Tröegs Nugget Nectar Ale

Brewed by Tröegs Brewing Company
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania USA

The aroma is very hoppy with caramel, toffee, and yeast. The appearance is hazy amber with a nice head. The flavor is like the aroma. The palate is smooth. Overall it’s good!

(Bottle, Oliver Twist, Stockholm, 8 April 2009) Amber colour with brief, off-white head. Fruity, hoppy nose with citrus, apricots and hints of pine needles. Fruity taste with notes of caramel, orange and citrussy hops. The hop character is less agressive than in the nose. Fairly short finish. Nice hop character, but lacking some of the expected punch. Very nice beer though.

(12 oz bottle: Obtained 21-Mar-06 in trade with Lou18, thanks Lou!) Given the attention and high accolades this beer has been getting, I was expecting to be mightily impressed by this, but frankly, I’m mightily under whelmed. Right off the bat, the hops-dominated nose has a strong vegetal quality that’s completely turned me off. Mild citrus, mild "classic" hops aroma, but mostly just vegetal. The flavor shows a bit more true hoppiness, moderate bitterness, some citrus, but the plant-like nature still has some presence here too. Grainy maltiness, sweet orange-citrus, some tea, man, this just isn’t doing a damn thing for me. And to call this an Imperial Amber is really pushing it; there’s not nearly enough malt body and presence to make that claim. Medium-bodied, a bit dry, somewhat crisp on the palate, average carbonation. The color is a gorgeous coppery-amber, fully clear in appearance, but topped by a small, quickly-receding, off-white head. The filmy layer and thin halo leave a wide ring of lacing on the glass. I don’t know, maybe this is a sub-par bottle? I have one more bottle that I will be trying later on, so hopefully that one will be better, and it better be, given the hoopla over this beer. But at least based on this bottle, I find this to be a pretty mediocre and severely overrated offering.

And here it is, later the same day and I’ve decided to crack the second one open while the first bottle is still fresh in my mind. Perhaps slightly less vegetal as with the previous bottle, but still one of the primary flavors, and it continues to dominate the nose. Better looking, displaying solid retention. So two different bottles from two different trades, but with essentially the same result. So no, this is simply how the beer is, and it’s just not that great. They need to hire better workers, more discriminating workers who will actually remove the hop cones off the plant, not throw in the entire plant -- roots and all.

Bottle: Deep orange pour with perfect clarity. Nice tropical fruit hop nose. Some evident mango qualities and mild tangerine. Creamy yet mild carbonation. Nice tropical fruit presence in the flavor as well. Some mango, peach and mild citrus rind resins in the finish. Not very bitter, but has a nice and fruity hop character.

Bottle. Assertive hop nose, minor crystal malt. Cat piss like flavor, overly bitter hops, ugly malt background. Don’t like this at all.

Fine off-white head, orangegolden colored. American hop nose with a nice refreshing fruityness and a light spicyness. Fruity and flower hoppy flavor with some sweetness under the bitterness. A bit of alcohol in the finish. A really nice and refreshing IPA! Thanks Mads!

[1959-20090124] Tap. Grassy sweet hops aroma. Clear, amber orange body with a medium-lasting creamy white head. Super hoppy grass and citrus navel rind flavour. Medium body is very bitter. Yum, great way to start a session.
(@ Cole’s; Buffalo, NY)

On tap at Cole’s Rare Beer Fest in Buffalo. Great hoppy juicy aroma. Orange pour, decent white head. Strong taste - all juicy hops balanced with some delicious medium malt. No citrus here, all resin and I loved it.