Nut-Flavored Beer: The New Trend Worth a Taste

Stuck at home? Pass the time with a new brew.

Woman reading and drinking beer

Spending time at home can get a little stale, which is why you need a new companion by your side as you organize your closet or watch mindless hours of television (no judgments). 

We recommend taking this time to try something new, daring, and exciting, like… nutty beer. It’s a rising trend in the beer community, definitely worth a taste, and a great way to pass the time. 

Of course, if you or a family member has a peanut allergy, please do not try this at home. Check out our other ideas instead here.

Popular Peanut Butter Beers

It’s important to note that many breweries craft their nut beer differently, so you can’t go wrong as you experiment. There are a variety of nut types, textures, and flavors to use, so grab whatever you have at home!

Here are some popular peanut flavors from breweries around the United States to help you get an idea of where to start:

Rusty Rail Brewing | Fool’s Gold

Fool’s Gold is Rusty Rail’s best-selling beer in Pennsylvania. It’s an imperial peanut butter hefeweizen combining banana esters and peanut butter to make a distinct, popular nutty brew.

If you’re ever in Pennsylvania, try it out. They are the largest brewpub in the state too!

Mast Landing Brewery | Gunner’s Daughter

Gunner’s Daughter is a best-seller for a reason. With peanut butter and milk stout flavors, this brew pays homage to a beloved Halloween candy – Reeses’ Peanut Butter Cups.  This beer was supposed to be a one-time special release, but it quickly became a year-round staple. 

If you have Reeses’ at home, consider adding them to your recipe.

Lakewood Brewing | Peanut Butter Temptress

Peanut Butter Temptress was a popular brew that constantly sold out because it was delicious, but difficult to make. They used a combination of dry peanuts and milk stout to capture the rare taste.

DIY Nutty Brew

Since you can’t go to the brewery, we’re bringing the brewery to you. Let’s look at how a couple different breweries make their batches so you can see how to replicate it at home. 

Remember, making the perfect nutty brew takes time, so be patient.

Tin Whiskers Brewing Company

Tin Whiskers uses PB2 powdered peanut butter by pressing the nuts to remove most of the oil. It’s important to get the oil out so the head retention does not reduce. 

Once the peanuts are powdered, this brewery adds the mixture into the brew after fermentation when the temperature of the brew is cooled. 

Key Ingredients: Nut Goodie Porter and Salted Nut Roll Ale candy from Pearson’s Candy Company. 

If you don’t have this candy at home, no problem. Although it’s a little messy, you can use organic peanut butter as a substitute, and add it after fermentation. (Just make sure it’s not too hot!)

O.H.S.O Eatery & Nano-Brewery

This brewery does a three step process when making their nut-flavored beer. You can choose to do all three or just one! 

The team uses powdered, whole, and extract peanuts for their three layer nutty beer. The first step they take is adding honey, lactose, and sea salt to the boil, and then finish by adding PB2. 

Similar to dry hopping, the next step is to add dry honey roasted whole peanuts after fermentation, and then let this mixture sit for no more than five days. After this, they add a little bit of peanut extract to enhance the aroma of the beer. 

If you don’t have peanut extract or PB2, regular peanut butter and nuts will work fine for this recipe. Just add the peanut butter to the boil, and the nuts after fermentation. You can also substitute the peanut extract with vanilla extract and see how that goes! (Either way, it will be fine without it). 

There are many different combinations of nuts and methods you can try in order to achieve the brew you want, just keep trying different flavors from your pantry!

Stay safe, always practice good kitchen hygiene, and let us know how you’re enjoying your nutty brews in the comments below. 

Happy brewing!

The Power Of Taking Home Brewing Notes

Home Brewing PressFor beginning homebrewers and casual hobbyists, taking home brewing notes may not be much of a priority. The most important thing, after all, is that it should be fun, right? But most brewers will reach a point when they want to enhance their craft and take their homemade beer to the next level. Taking good home brewing notes is one of the best and easy ways to accomplish this.
Keeping a home brewing log of some sort has several advantages, just a few of which are listed below. Among other things, taking notes while brewing allows you to:

  • Record your beer recipes
  • Modify recipes for future batches
  • Recreate beers that came out well
  • Improve beers that didn’t
  • Track procedures, recording methods that work and those that don’t
  • Record tasting notes to help remember some of your favorite brews and identify potential problems

Taking home brewing notes allows you to look back on a brew that came out well and recreate it. On the other hand, when something goes wrong, having a beer brewing log of some sort can provide insight as to what might have gone wrong. Either way, taking good notes will help you make better beer in the long run.

