Thursday, Apr 04, 2019 @ 09:21 am
We had way too much fun to stop after just one collaboration with Pearson’s Candy.
Shortly after we released Nut Goodie Porter last fall, we started getting questions from thirsty fans like you asking if we’d ever make another beer with Pearson’s and, if so, what candy we’d pick next. While we’re clearly fans of everything our friends at Pearson’s make, the answer was pretty clear: let’s tackle their best known product and make a Salted Nut Roll Ale.
Next up was deciding how to go about turning this beloved candy bar into a beer. We knew we wanted to target a spring release, which, combined with the lighter color exterior of the Salted Nut Roll’s signature Virginia peanuts, meant it made more sense to target a lighter style beer than our previous collaboration. We quickly settled on our Elemental Cream Ale as a base, knowing the light body and slight malty-sweetness of the style would be a perfect canvas.
Then it came time to eat a lot of Salted Nut Rolls and try to nail down how the flavors of peanuts, caramel, and nougat interacted when you took a bite of the candy bar, and how we could replicate those flavors in a beer. Substituting peanut butter for the peanuts was an easy call, but nougat was a little trickier. After a few taste tests with some potential substitutes, Lead Brewer Jeff -- who has helmed our infusion program for the past couple years -- landed on white chocolate for its creamy sweetness and silky texture. Our initial test runs, while close, just seemed to be missing something. It was then that Jeff had the idea to replace the ordinary caramel with salted caramel morsels to get that all-important touch of salt into the mix. With that, we sent samples over to Pearson’s Candy, and with their stamp of approval, Salted Nut Roll Ale went into production.
And now, we’re ready for you to get your hands on this tasty collaboration. Salted Nut Roll Ale will make its debut at the Minnesota Craft Beer Festival on April 13th with a special release at 2:30pm. After that, we’ll release the first kegs in the taproom on Friday, April 19th and a special cask will be featured at this year’s Farewell to Firkin Fest at The Happy Gnome. Cans will then make their way to liquor stores the week of April 29th. And while we promise we listened to your thirst for Nut Goodie Porter and were sure to produce even more Salted Nut Roll Ale, this is still a Spark Series limited release, so make sure to grab a 4-pack or two while you can!
