If you were, for whatever reason, to pop into a craft beer production facility and say, โBoy, I could sure go for a brewerโs lunch,โ you wouldnโt be viewed as a total nutjob. No, youโd be recognized as someone whoโs jonesing for a Pearsonโsย Saltedย Nut Roll.
โItโs not just Minnesota people that know about the Nut Rolls,โ says Daveย Berg, the brewmaster at New Ulmโs August Schell Brewing Co. โYou can go on Reddit and look at brewersโ forums and theyโre talking about Nut Rolls. Youโll get posts everywhere.โย
Joshย Secaur, head brewer and owner atย St. Paulโs brand-new Gambit Brewing Co., confirms the nutty, salty phenomenon.
โAll the Facebook groups, and Reddit, people are like, โOh, I got two Salted Nut Rolls on my pallet, this is amazing!'โ he says. โItโs just one of those inside industry things thatโs pretty fun.โ
Who, or what, is this candy bar fairy who looks after hard-working brewers? Itโs BSG Craftbrewing, the Shakopee-headquartered mega-supplier of hops, malts, grains, yeasts, and basically anything else required in the industrial production of craft beer. It was the first company to offer โone-stop shoppingโ for craft breweries, Berg says, and it has since expanded throughout the country.
โSomewhere along the line, and lord knows why, they started putting candy bars in with the orders,โ he says. โIt was Salted Nut Rolls, sometimes itโd be Nut Goodies.โ
Over two decades ago, Kasota-based Mid-America Brewing Supply began peppering pallets with hard candies for brewers. When BSG acquired MAB in 2004, the shift was made to Salted Nut Rolls. Writes a nameless blogger for BSG: โWhile one couldnโt say that this changed the course of American beer and brewing as we know it, it definitely started something that has made a lot of brewers happy ever since.โ (BSG didnโt respond to our request for comment on this hard-hitting story.)
Berg says the bonus goodies are even listed, gratis, on invoices. (This documentation catches warehouses workers red-handed when they swipe the bars, a common occurrence at Schellโs.) Nut Rolls have become akin to a military rations for workers, serving as a chompable source of quick calories should shifts extend past dinner time. โIt saved many a brewer, when itโs a late night and the only thing you have around is the Nut Roll that came with your malt,โ he says.
Inclusion of the St. Paul-created candyโtypically one or two bars per palletโhasnโt come without controversy. Berg remembers the dark era when Twin Bing Bars, a lower quality confection from a lower quality state, temporarily replaced the Nut Rolls.
โEverybody started complaining: โWhere are the Nut Rolls?'โ Berg remembers with a hearty chuckle. โโWhy are you pawning this stuff off on us?โโ
Several breweries, like Blaineโs Invictus Brewing and Pittsburghโs Pennsylvania Brewing Co., have concocted Nut Roll-themed specialty beers, no doubt tips oโ the cap to the 113-year-old candymaker who keeps โem full. โThe Salted Nut Roll has always been a hard-working candy,โ a Pearsonโs PR man once told BSG, adding that his company is honored to have become a part of the craft-beer universe.
โItโs a sweet thing to have sitting on the shelf, like, โOh, I left my lunch box at home today? Well, I got a Nut Rollโthatโs perfect,'โ Secaur of Gambit Brewing says. โAndย when we got our first one hereย it was like, alright, weโre bordering on becoming official now.โ