The Oligarch - Candy Cap
Breakside Brewery - SE Taproom

Taster at brewery , poured from bottle. Black, slick, flat pour. Mildly sweet aroma, hint of cinnamon. Taste adds some woody, earthy notes, before being overcome by the booze. Was hesitant, as I don't like mushrooms, but this was interesting.

 

bottle from the source. big imperial stout aroma. candied mushroom is the essence. a dessert beer it is.one of the best two mushroom beers i have had.

Pours a very dark brown with a thin tan head with zero retention or lacing. Even an aggressive pour straight down the middle of the glass yields minimal foam. The aroma is heavy with bourbon barrel, dark roasts, and umami. It’s slightly sweet on the palate with a little dark chocolate, dark roasted malts, and an earthiness from the mushrooms. It’s viscous and mouth coating and only a little bit hot from the alcohol. This is the best of the 4 of the 2019 Oligarch series that I’ve tried.

 

 

 

 

Super yummy. Gummy. Deepest and most complex and flavorful stout ive tried from this series and from breakside and among oregon overall. Flavors include burnt maple caramel dark chocolate cake, soot, rich moss, zippy molasses, dance of prune, a bit of apple, heat, bourbon floods in. Ends clean, light, tidy, flavorfully smokey. Expensive. Rare

4.95/5.00

Bottle from Market of Choice.

Black with a dark brown head with good retention and lacing, this looks solid. The nose is rich with dark chocolate, ganache, bourbon, a little soy, and a nice umami note. Earthy, mildly mushroom like, this smells great. The palate opens with a blend of bourbon, soy, earth and chocolate. Bittersweet chocolate with caramel and a little toffee. The finish is distressingly thin, surprisingly so, with lingering earth and bourbon notes. The mushrooms add a real nice depth to the palate. Very boozy with a moderate vanilla note.

Mushroom beer seems like a pretty dicey idea, but candy caps are the perfect choice and this excellent version of the Oligarch makes it work beautifully. I’m not sure if the mushrooms have anything to do with it, but this is an exceptionally dark and opaque stout with a serious austerity in the glass. The aroma is a little restrained, but still rich and sugar-tangy with vanilla and delicious dark chocolate caramel. And it promises some delectable barrel-derived notes, soon to follow, in all their glory. This beer takes a little while to be properly tasted - it’s that complex. It hits every note of a really serious imperial stout, adds nuanced barrel-aging and then layers in the subtle-but-no-doubt-about-it earthy, sweet umami of the mushrooms. Amazing. The mouthfeel is all you could ask for, except, possibly, a touch more viscosity. Overall it is definitely one of the very best “unusual ingredient “ beers I’ve ever had. A real winner.

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque black in the glass with a half finger dark khaki head with great retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, bourbon, dry caramel, molasses and a distinct mushroom mustiness that is almost umame. Flavor is slightly sweet, dark toasted malt, caramel, light molasses, bourbon, a touch of oaky wood and light earthiness that develops a mushroomy note in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Another entry in this series that smells and tastes great. The name is apt; there is a mild sweetness that seems to be mostly bourbon origin and both the aroma and flavor have a musty, wild mushroom note that fits in surprisingly well with the malt and light caramel. I'm again impressed that these variants are so flavorful and balanced; this was obviously a complicated production. My only caveat is that this is less a Russian imperial stout base (the malt is slightly lighter than that style), and tastes more like an imperial porter to me. Nevertheless, the malt is substantial enough to handle the barreling and interesting adjuncts. Very nice. A little boost to the score for making mushrooms work so well.