If your New Year’s resolution is to drink less this January, then you can ignore this post. But for everyone else, especially craft beer lovers, lean in.
Once a year, Troegs Brewing Co. in Hershey, Penn., releases a much-anticipated seasonal, late-winter craft beer called Nugget Nectar.
They celebrate this seasonal craft brew with a celebrity-style tour of the “first taste” of the year’s batch, holding special events at like-minded breweries and alehouses in their distribution range (namely the East Coast). Customers can get the “first squeeze” from the tap, while collecting free Nugget Nectar memorabilia, sometimes made by local artists.
The events are much more than a commercially driven happy hour. The company goes out of its way to find artists and small businesses to collaborate with on the events and really drives home their own interest in buying and supporting at the local level.
Baltimore’s “First Squeeze” event will be held at 5 p,m,, Thursday, Jan. 26 at Max’s Taphouse in Fells Point. The party will offer first tastes of both this year’s Nugget Nectar (a dry-hopped Amber Ale) and the never-before-released Nitro Nugget (your guess is as good as mine). In addition, they’ve commissioned local designer-printmaker Baltimore Print Studios to create a handmade poster for the event, signed by the artists and given away free that night. The Baltimore-based duo were chosen for one of only eight custom posters commissioned by the brewery for the tour and used antique wood and metal type to create a limited edition, hand-printed work of art celebrating the beer.
The perfect cure for cabin fever, thirst and empty walls, all in one place!
Max’s Taphouse is located at 737 S. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21231. The Nugget Nectar First Squeeze event will be held at 5 p.m. on Jan. 26. More info here.
