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Hold My Beer: Dank Flavors in Beer
Is “dank” in the eye of the beer drinker? Learn about this misunderstood beer characteristic, why it’s trending, and how...
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Often described as New Zealand’s answer to Citra®, this juicy hop packs an explosion of fruit flavors. It’s arguably the most significant hop out of New Zealand since Nelson Sauvin® and brewers in a 2021 Brewers Association survey ranked it among the five most desirable varieties of that year. Did we mention it only became commercially available the previous year? Yep, we’re talking about Nectaron®!
This wildly popular southern hemisphere hop took 16 years to develop, and it hit the commercial scene at precisely the right time. While it was developed alongside its sister Waimea, the industry preferred higher alpha acids in 2012. Once it was officially released in 2020, however, the industry clearly took a liking to the big, tropical flavors of Nectaron®.
Ron Beatson, chief researcher and developer of Nectaron® while at New Zealand Plant and Food Research, told Craft Beer & Brewing that they were looking for “the golden fleece, the unobtainable one… a hop with good oils, good all-round chemistry and which suited growers and brewers alike — and that would be Nectaron®.”¹
Curious for more? Read on and learn more about the origins, aromas, and flavors of Nectaron®.
If you know nothing about this hop, just start with the name. The flavor it infuses into beverages puts the “nectar” into Nectaron®. It takes juicy tropical fruits like passionfruit and pineapple, turns the volume up with notes of citrusy grapefruit, and then delivers base notes of subtle dank that’ll leave your palate thirsting for another sip.
Some Nectaron® flower has flavors of ripe stone fruit, but you’ll always recognize it by the remarkably complex blend of tropical and dank. Alpha acids range from 10 to 14%, giving it a respectable bittering potential. Many brewers enjoy using this hop in later brewing stages (whirlpool or dry hopping) to deliver the most potent version of its tropical characteristics.
When Vitamin Sea Brewing first got its hands on this juicy hop after its commercial release, they used it to brew a single-hop 6.5% ABV IPA they named Squared Circle. Founder Dino Funari's first taste was memorable, to say the least.
I hadn’t had the beer yet [after it was packaged], and I was out to lunch with family, and I had it, took a sip, and had a ‘Holy shi*t!’ moment.” It was a punch to my senses. Immediately, you get this dankness. Then you get a real punchy pineapple, passion fruit, pine, peach, and a little grapefruit. A real punch, but the dankness is what really stood out.
Some brewers have noted it doesn’t seem to have a saturation limit when dry hopping. Essentially, the more you add, the more flavor and aroma you get. It still pairs well with other varieties like Citra®, Cascade, and Strata®, so being able to endlessly punch up the flavor creates limitless possibilities.
This hop didn’t just pop up out of nowhere. It took seventeen years of breeding, testing, growing, and careful marketing to create the Nectaron® that we know and love today.
In 2004, Ron Beatson and NZ Hops CEO Blair Steward made the initial cross that started it all. Parent plants Waimea and Pacific Jade produced 170 plants, and in 2006, Beatson and Steward selected a seedling from their first harvest for further trials. This plant was known as Hort 4337.
Beatson tested Hort 4337 alongside others and immediately noticed its agronomic performance and chemistry. Over the next five years, it developed enough merit for Plant & Food to select it for cloning and replication trials, and it continued to show promise over the next two years of growth.
It gained even more momentum when Beatson’s team received a grant in 2013 to build a brewery at their Motueka research facility. Beatson explained that they received the grant by telling the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment that they were “going to do some gee whizz science” around hop production.
One of the things we told a story about was that we were going to undertake more work on flavour science and hop selection. The only problem was that we didn’t have access to a brewing kit. When we got the grant we approached NZ Hops and in conjunction with a local engineer, Chris Little, they built a little kit for us.
In 2014, just six months after building the 50-litre brewery, they were able to test whether Hort 4337 would actually brew a good beer. Obviously, the answer was a resounding yes.
From 2015 to 2017, it underwent more testing, and brewers around New Zealand experimented with it in commercial batches. After receiving the plant variety rights, NZ Hops was able to market the unique characteristics of this variety. It was first commercially sold in 2018, and in 2020, it was rebranded as Nectaron®.
While some varieties take time to establish themselves, this one developed a following almost immediately. In 2022, Chris Shelton, head brewer of Whole Foods Market Brewing Company Houston, told Vinepair it was one of the next big hop varieties, “Nectaron is a rockstar hop right now. I was fortunate enough to contract some both in 2021 and for this year, so it’s been my feature hop in my flagship IPA, Wholistic Hazy, and many other brews.”⁴
You can’t go wrong brewing an IPA or even a lager with Nectaron®, but the in-your-face tropical dankness of this variety can add a delicious depth of flavor to a variety of beverages.
Low ABV or NA beverage categories are clear winners, and Nectaron® will make a juicy addition to both NA beers and hop waters. Plus, considering the high demand for innovative hop water flavors, it would be oh-so-easy and cost-effective to complement the tropical flavors of this variety with other bold fruit flavors like Guava or Passionfruit.
Other growing beverage categories, like THC drinks, could create unique flavor combinations by pairing Nectaron® with dank cannabis flavors like gassy King Louie XIII or berry-forward Gelato. Honestly, this is just the start!
From RTD cocktails and teas to functional beverages, the complex flavors and aromas of this hop variety can find a home just about anywhere. Plus, brewers can adjust the flavor profile of our NRN Quantum Profile to customize it to their tastes. Prefer less dank? More? Interested in adding a floral quality to this tropical variety? With customized hop extracts, anything is possible.
Can someone brew a juicy Nectaron®-heavy hop water already? We’re thirsty!
Plus, today, it’s easier than ever to start brewing with the authentic flavors and aromas of Nectaron®.
Unlike traditional extracts, our Optimized Hop Extracts offer varietal-specific flavors and aromas with no alpha acids and no undesirable plant compounds that can gunk up your tank. They have a 100% utilization rate, they don’t require carriers, they offer logistical cost savings, and there’s zero “hop creep.”
Want profiles derived solely from hops? Our Quantum Series reflects the hops that go into the process in a way no other hop extractions do. Just remember that hop-derived means limited supply, so act fast.
Contact us today, and let’s get you brewing with the deliciously dank and tropical flavors of Nectaron®.
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