When Head Brewer Alyssa Thorpe of Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery started brewing in Denver four years ago, she wasn’t aware of the legend of the Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll amongst brewers across the nation. That soon changed when she went to mill grain and, lo and behold, discovered a Nut Roll within the pallet of RahrBSG malts. “I was lucky enough that every time I milled for a batch, I found a Salted Nut Roll in the pallet!” Alyssa recalled.

Now, Salted Nut Rolls are popular enough in her brewery that they can count as both breakfast and lunch. “Whoever gets the pallet first hoards the Nut Rolls, first come first serve. Sometimes we hide them somewhere, and even get in a little fight for the Nut Roll!” She laughed. It was the love of Nut Rolls that launched Alyssa’s latest creation, the Pallet Present- a Salted Nut Roll inspired stout.

In keeping with the theme, Alyssa set out to create a recipe that would result in a beer that mimics the salty-n-sweet treat that brewers know and love. She described how she wanted to do a stout that no one’s done before, and knew from experience how much brewers love Salted Nut Rolls. “I kept a simple grain bill using malts that are 100% from RahrBSG, since it’s for Salted Nut Rolls,” she explained for the recipe. “I did a 3 hour boil so it’s thick, heavy mouth feel on the beer, as well as concentrates the sugars so it’s even thicker. Then I added 50lbs of lactose for the nougat sweetness in the middle of a nutroll, but still roasted thanks to the roasted malts in there.”

After fermentation, Alyssa added in 30 lbs of dehydrated peanut powder and rehydrated it with water. She reboiled it, cooled it, and added it to the fermenter. To top off the brew, she added in ground vanilla and pink Himalayan sea salt. The result? Delicious.

“It’s got a very chocolatey aroma that’s a little bit boozy, with a rounded out peanut background,” said Alyssa. “The taste is super balanced, it starts sweet and bounces out with a hint of salt and peanut butter upfront. Definitely tastes like a salted nut roll!”

While Pallet Present wasn’t at GABF, Jagged Mountain Brewery is less than a mile down the road from where GABF took place. “We knew that GABF was coming up, and we’re one of the closest breweries to the convention center, so we figured that a lot of brewers were gonna come in and see the place,” said Alyssa.

Pallet Present was on tap throughout the weekend, and Alyssa mentioned that she hopes to do similar creative brews in the future. “Jagged is pretty creative, so it’s kinda what we wanna brew.” To keep up with future releases by Jagged Mountain Craft Brewery, follow them on Facebook or Twitter, or follow Alyssa on Instagram @southernbeergirl. Cheers!