Beer Nuts
is a brand of snack foods building on the original product, peanuts with a "unique" sweet-and-salty glazing made to a "secret recipe". According to the manufacturer's website [1], the ingredients comprise "Peanuts, Vegetable Oil (Peanut and/or Coconut), Corn Syrup and Salt".
In spite of their name, Beer Nuts do not contain any beer [2]; the name is intended to suggest to customers that they go well with beer.
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BEER NUTS TICKETS
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History
The official company history starts in 1937 when Edward Shirk and his son Arlo took over the
Caramel Crisp
confectionery store in
Bloomington, Illinois,
USA, which amongst others sold a product called
Redskins
, glazed peanuts with their red skins intact. Beginning in 1950, this product was sold packaged as
Shirk's Glazed Peanuts
in local National Liquor Stores.
Due to the business acumen of a local food distributor named Eldridge Brewster, in 1953 the product was gradually expanded to a national brand, and the Beer Nuts trademark was registered. The trademark is officially spelled with all capital letters: BEER NUTS.
Their product line has since expanded to feature other nuts such as
cashews and
almonds.
The company is still family owned; their only production site is still based in Bloomington.
In Australia
In Australia, "beer nuts" is used as a generic description of roasted, salted peanuts sold shelled but unhusked. A famous brand is
Nobby's. Australian beer nuts are not sweetened. The "Beer Nuts" brand is not sold.
References
- Official website
- Beer Nuts: Two words that say it all