Beer Sherpa Ponders: Old Town Brewing’s 1-Up Mushroom Ale

For the past 18 months or so, I’ve been doing this “beer sherpa” thing and pointing you to beers I especially enjoyed. Today we do something slightly different. Right now, on the strip of dust formerly known as Waterfront Park (this hot summer has not been kind to the grass), Old Town Brewing is pouring a beer called 1-Up Mushroom Ale at the Oregon Brewers Festival. I am sherpa-ing you toward it, and I definitely recommend trying it–but whether you like it or not is a separate matter entirely.

Old Town used Candy Cap mushrooms, a variety with which I was formerly unfamiliar. They don’t have the usual forest-floor, umami quality I expected. Indeed, they are known for their odd taste. Let’s turn to Wiki for more:

The chemical responsible for the distinct odor of the candy cap was isolated in 2012 by chemical ecologist and natural product chemist William Wood of Humboldt State University, from collections of Lactarius rubidus. The odoriferous compound found in the fresh tissue and latex of

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