Nectaron® leads next hop wave at The Peddler

We often hear it said that West Virginia is several years behind the rest of the country in adopting current market trends. I’ll take exception to that statement, however, in one area of craft brewing: hops usage. To support my contention, look no further than The Peddler brewery’s use of the latest exciting new aroma hop, Nectaron®, in its latest Hazy IPA.

It would be stating the obvious to say that hops with juicy-fruity flavor profiles have taken over the craft IPA market. (There I said it.) West Virgina brewers have been all over that trend for the past several years. And low-bitterness, juicy IPAs have been leading West Virginia’s and the nation’s craft beer market during that time.

To keep this market momentum moving forward, brewers are always searching for a new hop with a new flavor twist that they can add and then attract IPA lovers to try. Possibly the hottest new hop is Nectaron. Hailing from New Zealand, and like several other hops from Kiwi-land, it is chock-full of luscious tropical fruit and citrus flavors.

Nectaron was first introduced to the U.S. market about one year ago but has been in short supply, making it hard and/or expensive to get. As far as we know, Jay Fox, head brewer at The Peddler in Huntington WV, is the first in West Virginia to feature Nectaron commercially. I was anxious to talk with him and taste the beer he made.

The Peddler’s Nectaron hopped IPA

Named Bill Brasky IPA after a funny old Saturday Night Live skit, the quality of The Peddler’s Nectaron beer is nothing to joke about. It is seriously good drinking. Last year, when Fox saw the new hop’s description on his hop supplier’s website, he was intrigued. It was already sold out then, but he learned that he could reserve some of the 2022 crop which would be delivered to him this summer. Jay jumped on it, then this fall made a hazy IPA using a base recipe similar to his other popular hazy IPAs.

“I wanted to showcase the Nectaron,” Jay says, “so that’s the only hop in it other than a mash addition of some Saaz to better bring out the thiols since we used a thiolized yeast strain [Heliogazer, which helps produce stronger tropical aromas in the beer].”

Fox says he gave the beer ”three big doses of Nectaron.” He did an addition of Nectaron in the whirlpool, then a larger one on day three in the fermentor, and a final dry hop addition after the fermentation was completed.

Fox says he gets big tropical notes in the aroma and very juicy flavors, which was exactly what he was hoping for. We found the beer to be nicely balanced between tropical and citrus. It’s a very smooth, easy-drinking beer even at its 6.6% ABV. This Bill Brasky Hazy IPA is out in distribution now across the usual Peddler distribution footprint, especially around the Huntington-Charleston corridor. Look for it and give it a try.

Fox finds his hazy IPA creations to be among his more popular beers, especially with the brewpub’s younger adult customers. This is likely because Fox makes hazy IPAs with loads of aroma, low bitterness and a creamy mouthfeel. It’s a stylistic choice that is very approachable to the novice craft drinker, yet is also most enjoyable for more experienced craft drinkers seeking a well-balanced tropical-flavored treat.

Even though Nectaron remains hard to get, Jay says not to worry. He has enough Nectaron in stock to make another batch. And he hopes to order more.

Nectaron causes national excitement

Among other beer industry observers, Vinepair — a drinks-industry digital media outfit in New York— puts Nectaron® at the top of the list as one of the hops to watch. After 17 years in development, Nectaron is now popping up in IPAs from many master IPA brewers. Sensory analysis shows the hop produces high levels of tropical fruit with pineapple and passion fruit leading the way. Stone fruit (peach) and citrus (grapefruit) back up the tropical signature.

Even though it’s only one year in the market, the hop importer says they’ve already found that Nectaron® inspires excitement and reverence from some of the world’s top brewers that they’re designing high-profile beers around it.  After sampling Nectaron® in its experimental stages during successive harvest trips to New Zealand, Firestone Walker Brewing brewmaster Matt Brynildson regularly uses it in some of his most most heavily promoted beers, including in the single-hop hazy IPA Propagator series.

“My faith in the Nectaron® hop was happily rewarded,” Brynildson says. “This is just a beautiful IPA loaded with tropical New Zealand style.”

NZ Hops Ltd., the marketer of the hop, reports that Nectaron works well in modern beer styles, including NEIPA, IPA, Pale Ale and Lager. They say Nectaron is “best used late or when dry hopping” and that it delivers “a consistent dose of high quality tropical hop character every time.”

Other popular aroma hops from New Zealand include Nelson Sauvin, Motueka, Pacific Jade, and Kohatu®.

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LINKS

NZ Hops, Ltd.
The Peddler brewpub