, I like my hoppy beers super fresh. I bought a case of Fat Heads Head Hunter back in September and have been slowly drinking them. I had not noticed drop off in flavor until this past week. After not having a bottle for about 3 weeks, I now taste that the beer is becoming more malt heavy. Is it still good? Yes, but it's no where near how good it was fresh, most of the tropical fruit flavor is going away. Beer flavor can change quickly.

So....in relation to NN. No doubt the beer loses freshness and flavor as it ages, but I don't notice that much change in a month. 6 months? You bet....longer? No doubt. I've proven this years past keeping older bottles around just to see how they change.

 

my local beer distributor just posted on Facebook that they have cases of NN in. So it's hit Montgomery County.