Tröegs Nugget Nectar 2019

See, I thought last years was the first year it was back to it's old form after being sub-par for a few years. This years to me is very good, but not great.

Meh, who knows. Our tastes shift and it's probably all in our heads anyway.

 

I had half a can the other night. It was hoppy.

I think it was the same as last year, but better than two years ago, and definitely better than three years ago, but not as good as 10 years ago. Although I had been drinking a lot of beers, and I wasn't really paying attention to the beer that night.

But trust me, my memory is an exact measuring tool, so the above paragraph is spot on.

 

Gosh darnit this is awesome!

 

I tore through a 6 pk of bottles when first released last month in PA. It was fantastic. So I went out and bought a 12 pk of cans when they dropped. Tasted great too. I buy some every year (a six pack) and my tastebuds tell me if I need to buy more. I think this year's version is spot-on brilliant, and I've had them every year since first released. In our ever-changing beer pop culture, what was once cutting-edge becomes passe, but if it lasts long enough it has the chance to become popular and appreciated again. This is Nugget Nectar.

 

You're probably right....they way we perceive things at any given time is impacted by some many other things.

 

I've been saying this for years and years, it's not only beer it's the entire world. It's all one big circle, everything is cyclical and will come and go and then come again. Even this whole policical correctness thing and over sensitivity of people will eventually die down, it has to. You can't keep walking down the same path without eventually turning around.

Sorry, my soapbox here. Anyway, beer is the same, what is hot today will not be hot tomorrow and what was hot yesterday will be hot again tomorrow. Well, metaphorically speaking anyway.

 

Was in the mood for some NN so picked up a six pack of bottles, freshest by 05/02/19. Absolutely delicious! But there really is so much of the stuff, tons of six packs of bottles and 12 packs of cans.

 

Still a HUGE stack of these beers at my local Wegmans.

Cheers!

P.S. I had my first draft Nugget Nectar last evening at a local craft beer bar. That glass had zero (and I do mean zero) hop aroma and an extremely subdued hop flavor. I asked my wife to take a sip and what she thought of this beer (she had had Nugget Nectar many times over the past 10+ years). Her response was; "You got ripped off". Unfortunately I had to agree with this assessment.

 

That sucks and I wonder what the variables were with the keg? I have only had two of the six beers so far and the aroma and taste are not a hop bomb by any means but the hops are definitely there in the taste and the malts are the star here, which is precisely what I have been in the mood for: hoppy but not a hop bomb. To add to this to help guage my tastes lately I also picked up some Fresh Cut recently and that has been really hitting the spot.

 

Had 2 last night. Both had tons of hop aroma and were very enjoyable and balanced. Didn't get ripped off.

 

Had my first can this weekend.

Great batch. Beautifully bitter and “West Coast” hoppy and then comes the malt back bone to take the center stage.

Kind of odd, I had this two nights ago and recalled there being caramel in the malt profile, but I looked on their site and it’s all German malts.

 

Any idea when Troegs finished brewing NN this year? Thinking about picking up. One more, but of course want it fresh

 

Don’t know the last date but I had one from the first batch tonight and it still tasted fine.

 

Don't know about the local PA market, but in NJ these past few years the retailers overbuy Nugget Nectar (and/or consumers, I guess, "underbuy") so that it would be difficult to find a retailer at this point who needed to reorder NN and has fresher stock than what is already still overstocked from the initial shipment in most other stores.

 

I can report that my local Wegman's (still) has a HUGE stack of Nugget Nectar.

Cheers!

 

Damn. Lots of people missing out on a great beer.