Reckless Hero Spends Nelson Sauvin on the Bittering Charge

Nelson Sauvin is usually saved for the aroma end of a beer. Farmington Brewing has put it on the bittering charge instead, brought Citra in for the burst, then gone back to Nelson for the dry hop.

Style: American Pale Ale
Release Date: 2026-09-17
ABV: 5.8%
Farmington Brewing Company (Farmington, MI)

The interesting decision on this beer happens in the first five minutes of the boil.

Farmington Brewing Company has Reckless Hero Pale Ale on tap in Farmington, Michigan, an American pale ale at 5.8 percent ABV and, per the brewery's tap list, 42 IBU. It is built on two hops used in three places.

Nelson Sauvin, for bittering. The brewery describes it as a fairly new variety out of New Zealand, and says it lends a grape-like fruitiness alongside the bitterness.

Citra, as a hop burst, which the brewery credits with the tropical fruit aroma and flavor.

Nelson Sauvin again, as a dry hop, for more aroma and flavor.

The first of those is the unusual one. Bittering hops go in early and boil long, which strips out the volatile oils that carry aroma, so the slot is normally filled with whatever delivers alpha acid most economically. Nelson Sauvin is the opposite kind of hop. It is prized specifically for a character that a long boil is designed to remove, and it is typically held back for late additions where that character survives.

Using it to bitter and then returning to it at the dry hop means the same variety frames both ends of the beer. Citra sits in between, added as a burst rather than a long addition, which is a placement that favors aroma and flavor over bitterness.

Farmington also notes the beer runs a bit darker than a traditional pale ale and lands at medium body. That gives the hops a slightly fuller malt base than a pale straw pale ale would, which suits a bill this aromatic.

For anyone wanting to put it next to food, the grape and tropical register here would sit comfortably with goat cheese or a citrus-dressed salad, where the fruit has something tart to work against rather than something rich to cut through.

Reckless Hero is pouring now at the Grand River Avenue taproom.

Editor’s Take

Bittering hops are the unglamorous part of a recipe. They go in at the start of the boil, they surrender every last molecule of aroma to an hour of steam, and the brewer picks them for alpha acid per dollar because nobody is ever going to taste them as themselves. This is the slot where the workhorses live.

Farmington has put Nelson Sauvin in it. Nelson is a hop people build entire beers around, one of the few varieties with a flavor so particular that the tasting note everyone reaches for is not a fruit but a wine grape. Sending it into the kettle first is a bit like using a good Sauvignon Blanc as the cooking wine. The brewery is not doing it by accident either, because Nelson comes back at the end as the dry hop, which means the same distinctive hop bookends the beer and Citra gets the middle.

What I would actually like to know is whether you can tell. Grape-like fruitiness is supposed to be the first thing an hour in the kettle destroys. If Farmington has found a way to leave a fingerprint of it in the bitterness itself, that is a more interesting pale ale than its 42 IBU would suggest. Either way, somebody in that brewhouse thought carefully about a decision most recipes make on price.

Source & Editorial

JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.