Steadily growing, family-run Vista interest Mother Earth Brew Co. recently signed a distribution deal that will help them to get more beer to an expanded number of accounts throughout Southern California. Obviously, this is good news for the company, but it will also benefit fans of the operation. Not only will Mother Earth’s beers be easier to get a hold of, but this development provides the bandwidth for introduction of a new beer to the core line-up, a tasty little number — make that a tasty big number — called Mother Earth Sin-Tax Peanut Butter Stout.

Peanut butter beers are becoming increasingly popular (you may recall another Beer of the Week from last year, Karl Strauss Peanut Butter Cup Porter). Many present a great deal of nut character, but this imperial stout (low in alcohol-by-volume at “just” 8.1%) doesn’t actually taste like the JIF bomb one would expect. In fact, it barely tastes like peanut butter at all. But nutty or not, it tastes really good. Dry and low in sweetness, it tastes like liquefied dark chocolate. That similarity is further driven home by a weighty, silken mouthfeel. But you’re allergic to peanuts? No problem. This beer contains zero peanut allergens. Yet another of many endearing points for this fine brew, now much more readily available.