Nectaron hops are capturing the imagination of American brewers, particularly after the most recent harvest where it was the standout in sensory testing.
NZ Hops Ltd, in their post-harvest report noted that Nectaron stood out this season alongside Superdelic and Wai-iti, delivering what brewers called “that dank mango peach NZ funk”.
In their post-harvest report, the hop-growing collective noted that it was an odd season of weather contrasts. Record rainfall and flooding in winter contributed to yield per hectare being down by over 5% compared with previous years. Despite this, overall harvested volumes were more than 20% up on the previous season, driven by increased global demand for NZ hop varieties.
Nelson and Tasman recorded the second-highest sunshine hours nationally through to March (behind New Plymouth) but total sunshine was about 100 hours lower than the 2025 season — with increased cloud cover during the critical flowering window. The weather seemed to impact older varieties such as Motueka, Nelson Sauvin, and Riwaka with inconsistency between lots, with some softer and fruitier than normal while other lots were bolder.
But newer varieties such as Nectaron and Superdelic delivered consistent, intense aromatic profiles lot to lot, reflecting the strength of modern hop breeding.
The difference between older hops and newer ones like Superdelic and Nectaron was a result of the breeding programme in partnership with Bioeconomy Science Institute (formerly Plant & Food)
“These newer rockstar cultivars, with higher average oil content, stronger yields, and greater plant resilience, appear better equipped to absorb and respond to more moderate seasonal conditions. It’s exactly the kind of performance targeted in modern hop development, and it was clearly on display this year,” the report said.
The outstanding character of Nectaron this season is reflected in high demand from the US market, where Nectaron is becoming increasingly popular.
It’s helped by the likes of Russian River producing a beer called Docta Ron, named for Dr Ron Beatson, who bred Nectaron. The label says the beer is inspired founder Vinnie Cilurzo’s “passion for Nectaron, the unique hop developed by Dr Ron …”
It’s also in Russian River’s Pliny The Younger Double IPA.
Distinct but familiar
Tamir Danon of Novel Strand Brewing in Denver is another huge fan of Nectaron — using it since it was Hort-4337.
“When I talk with brewers about Nectaron, it feels familiar to the American brewers, but it expresses itself uniquely enough that it’s fun and exciting for them, moreso than some newer American varieties that aren’t getting people as excited as Nectaron. You see Nectaron popping up in a lot of beers.”
That “distinct but familiar” quality sets it apart from many other NZ hops which are startlingly distinct.
“Motueka is distinct — it has that tropical lemon-lime, little bit of lemongrass thing. It stands out. It doesn’t taste like orange and pine and resin which you get in American hops.
“Riwaka, the queen of everything, is such a layered, delicate, distinct hop. Musty white grape, a little bit of passion fruit, a little bit of grapefruit, a little bit of just grassy diesel cannabis character. Again, it doesn’t taste like pine, generic orange or grapefruit and resin.
“Nelson Sauvin has even more of the white grape, even more of this kumquat, papaya thing. It’s distinct.
“Nectaron, while distinct to American brewers, is also familiar. The white grape is toned down. The pineapple, stone fruit, peach character is brought up. These are flavours that American brewers are more used to getting from the hops they’re using.
“But the resin quality of Nectaron is different to Simcoe, Mosaic or Citra. It has a cool New Zealand forest thing to its resin. And again, that’s familiar and unique at the same time.”
Tamir loves the way it delivers throughout the brew process, from bittering through whirlpool and into dry-hopping.
Nectaron (10-12% alpha acids) has a soft bitterness and can be used “liberally” to deliver great flavour and good bitterness without getting astringent.
“Nectaron has the ability to provide a bitterness that an American West Coast producer is looking for and a little bit of Nectaron can go a long way for bittering.
“The flavours you can extract from Nectaron during the whirlpool are stone fruit and that unique resin character. When you dry hop, you increase the peach character but that’s where I get a lot of the pineapple character.
“And that flavour profile is, oh man, it’s like a song that I’m pretty sure I’ve heard and it feels really familiar, but it sounds cool and different.”
Flew in Ready To Play
Tanir believes there are other reasons Nectaron is growing in popularity.
“Brewers are getting more familiar with and the hop is being grown more so the growers are getting more familiar with it and really learning to optimise it. So it’s a hand-in-hand process.
He noted that Nectaron delivers flavour profiles that are common in the “newer age American IPAs, whether they’re hazy, West Coast, or the new West Coast, like mine, which is unfiltered.
“For these modern West Coast IPAs that are much more aromatic and flavourful, not just bitter and piney, Nectaron fits right in and it plays well with other hops. If you use Nectaron with Mosaic, great, they complement each other. Mosaic doesn’t pop off pineapple or stone fruit, right? It’s more mango or guava or berries. So those complement each other well. So again, Nectaron flew in ready to play.
“So it’s so obvious that it would light like wildfire. It’s just, oh my God, yeah, give me that fun New Zealand hop. It’s got flavours that I like and I’m familiar with.
“Another part of it, if we’re being honest, is the marketing push behind it. NZ Hops knows they have something hot, and so they’re pushing it. But advertising generally only works if the product is as good as what you’re claiming it to be.
And Tamir agreed with NZ Hops’ analysis that Nectaron is delivering big this season.
“It was very punchy this year. Very, very strong. The flavour profile was an intense version of what we normally smell.”
Main image: Nectaron on the bine at Hinetai Hops.