Friday Brew Review – Nugget Nectar
It’s not even 3PM and I’m drinking beer. Perhaps this is the work of some divine force, swiftly setting right the grave injustice that was the last week’s tardy review. I’m not here to speculate, so I’ll just chalk it up to the fact that sometimes Life tosses breaks. A bit of respite from the mundane, the high school at which I teach is using this week exclusively for Midyear Exams; with only one exam to proctor today, I made sure to finish my work early so I could slide into the weekend.
So here we go — it’s drinkin’ time!
Initially, the premise of the Friday Brew Review was that I would take the opportunity to consume an entirely new beverage every week — ideally, never even repeating breweries. However, part of the problem with this is that I have stumbled upon a couple of really, really good breweries. So when I go to the store and see a beer of theirs that I’ve yet to try, it breaks my heart to think that I’ll have to abstain.
There’s enough heartbreak (warfare) in the world without me adding to it. So this week, I’m going to review a beer brewed by a company for whom I’ve sang praises time and again.
Today, I present the Troegs Brewing Company’s Nugget Nectar.
Given that the leftovers from Friday Brew Reviews are starting to crowd my fridge, I decided against buying a full six-pack this week. Instead, I just snagged a big `ole bottle (one pint & six fluid ounces, to be precise). I poured the beer into a standard pint-sized mug, tossing back the remaining six ounces right from the bottle.
As is my standard routine, before drinking I wanted to evaluate the smell of the brew. Bringing the mug up to my nose, I was quite pleased with the aroma — an orange tang (no, not Tang) pops out, giving a pair of stiffies to the two little gnomes that run the olfactory senses. The only way to fairly describe Nugget Nectar’s bouquet is extraordinary. In fact, after he stole a whiff, I thought my dad was going to toss his twenty-four years of sobriety out the window. Luckily, I took him out with some Rex Kwon Do, locked him in the broom closet and then continued.
So is the citrus-scent well complemented by the flavor? Absolutely. The Tröegs have treated me to yet another wonderfully flavorful concoction. Drinking Nugget Nectar, my mouth is almost overloaded with taste — hops and the aforementioned citrus notes (tangerine?) duke it out, with an enjoyable bitterness hoping to survive. I want to say that any one of these is the key element, but they all work together to create a liquid-bread-goodness.
Wondering what the brewery had to say, I hit up their website. Once there, I found their tasting notes:
Squeeze those hops for all they’re worth and prepare to pucker up: Nugget Nectar Ale, will take hopheads to nirvana with a heady collection of Nugget, Warrior and Tomahawk hops. Starting with the same base ingredients of our flagship HopBack Amber Ale, Nugget Nectar intensifies the malt and hop flavors to create an explosive hop experience.
I can’t say I disagree with that description, not one dang lick!
As far as coloration, Nugget Nectar is just stunning. Is it amber with an orange hue or orange with an amber hue? I don’t know, and quite frankly I don’t care. All I know is that I fawn upon it with supreme reverence.
What more can I say? Nugget Nectar is the real deal. It’s light enough to toss back, but bitter enough to ward off beer-guzzlers (you know, the arch enemies of beer-appreciators). Maybe I’ve over-analyzing, but I also really enjoy the carbonation; while not as strong as in a soda-pop, it gives the potion a bit of a kick.
Nugget Nectar is delectable: A-