Nugget Hops
After learning and writing about Millennium hops, I thought I would take a trip down the road to discovering Nugget hops, Mike has brewed with these hops before. I feel they are a pretty well known American hop variety. I learned they were first bred in 1970 from a fairly extensive mix of parent hops including:
- Brewers Gold
- Early Green
- Canterbury Golding
- Bavarian
- Unknown
My favorite from this list, of course, is Unknown. It’s like my favorite poet – Anonymous.
Nugget hops were released to the public in 1983 by the USDA.
Origin: I think Yakima, WA – United States
Aroma: Descriptors include Heavy (I like that one), spicy-herbal, and similar to Northern Brewer.
Alpha Acid: 12.5 – 14.0%
Typical Usage: Bittering mostly. Some sources reported getting some good dry hopping results from using Nugget.
Beer Styles: Another great one for American ales and lagers.
on March 18th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
3 years ago I have bought a pound of Nugget pellets… Ahh the old days.
I really liked this hop for bittering and thought it was a fairly pleasant bitterness, not too harsh. Really sort of sat in the background for the malt forward brewing that I do.
Some people have complained about its flavor and aroma characteristics, but I did a few ales where I used it later in the boil. I found it to be mildly floral and lightly resin-like. It became a good hop to use in parallel to other hop varieties to help carry the flavors of more interesting hops.
Lastly, Treogs Brewery (in PA??), has a beer called Nugget Nectar that is fantastic. While its not all nugget hops, it is a great beer that shows the versatility of the Nugget hop for supporting other hops.
If I can ever get these in bulk again I certainly will.
on March 24th, 2009 at 6:08 am
[...] I am hoping that this situation is temporary. Horizon, I have read, is a sister hop variety to Nugget. It was bred originally in 1970 and it was released in [...]