I love sharing my passion for beer, and I’ve been given a number of fun opportunities to do so. Over the past six years I’ve been invited to lecture on the history and science of brewing to the University of Northern Colorado’s Fungi and Algae course. This isn’t because I’m particularly qualified to speak on the subject, but because the professor happens to be my father (pictured above on brew day). The presentation is coupled with a brewing demonstration in which the class and I design a recipe and brew it. When we finally get to enjoy the collaborative beer with the class, the Mycology professor invariably sautés up some fresh mushrooms for pairing. After a couple years of this, it was inevitable that we joined the likes of Tröegs Brewery, Cincinnati’s Blank Slate Brewing Company, and Equinox Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado, with the crazy idea of throwing those mushrooms into the brew kettle as well as the skillet.
We approached our good friends at Wiley Roots Brewing Company (Greeley, Colorado) about this idea. Kyle Carbaugh, the brewer/owner of Wiley Roots, was more than excited to give it a shot. We quickly settled on a California Common for the base style for this experiment. The rustic, woodsy hops flavors and moderate malt complexity seemed like a perfect match to highlight the deep earthy richness found in most mushrooms.
To determine the best mushroom for the base style, we tested three different varieties: oysters, morels, and porcini. We made separate infusions, using about 3 grams of dried ground mushrooms steeped in 1 cup of boiling water. We then dosed 4 ml of the infusion into the Platonic ideal of a California Common: Anchor Steam Beer. The oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) imparted a subtle earthy richness but were a little too restrained. The morels (Morchella esculenta) came off almost smoky and spicy. They would have been fun to use, but none of us wanted to cash in our retirement to pay for the pounds of dried morels we would need. The porcini (Boletus edulis, colloquially called boletes) were the perfect complement to the beer, lending a healthy amount of rich, earthy brightness that paired perfectly with the Anchor Steam. It smelled and tasted as if we were walking through a deciduous forest just after a light rain.