Indie Hops blog “In Hop Pursuit” has a long and colorful account of how Nugget came to be released in the early 1980s. Basically, USDA hop breeder Al Haunold set out to prove it was possible create a hop with alpha acids that exceeded 11 to 12 percent, but when he did growers were not all that excited about it. Farmers in Washington were happy to grow Cluster (with an average of 8 percent alpha acids) and had no interest in a higher alpha hop, because that meant growing hops on fewer acres. A world-wide hop shortage and the release of Idaho-bred Galena changed the math.
By 1985, Washington farmers harvested 1,053 acres of Nugget (with 11-14 percent alpha acids and some farms managing 15 percent), those in Oregon 925 acres and growers in Idaho 21 acres.
Hops with higher levels of alpha long ago supplanted Nugget in Washington, but it remains the alpha hop for brewers who want to bitter their beer efficiently with an Oregon hop. As important, it sits between Citra and HBC 630 on Yakima Chief Hops’ “survivables” chart, primarily because of fairly high amounts of linalool and 2-methylbutyl isobutyrate. Used in the whirlpool, particularly alongside a cultivar rich in geraniol, it may help create desirable fruity aromas and flavors.
Heritage: The seedling that became Nugget resulted from a cross made in 1970. The same male (63015M) provided the pollen that fathered Centennial. Nugget is 5/8 Brewer’s Gold, 1/8 Early Green, 1/16 East Kent Golding, 1/32 Bavarian, 5/32 Unknown.
The basics: 11.5-14% alpha acids, 3-5% beta acids, 1.2-2.1 mL/100 grams total oil.
Aroma qualities: Nugget herself may smell of fresh-crushed herbs, grapefruit zest, stone fruit, pineapple, or resin. And, particularly because of linalool, she may play an important role in biotransformation, creating still more fruit character.