Mushroom Ale
Old Town Brewing Co

 

 

what an incredibly unique beer this is! formerly named 1 up from what i understand, it is sort of hard to classify as a style, brown ale fits bst maybe, but its sweet and malty too, almost like an old ale of sorts, lower in abv obviously, but fits some of the flavors. pretty bottle, gold wax, embossed sort of label, really sexy and not unreasonably priced in the portland market. nut brown color to this one, deep indian red undertones, frothing tan to caramel head, real lacey. the aroma here is bizarre, i am not familiar with the candy cap mushroom as an entity outside of this beer, but i sure do get the earthy sweet maple syrup and woody notes people describe in the mushroom. super impressively complex, autumnal, foresty, and interesting. the flavor is definitely sweet, but the mushroom, as bold as it is, is really well integrated, like where the malt sweetness stops and the mushroom picks up is almost hard to determine, it has a great flow, maple and honey and brown sugar abound, with a little mineral and sort of decaying element, really awesome. this is a cool fall alternative to a pumpkin type of beer, and i could see these mushrooms working well in a pumpkin beer, or a winter warmer spiced ale too for that matter. there is a hearty warming nature to this from the mushroom that i really like. i was nervous about this, half expecting it to be gross or to incite an allergic reaction or something, but what we have here instead is a wonderfully complex and daring ale that has no equal that i am aware of. majorly impressed with this!