Tips for Taking Good Home Brewing Notes

  • Take notes while you brew, or immediately afterwards. I know that if I wait until the next day to take notes, I’ll without a doubt forget some details. (Was that 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon of gypsum I added to the mash?) The sooner you log these details the better.
  • Keep a notebook for writing down home brewing notes, then transfer to a spreadsheet or home brewing template with all your other beer recipes and notes. Having consistency in the way you log your home brew will make it easier and more routine for you with each passing brew.Shop Beer Recipe Kits

What to Record in Your Home Brewing Notes
Beginning brewers might want to start by recording the following basics:

  • Record the recipe and ingredients, including the weight and type of all the ingredients, the time of each hop addition, and the strain of beer yeast used.
  • Include dates for brew day, transfer to secondary (if applicable), and bottling/kegging date.
  • Record both original gravity and final gravity so you can calculate alcohol content.
  • Amount and type of priming sugar used for bottling.
  • Tasting notes – Record the date of the tasting and common characteristics: aroma, appearance, flavor, mouthfeel, and overall impression. (Tip: Save a bottle or two of your brew for a tasting at a later date. You might be surprised how beers can change over time!)

Partial mash and intermediate brewers may want to log a few more details in their notebook:

  • Specialty grains used, if applicable
  • Water to grain ratio if doing a partial mash
  • Temperature of mini-mash, if applicable
  • Water amendments, if applicable
  • Fermentation notes, including duration of fermentation and changes in the fermentation temperature
  • If kegging and force carbonating your beer, record the amount of CO2 used or amount of pressure, the temperature of the beer in the keg, and the length of time under pressure

Shop Homebrew BooksFinally, all-grain brewers should keep the most detailed home brewing notes of all. In addition to the items above, they may want to record the following:

  • Gravity of first wort runnings
  • Extract efficiency
  • Pre-boil gravity
  • Post-boil gravity
  • IBUs
  • Size and type of yeast starter

Do you take good home brewing notes? Do you keep a beer log of some sort? What items do you record that aren’t listed above? Do you have a home brewing note template you like to use? Share in the comments below!
—–
David Ackley is a beer writer, brewer, and self-described “craft beer crusader.” He holds a General Certificate in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is founder of the Local Beer Blog.

Beer Brewing 101: The Basics



Looking to begin your brewing career? E. C. Kraus has you covered with all the basic beer making equipment and beer brewing tips to jump in and get started. Below we share all the key components needed to become an expert brew master.

man lifting lid off homebrew kettle

True Brew Handbook: This is the essential guidebook for the beginning beer maker. Full of recipes and necessary ingredients, this handbook guides you through the process step by step, carefully explaining the purpose of each ingredient along the way.
Screw-Top Fermenter: Fermenters are an integral part of the beer (or wine) making process. Fermenters are buckets that generally hold an upwards of 5 gallons, and come with an airtight lid specially designed to aid in the fermentation process. Fermenters are designed with a faucet for racking and bottling, as well as a hose for easy transfer.
Triple Scale Hydrometer: A hydrometer allows you to keep track of the fermentation process and determines alcohol content in both beer and wine. The hydrometer is very important, as it lets you know when your brew is ready to be bottled!
Double Lever Capper: This product allows you to cap bottles with ease. This is an important part of the process, as it is necessary to ensure your beer is properly sealed after bottling.
Beer Bottle Brush: This type of brush is specially designed for cleaning beer bottles. It can effortlessly clean both 12oz and 22oz bottles, and can even be used to clean champagne bottles or soda pop bottles.
Foot Of Hose: Hose is necessary for transferring the finished beer to the bottles.
5 oz. Jar CleanPro SDH: This cleans your beer making equipment. It is used to sanitize, clean, and deodorize both beer and wine making equipment such as fermentation vessels, tubing, air-locks, and utensils. This can also work well on surfaces such as glass, stainless steel, and plastics.
Brewer`s Best Ingredient Kit: This kit comes with everything you need to brew your own beer. Pick from a variety of indulgent flavors such as American Amber, Irish Stout, Red Ale, Vienna Lager, or many many more! Each kit makes 5 gallons of home brew.

Ready to get started? Luckily Adventures in Homebrewing has you covered. We want to make the beer making process as simple as possible, so we combined all beginners’ necessities into one! Check out our Beer Brewing Kit, which includes everything listed above, and even comes at a specially discounted price!