Last week, social media erupted with news that was too heartbreaking to believe at first. Rumors had swirled before about a Karbach sell out, but this time they weren’t rumors – Karbach sold to Anheuser Busch InBev. You can read about it here
Fresh Nugs has a cleeeeean flavor – man it’s so good. The flavor starts off bright and crisp, finishes citrussy with a little floral note that lingers on the tongue. Although Fresh Nugs smells a little piney, those flavors don’t shine through as much. The malt backbone stands up well to all the hop flavor. It’s shockingly mild in hop bitterness, at 35 IBUs.
They call the beer Fresh Nugs because it uses fresh hops. Typically, hops are dried out and turned into little pellets (think animal feed pellets) to prevent them from getting moldy during transport and storage. Fresh hop beers are unique because they pose a serious logistical challenge to the brewers, making a good fresh hop beer that much better.
Fresh Nugs reminds me a bit of Weekend Warrior, but it’s crisper and a bit more delicate.
This beer is great! I’m giving it 4.5 because the flavor is so clean, and it’s unique because it’s one of few (maybe the only) Houston beers made with fresh hops/wet hops.
It has a clear, amber, golden color with a creamy white head that sticks around and laces down the glass in a super thick fashion. There’s a good amount of bubbles that accompany the medium-bodied mouthfeel.
This beer blew me away!
Since it’s on tap only, and it’s an R&D series, I don’t think artwork even exists for it yet – I haven’t seen any.
Fresh Nugs can be found at Karbach and a few other places around town, but many of them sold it off in a fire sale this weekend, so it just became a lot more rare.
This beer is was terrific. It’s a shame that I’ll never drink it again. How about you? Are you still going to seek out Karbach Fresh Nugs despite them not being craft? Don’t worry – we won’t judge you.
Anthony's a Houston native, a Creative Strategist at https://ledgeloungers.com/, an adjunct instructor of Visual Communication at Lone Star College, and a UH Coog that loves good beer almost as much as he does his city. Anthony lives to help others and that's found a home helping some of the coolest breweries on earth with creative and marketing projects that can be seen on our Portfolio page. Fueled by hoppy lagers, sessionable IPAs, and gangster rap, he's ticked his way through H-Town, rocking the most unusual Nikes he can find. When he's not writing for us, he's with his family or very patiently rooting for the Rockets.
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