Nocino Walnut Porter
Scuttlebutt Brewing Company, Everett
Style: Porter aged with walnuts from Skip Rock’s Nocino Walnut Liqueur
Stats: 5.7 percent ABV
Available: 22-ounce bottles at Scuttlebutt’s brewery and restaurant and at Alespike in Stanwood and Special Brews in Lynnwood.
My thoughts: Originally, Scuttlebutt head brewer Matt Stromberg tried using the walnuts left over from Skip Rock Distilling’s Nocino Walnut Liqueur in the brewery’s 10 Below winter beer. Then he thought he’d use it in a porter. It was a good move. The dryness of the porter allows the bittersweet flavor of the liqueur-soaked walnuts to shine. Nocino (no-CHEE-no) is a sticky dark brown liqueur traditionally made in northern Italy from unripe green walnuts. Skip Rock is one of only a handful of distillers in the country that makes the Italian walnut liqueur, produced from walnuts picked in the Skykomish River Valley. Stromberg said that the porter was aged in barrels with the walnuts, decanting the liqueur off of them. My advice? Let this beer warm up. Once it does, it gains a round flavor profile with a ton of depth. The roasty porter is complemented by a strong bitterness from the walnuts; not a hop bitterness, but rather a tannin bitterness. This beer isn’t for everyone, but I enjoyed its complexity.
From the brewery: This is something different. We partnered with our good friends at Skip Rock Distilling in Snohomish to produce a unique beer aged in the walnuts left over from making its signature Nocino Walnut Liqueur. We dry hopped a batch of porter and aged it in two pounds of walnuts. The walnut flavor makes an immediate impact; not overpowering but it’s definitely there.
— Aaron Swaney
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