Tröegs Nugget Nectar
12oz. bottle served into a tulip glass I had this on-tap during my recent trip to D.C., along with other beers that I would have liked to review, such as Victory Yakima Glory, various Allagash beers on-tap, etc. But my conference time was not conducive to taking tasting notes. I did bring home a six-pack of Nugget Nectar, so let's give a bottle a proper review. Pours a very clear amber color with light orange highlights throughout the body. Not much active carbonation visible through the body. Less than a finger of head, far less really. Off-white lacing is pretty meh, but it'll do. Considering how hoppy this beer is, it's clarity is noteworthy (and sends the beer above the mark of 'average'). The hops dominate the nose of Nugget Nectar. They're juicy and resiny. Lots of spruce and grapefruit pulp. The malts don't shy away really, but the gentle, amber ale sweetness is masked somewhat by the spruce/pine bouquet. As the beer warms, a certain minty note becomes more prominent. Like spearmint. It gets to be much like toothpaste, sharp and kind of soapy. Nugget Nectar strikes me as very strange in that its hops aren't all that flavorful. Its 93 IBUs is manifest in an awful lot of bitterness, but not a lot of hop flavor. The beer tastes pretty bready, with lots of generic ale yeast tastes. A drop of grapefruit oil and a splash of Pine-Sol hit the tongue but they quickly turn to pure bitterness. I would not be scoring this beer a 4.0 if not for the style; as far as Amber Ales go, this represents complexity. It's a hoppy beer from the East Coast, so what else did you expect but a confusing mouthfeel combination of sticky-sweet and astringent? It works well enough in terms of commanding further sipping. The bitter blast also works to make for a drinkable beer by hophead standards. Ultimately, I don't get the hype over this beer. If this weren't an Amber/Red Ale then I would be slaughtering it. I found it little better on-tap, but the essential character of this beer is the same: too much bitterness, bland Amber Ale taste underneath.