Despite all of the traveling I’ve been doing lately I don’t often get to try beers from outside of the local area. So, I bribed a friend who lives in New York City to mail me some beers that I couldn’t get here. He sent me several very good beers (which I have yet to drink yet), including Tröegs Brothers Nugget Nectar Imperial Amber ale.

The label says that it is a “Hopheads Nirvana. Experience a heady trifecta of Nugget, Warrior, and Tomahawk hops.” It says that it has “93-ish” I.B.U.’s and is 7.5% ABV.

It poured extremely clear and had a reddish-amber hue. It had a nice head which maintained a creamy cover over the top of the beer. It had a very, very noticeable hop aroma, which I would assume, being called “Nugget Nectar,” that the hop I’m smelling is nugget. However, despite the heavy hop aroma I also smelled a bit of malty sweetness.

The aroma was great, and it had a nice creamy, medium body when I finally took a drink. While the hop flavor was definitely forward, it was nicely balanced with a malt sweetness. Perhaps with the name Nugget Nectar, I was expecting a real hop bomb. However I was happily surprised that it was nicely balanced (despite being “93-ish I.B.U’s”).

This beer definitely had everything I was looking for – a nice caramelly amber ale, yet with plenty of hops to match. I really liked it, and I’ll have to see what states I can pick this up if I can. This is the type of beer I love to enjoy in the evening, all on its own. However, if I had to choose a food to pair this with, I think I’d have to go with a caramel brownie. Thanks again to my beer-loving connection in the Big Apple for introducing me to this beer.