Troegs Nugget Nectar

That's the spirit!

 

Troegs to me is very consistent with their other beers, seasonals included. I'm enjoying a First Cut right now and I'll drink a ton of their other stuff throughout the year.

I've had enough NN over the years to know when it's on like my first purchase this year, or when it's lacking like my 2nd buy. I have no desire to rip Troegs. I love this beer when it's dialed in.

 

How'd you get First Cut?

 

Local Wegmans had it, $9.99. Best by 5/31/18.

 

Damn. I was under the impression it was being released on 2/5.

 

They also had NN on the floor a few days before the Scranton area was supposed to have it. We're usually behind other areas, so I'll gladly take these early releases when I can.

 

It's never a bad beer unless it's over two months old, then the Amber malty thing comes into play. Even then it's not bad just not optimum. I'm enjoying a few right now, right out of the can, but im not sure what people are expecting here. Its not a hoppy monster, it's just a well balanced Amber hoppy ale. That's all it is, it's not pretending to big double, a super hoppy IPA. I really like this beer, guys who dislike hoppy bitter IPAs might like this beer. But that said I think thers some definite ups and downs, but the downs don't make it bad just a bit different.

 

Indeed. Exclusive of Nugget Nectar, though, which Troegs beers are extremely variable? Outside of Troegs, which other brewery of their size has flagship or seasonal beers that are extremely variable?

I'm confused about it as well. This complaining and ranting have been going on for YEARS, however, and has no basis in reality. Personally, I think the people that complain are just looking to have their palates and opinions held in high esteem with complaints of things being off. Don't you think that if Troegs actually had an issue with consistency and someone pointed it out that they'd pay attention to it and they'd fix it?

No, that bit's 100% accurate. It falls off like a rock. Just like any other hoppy beer with Munich in its grainbill does, though.

 

I has two 12 packs of Celebration this year, the first was phenominal, the second two weeks later from the same store, so I'm assuming the same batch, was not very good. The difference between the two was noticible, and why was that? Not a clue, and IMO SN is at the head of the class when it comes to quality, available, and consistency. It wasn't in my head I wasn't expecting anything but what I had two weeks prior. I'm sure it's not in my head that NN can be up and down, or maybe more accurately different. Spread over multiple years I believe this to be true, why? I don't know it just is.

 

If you knew the batches this would be a better anecdote because saying that there is batch to batch variation is one thing. Drinking old or mishandled beer is yet another.

 

This is my first time trying Nugget Nectar, so I have no previous comparison. However, the can says the beer is "excessively dry-hopped...an explosion of pine, resin and mango" which set my expectations.

I'm halfway through a six-pack of cans BB 5/17/18. I got minimal hops on the nose, and the hops on the sip were subtle. A touch of fruitiness with some lasting bitterness (didn't taste like 90+ IBUs?). I found the alcohol a bit hot, and the beer overall fairly average.

I was rather disappointed given my expectations. Maybe it was the hype, maybe it was the overblown marketing language.

I know my palate has been shut down at times recently with some sinus congestion, but I think after 3 tries I can say that this beer is not gonna do it for me.

 

Once more with feeling!:

I agree with @ESHBG that it's not a quality issue per se. It just seems that Troegs has a particularly broad definition of the flavor profile with this beer; why that is we can only speculate. However, if we were to compare the 'low' end to the 'high' end of what's released in any particular year we would see obvious differences. Furthermore, I would bet that the production within this range is grouped like a bell curve, with the majority of it in the center (doubles and triples, per my baseball analogy earlier in the thread, and perfectly acceptable beers) so getting a single can be disappointing, although it doesn't represent the majority of what's released.

As to the falling off, the batch I got a couple of weeks ago had POP. Now it only has pop . But I did go back for more after my initial sixer, which is normal practice these days. Keep in mind that this is a beer a lot of us would buy by the case many years ago, but have become more cautious since then.

The so-called 'complaining and ranting' seem to me to come from a different place- it's more about crowd sourcing info to help each other out and avoid certain bottling dates. And we've been doing it so long it has become an annual event all its own . Sorry to be so annoying, but I'm just trying to be helpful to the gang.

 

If you were expecting a modern hop bomb, then you certainly can expect to be disappointed with beers like Nugget Nectar and Celebration.

 

"Be careful of batch number x" is VERY far removed from "Troegs is inept and unethical".

 

Just a footnote.

From my perspective this "variability" issue has only really started being a concern since PA loosened their laws to move away from the "case only" sales by retail distributors. I'd order a case annually, it arrived fresh and still sealed and always less that two weeks after bottling. For the first week or two after bottling I'd find the hops just a bit harsh. Then the flavor profile would smooth out and hit what for me was it's sweet spot, which lasted from about 2 to 6 weeks of bottle age. Then the hops would begin to decline and the malt flavors would become more forward. (Still drinkable but not in the sweet spot for me any longer.)

So I'm suspecting that the beer may be more sensitive than many to being mishandled in the distribution chain.

 

Agreed- at this point Troegs might be doing themselves more harm than good with that copy.

 

No argument there.

 

My memory may be fuzzy at this point, but I've been associating it with the "new" brewery and scaling up, but who knows.