In November 2013, as part of the Scratch Beer Series, Tröegs Brewery released an experimental, small batch beer made with mushrooms grown in Pennsylvania. The collaboration among Tröegs Brewery, the American Mushroom Institute (AMI), the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and Pennsylvania mushroom farmers resulted in the release of an experimental, small batch beer made with mushrooms grown in Pennsylvania.. The beer, called Mushroom Ale, was brewed with a powdered blend of champignon, maitake, shiitake, and portabella mushrooms. That powder, which is great for cooking, is what a_ Beer Pulse _article says makes brewing with mushrooms possible.
Scott LaFollette, the proprietor, janitor, and yeast farmer at Cincinnati’s Blank Slate Brewing Company, makes Shroominous, a brown ale with mushrooms, and he agrees that mushrooms in beer should be used in powdered form. “Regardless of the type of mushroom used, I would recommend always using them dried as opposed to fresh,” he says. “From there you can either re-hydrate them in the wort itself at flameout or in a broth tea that is then added to the finished beer.”
La Follette says that the quality of mushrooms, just like any of the beer’s ingredients, is significant to the quality of the beer. “One word of caution though,” he adds, “the quality of flavor of dried mushrooms can vary from one supplier to another. Keep that in mind when scaling up your tasting experiment so that you get the expected results.”