From flickr user epic ever

It’s February, and Bell’s Hopslam and Troegs Nugget Nectar are hitting shelves as I type this (Troegs just rereleased Nugget Nectar in their tasting room today). As hoppy beer arms race rages on, just as it has for years, some breweries are rethinking what it means to write an IPA recipe.

From the Washington Post:

Wildeman Farmhouse IPA, from Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, is an IPA fermented with a Belgian saison yeast and seasoned with a secret spice that the brewery declines to identify. It was originally brewed for In de Wildeman, a beer bar in Amsterdam. The reintroduction of the beer, this time as a year-around brand, gives Flying Dog two Belgian-style IPAs. Raging Bitch is fruitier; Wildeman has a dry, peppery, almost tannic finish.

Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. in Portland, as part of its Rotator series, has released Spiced IPA, a collaboration with Paul Sangster and Chris Stawney of the San Diego-based homebrewers club QUAFF, Quality Ale and Fermentation Fraternity. “A year ago, we asked the members to develop a new IPA. We didn’t tell them who we were, just that it was a big national brewer,” said Widmer brewmaster Joe Casey.

The winner, chosen from among 25 recipes, includes malty Assam black tea, ginger, cinnamon, clove, star anise, black pepper and cardamom. The flavorings are blended by a Portland company called Tao of Tea. In their raw form, the ingredients are immensely fragrant, like a freshly baked fruitcake. In the beer, the ginger emerges strongly up front, the black pepper dominates the finish.

Sam Adams Tasman Red is one of the better beers in this class I’ve had. A fantastic red IPA, it takes the bucketful of hops in each bottle and pairs it with a thoughtful approach to malt. Nugget Nectar gets it right for similar reasons, even if it’s closer to an IPA than the new breed of spicy beers (though it is billed as an imperial amber).

All of this raises the question many brewers have long asked: where does one style begin and another end?

In February, the question we hear slightly less than “When will Bell’s Hopslam be released?” are from people wanting to know what the Troegs Nugget Nectar release date is.  We wonder ourselves, given that we’ve wondered whether it’s the best beer we’ve ever had.

We had heard rumor that the brewery was running behind schedule, possibly due to their recent move from Harrisburg, PA to tourist-destination Hershey, PA.  That appears to be true.  Troegs has announced that Nugget Nectar will be sent to wholesalers between February 16 and February 24.  Many retail outlets have been saying to expect Nugget Nectar to hit the shelves in March.

So, there you have it:  You may be able to find it the last week of February or the first week of March.

Last summer Tröegs in Pennsylvania announced a new brewery, moving from Harrisburg, PA to Hershey, PA.  Since then, construction has been moving along, and a couple of new videos are online that show how things are progressing.

Why should you be excited?  For starters, they make what I think is probably the best beer I’ve ever had (though I’ve been told that this year’s batch isn’t their best).  As of now, their distribution has been limited to around 3 hours driving around the brewery, but they have pushed beyond that into parts of Ohio.  With a bigger brewery, you should see more of it on the shelves in your favorite beer stores.

According to Troegs, who have always offered brewery tours led by the Tröegs brothers themselves and call the expansion “T2″, you’ll still be able to experience their brewing process up-close.

At three times the size of Tröegs current location, the new 90,000 square foot facility will give guests a glimpse at the fermentation process, packaging room and oak barrel-aging room, and lab. The addition of a pilot brewing room offers insight to Tröegs experimentation—where its famous Scratch brews are dreamt-up and made.

From flickr user Schlusselbein2007

As we head into the last week before Christmas, Sam Calagione from Dogfish wrote up a guide to help beer lovers merge the holiday menu and beer list in the best possible way.

To his credit, it’s not an artcile about how to best pair Dogfish beers with food — he mentions the ever-popular Troegs’ Troegenator, Avery’s White Rascal, Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, and New Belgium’s Fat Tire, along with others.

Broken down into cheeses, meats, shellfish, seafood, and chocolate, it’s a nice list, which should help you make the next week even better.

I stopped a my local liquor store on the way home last night to pick up a six pack of whatever I could find.  As it turns out, I walked out with one of the, if not the, best beer I’ve ever had: Tröegs Nugget Nectar Ale.

I’ve had Nugget Nectar before.  I’ve been to the Tröegs brewery five or six times, I’ve been to the Tröegs-sponsored Harrisburg Brewers Fest the past few years,  and I’m familiar with the entire Tröegs beer lineup.  But somehow, I re-discovered Nugget Nectar and it absolutely blew my mind.

I’m not one for beer reviews because I think they’re usually useless.  I like one thing, you like another, so what does me writing about a beer do for either of us?  But I need to write about this beer — it’s that good.  Nugget Nectar is almost addicting.  You take your first drink and instantly want another.  It’s hard not to just keep drinking, taking small breaks for air.  In some ways, that’s what I did: I bought a six pack 24 hours ago, and after forcing myself to stop at four consecutive last night, I just finished number six. And now I’m sitting here, writing about it, considering walking the two blocks in 35 degree weather for another one.

Tröegs says this about their beer:

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.

And here’s the thing: I actually disagree with them.  “Prepare to pucker up?”  With most hoppy beers, yes.  But not this one.  Somehow, Tröegs has created a 95 IBU beer that isn’t bitter at all.  The hops don’t come off in that way — they come off as earthy, oily, and amazing.  I’m not fan of hops — I’m more of a malt guy, someone who appreciates the finer points of roasting and blending grain — but this beer makes me want even more.

I poured it into a pint glass, as suggested, and it smells like a pile of hops.  But there is absolutely no bitterness there, at least as I see it.  This is a perfectly balanced beer: one that is intentionally hopped further than most other beers care to go, but one that is backed by a maltly blend that gives it the amber color you want your beer to have.  When you drink it, it’s not sharp, but smooth, hitting you in the back of your mouth and lingering until you pick up the glass again.  Tröegs mentions pairing it with “Cheese (Sharp, Blue, and Cheddar)” or “Meat (Beef and Poultry),” but please don’t.  You’re just going to cover up that wonderful lingering flavor with whatever sub-par food you’re eating.

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