Nugget Nectar non-hype

I remember a few years back going to the store nearly everyday in late Jan, trying to catch its arrival. Nowadays I see it all over the place. It's still as good as ever, there's just so much else out there now locally, I usually pick up 2-3 bottles and that's it.

It doesn't fall in the haze/juice bucket..#1 reason why hype has diminished.

 

As Celtics76 sez, it's all over the place now. I enjoyed it this year as much as ever, maybe more, but that could be a "current state of the palate" thing. Got a couple 6 packs, and pints at several area watering holes. It's a top beer. I look forward to it every year. I've always thought if they made it year round, It would be my number one go to beer, but just maybe part of its appeal is the 3-4 month availability.

I remember at one year Troegs had it on at the brewery in the summer, and were up front that it wasn't going to be the same taste as in winter. I tried it, and nope, not the same beer at all, but still a good drink.

Personally, I didn't care for their newest offering, First Cut. I think NN will be okay, cream always rises to the top.

 

I'd kill for some Nugget Nectar. I moved back home to KY after 6.5 years in up-up-state NY (1hr N of Syracuse) and I miss the Troegs gem

 

Sums it up perfectly.

 

Not sure if Troegs is making more volume, equal or less volume of NN today than say 5-7 years ago, but I think the reality is 2 fold:
1) 5-7 years ago, there was not nearly as much competition or as much quality on store shelves, nor from locals in the hoppy beer segment.
2) people are shifting preferences in what they like in hop forward beers. If NEIPAs were as prevailent 5-7 years ago like they are in last 2-3 year, Nugget Nectar would never have become a famous "beers of fame" seasonal brew. Just a decent well crafted offering and nothing more.

The reality is American brewing/and likelihood of obtaining quality brews today is substantially better than where we were just 5 years ago.

 

Only if you don't count yeast and water.

 

Please don't confuse me with details.

 

Bought a sixer this week. Probably the best batch I've had. More bitter and a bit brighter this year. Felt like it got too sweet and rounded out, lacked bite and distinct hop flavors. Still an annual go-to for me, same with SN Celebration.

 

I agree w/you to some degree -- maybe for mostly sentimental reasons. NN is a good beer that was fun to score -- especially in Boston which used to get a very small drop -- but it's not the it-girl anymore. I was in a VT beer bar today having lunch and a killer Hill Farmstead 2X Galaxy when a middle aged dude sits down next to me w/his son who's going to college in Philly. The guy was pretty knowledgeable on the latest NE beers -- talking up Frost and The Alchemist and TH. I asked them if they had ever sought out Pliny while in PA and the dude says "No - I heard that beer was overrated." I'm not sure what all this means but it's clearly the product of incredible growth and new populations of craft enthusiasts that are sprouting up w/it.

 

"Malt is the soul of beer." - Michael Jackson

@Celtics76 hit the nail on the head. @SunDevilBeer I don't think this trend is going anywhere either. IPA has been growing in popularity for many years now, with no sign of slowing. And while some cut their teeth on the Celebration's and Nugget Nectar of the world, breweries today have isolated the best flavors in those beers ("best" for much of the population, not everyone), those which are fruit-forward, and accented those flavors in today's hazy IPAs.

Bitter flavors and malt backbones in IPAs are less popular, and some breweries are reacting accordingly. Remember Hop Devil and Hop Wallop?

This MAY spell the doom of Nugget Nectar eventually, but that's a tough call. Being seasonal helps. I honestly believe if Celebration was year round they'd eventually have to drop it from their line-up.

Personally, I agree, malt is the soul of beer. I love hazy IPAs, but I also don't really consider them beer. I'm drinking a Swish right now as I type. Before that I had a Gaffel Koelsch. I consider one of those beer, but both are tasty. Which one do you think looks like beer?





The second photo is from this year. And I agree with many of the posters in this thread, one of the better years. And still, one of the better beers. Got a can waiting in the fridge.

 

That Nugget Nectar isn't as good now that it's more available and it was better when it was more rare makes me really want this beer. So, I had a snifter the other day, on tap, and it was an excellent rich, hoppy, malty, beautiful to look at beer. There are lots of better values everywhere, but this "dinosaur" lives!

 

That's kind of my point though. Add yeast and water to sugar and you get alcohol. Without malt it isn't beer.

 

It just means that novices are gonna novice, that's all.

 

I've only been fortunate to have NN a couple of times...but I'd buy it each release if it was available in these parts, caveat being I love hoppy red ales/ambers. I also agree on the comment that if SN Celebration was a year-round beer it would've been phased out by now in all likelihood. So glad it's not, I'm good for 1+ case of that every year...great longevity.

Dramatically different beer climate/offerings vs. a decade ago. I still distinctly remember my first PtE at Jupiter in Berkeley. First beer that ever made me think, "Damn, that is the closest thing I've ever had to a perfect beer." Likely not be viewed that today, especially by someone who's learned on a very different IPA profile as they develop their craft palate (especially if they only drink juice-bombs).

 

Dave, I could say the same thing about hopslam. Nothing has changed, just your and my taste.

I remember when my first BA stout ruined me. Stone IRS just hasn't tasted as good since and it never will.

Good luck in your quest to find quality beers, but you will need to spend more and more every year.

 

That pretty much sums it all up. I'm not ascribing gender to beer, but this is about the intersection of sexiness and fashion... a combination that's low on my list when it comes to what I want in a beer. IPAs (opaque or not) weren't the first to achieve this and they won't be the last.

That just makes me sad... and not because I put Pliny up on a pedestal (and not because I put chasing beer up on a pedestal either). At the risk of making a connection in that man's comment that might not have been intended... personally, I do not think that dismissing a prestigious beer without trying it because some think it's overrated is a "product of incredible growth."

Forgive me for taking you at face value, but come on. Do you consider Cantillon Kriek beer?

 

This year's version is the best it's been in a while.

 

Well, the thing is, for some of us, NN is neither rare nor hard to find in season. Nor has it ever been since I first tried it 8-9 years ago.

I look forward to it every year, just as I do other beers such as Celebration, Sunshine Pils, etc. I buy a case of it every year and spread drinking that case out over about 6 weeks to enjoy its many different moods as the flavors unfold, develop and evolve.

I'd say NN well deserves its spot as one of the best beers brewed in PA and that it didn't earn that spot because of rarity or "hype." It's simply a very good beer that many people enjoy a lot. Like a good pizza, a good steak, a good grilled Rueben sandwich, the goodness remains. Even after the vocal minority folks who are chasing novelty, and who also make lots of noise about what they just discovered, have moved to other new shiny things the quality and enjoyability of the good things in life remain.

 

Sadly, clean and balanced beer isn't valued as much these days and is considered boring by many it seems.

Keep in mind however, when beers such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale & Pliny the Elder first came out..... at that time the last thing they were considered was balanced.

 

Or it could be that we weren't mistaken two years ago when all four of us who once drank NN together, and sat with noses in glass, couldn't smell any dry hopping in what was once a fragrant beer. I have been drinking Heady Topper for many years, Pliny too. Both of those taste and smell just like they did. And this year NN tastes more similar to how we remember it, but the taste and aroma still isn't what they were, noticeably so.

It could be the increase in employees they have now, different tasting hops coming in with new contracts, the larger brewhouse, different fermenters, increase in production schedule freeing brite tanks at less convenient times. Or could be our palates have changed since back then as you suppose. I am going with not our palates, but either way it is sad not to be able to enjoy it as once we did..