30lbs of Nerds Candy
brewingWhen we visited Edinburgh the first time (in 2022), we ran from the airport to the AirBnB, threw down our luggage and hoofed it to Leith for the Edinburgh homebrew club meeting that happened to be on.
There we met Alex, a great homebrewer and hit it off really well. At some point, he asked if I’d ever made Nerds wine. Skeptical, I wanted him to clarify what he was saying and he assured me: yes, those Nerds. Yes, Nerds wine.
“Only problem is,” he said, “I can’t get them in sufficient quantity.”
I leveled a gaze at him. “I’m American,” I said. “I’m sure I could get you a 55 gallon drum if Nerds if you wanted…”
I didn’t. I bought 10lbs - enough for a batch - and sent it off.
It made it to Scotland. It made it to his neighborhood…but didn’t make it to him. Before everything could be resolved, it had returned to me.
“Do you want me to mail it again?” I asked, hoping the answer was no; it was expensive to ship. “No; you should make it. Here’s what you do…” he explained.
I wanted it to fail. Or succeed, but taste terrible. Fermenting table sugar doesn’t go well…but Alex assured me that yeast nutrient would make the difference.
And…it did. I hated it; it was good. Not up my alley, but popular enough that people keep asking for it. I made a batch for someone’s birthday, they liked it so much.
November 2025, we headed to Scotland again. A scouting trip to see what neighborhoods we wanted to favor or avoid in our house search in Linlithgow. We made sure to get together with Alex and Mairi (his SO)…and I made sure to bring 10lbs of Nerds for him.
I was stopped in the Philadelphia airport for the suspicious vacuum-sealed candy bricks I’d made.
I was stopped again in Heathrow.
It was very worth it :)
…but while I got Alex his 10lbs of Nerds, getting them meant I had to order 30lbs this time. It just wasn’t efficient in any smaller quantities; I could get 2lbs or 5lbs but not 10, and 2x5lbs wound up being more expensive than getting 30lbs…so 30lbs it was.
So I gave Alex his 10lbs, I fermented another 10lbs and have just over 8lbs left. Hoping to find a home for it, even if I have to portion it all out for guests at our house cooling party ;)