New Beer Friday, Gourmet Mushroom Edition (June 22)

Mushroom Fettucine

Preamble by Steve Siciliano

Every Friday my wife and I make a forty-minute drive from our cottage near Irons to the Mason County community of Scottville, Michigan. Now, chances are good that if you have been to this nice but nondescript burg on U.S. 10 you passed through it on your way to Ludington, the pleasant little city on the shores of Lake Michigan ten miles to the west.

On the other hand, you might have never set foot nor tire in Scottsville but have heard of it because you have seen the famous Scottsville Clown Band perform at a small-town parade or a county fair. In other words, it’s not exactly a destination and you might be wondering why Barb and I make these weekly trips. Well, we go there for the mushrooms.

Scottsville is the home of Gourmet Mushrooms, Inc., a company that produces thousands of pounds of gourmet mushrooms a week. The majority are shipped to restaurants and grocers around the country but every Friday from 12:30 to 3:00, the plant opens its doors to cash-paying customers who can purchase the fresh mushrooms in prepackaged three and fifteen pound bags.

I’m not sure how Barb heard about the weekly sale but I’m glad she did. The mushrooms have wonderful earthy flavors and are flat out the best fungi we’ve ever had. We always pick up three varieties and we enjoy them with meals all week. We usually sauté them in butter and sprinkle on some garlic salt but last week I sautéed them in olive oil and fresh garlic and tossed them over fettucine. A simple but tasty dish. Go here for varieties and more information.

New and Returning Beer

• Abita Watermelon Lemon Shandy, $1.89/12oz - "Inspired by the taste and aromas of summertime, this crisp, golden lager is brewed with pilsner and wheat malts and blended with refreshing watermelon and zesty lemon juices for a sweet, freshly squeezed flavor. All of our Harvest Series brews are made with the finest Louisiana-grown ingredients, keeping us Louisiana True" (source).
• Arvon Bush Wookie, $9.39/22oz - "A  piney, resinous, West Coast style IPA with slight citrus notes that is well hopped in accordance with the style. Light bodied and hop-forward, Bush Wookie finishes dry. Best enjoyed fresh" (source).
• Arvon Fort Gratiot, $9.99/22oz - "Arvon Brewing Co.’s Lighthouse Series of New England style IPAs are each distinctly hopped with a single varietal, displaying the unique character of the hops as a shining beacon. The explosive hop flavor and aroma of Falconer's Flight featured in Fort Gratiot is best experienced when this beer is enjoyed fresh – drink now" (source).
• Arvon Sand Point, $9.99/22oz - "Arvon Brewing Co.’s Lighthouse Series of New England style IPAs are each distinctly hopped with a single varietal, displaying the unique character of the hops as a shining beacon. The explosive hop flavor and aroma of Nelson Sauvin featured in Sand Point is best experienced when this beer is enjoyed fresh – drink now" (source).
• Avery Bug Zapper, $2.39/12oz - "Bug Zapper is a limited release Sour Ale to help scratch your summer itch. A lively mix of mint, ginger, and lime are both cooling and invigorating, and we sour-dose after fermentation to impart the finishing electric zap" (source).
• Boulevard Ginger Lemon Shandy, $1.89/12oz - "Ginger Lemon Radler is a zesty, refreshing take on the tradition of mixing beer with soda or lemonade to create a light, thirst-quenching beverage ideal for warm weather. Radler (literally “cyclist,”) takes its name from active German sportsmen of a hundred years ago, but our version tastes just as good even if you do nothing more strenuous than lifting it to your lips" (source).
• Deschutes The Ages, $16.29/500ml - "A tasty new tart offering in our Reserve Series lineup. Flavors hit the back of the throat first and end with a tingle on the taste buds. Limited, small batch release" (source).
• Deschutes Passion Fruit IPA, $2.19/12oz - "Just in time for Valentine’s Day we bring you an IPA brewed with love, heart and PASSION…fruit.  Juicy citrus aroma and flavor highlighted by tropical hop character and background caramel malt notes" (source).
• Dogfish Head Liquid Truth Serum, $3.29/16oz - "Our unique process involving pelletized, powdered, leaf and liquefied hops makes for a blissfully inefficient IPA that's truthfully hoppy without being deceptively bitter. You'll find the perfect match of citrusy and tropical notes, making for a zesty finish ... honest" (source).
• Goose Island Grumpy Old Man, $1.99/12oz - "Simple pale ale brewed with two-row and caramel malt. Kettle hops are Cascade and Chinook" (source).
• Goose Island Midway IPA, $1.99/12oz - "Paying tribute to Chicago, Midway IPA is sessionable and refreshing, or as Goose Island likes to refer to it -- easy drinking. With lower ABV, balanced IBU's, and a tropical fruit aroma, make Midway your new go-to" (source).
• North Channel Manistee IPA, $2.09/12oz - "2-row malt forms the backbone of this beer along with some rye malt. Michigan Copper hops were added during the boil and Citra was used to dry hop making it a balanced, yet hop-forward IPA" (source).
• Odd Side Fruitsicle Cherry, $2.89/12oz - "Juicy, fruity, slightly tart ale brewed with lactose and cherries added" (source).
• Odd Side Fruitsicle Pineapple & Tangerine, $2.89/12oz - "Fruit Beer" (source).
• Short's Freedom of 78, $2.59/12oz - "Freedom of ’78 is a medium-bodied IPA brewed with guava. This IPA is bright and clear with a pleasing bronze hue. The beers aroma is a unique fusion of citrus fruit and subtle pine. The distinct characteristics of the guava nectar are impossible to miss with flavors of tangerine, nectarine, and even faint honey detectable. The finish is bitter and dry" (source).
• Weyerbacher Last Chance, $2.39/12oz - "Last Chance IPA, 5.9% ABV, is a full-flavored IPA with pleasant citrus flavors of tangerine and grapefruit. We’ve tweaked the recipe a bit and the result is a well-balanced, very refreshing beer that we’re sure you’ll enjoy! In addition to the new blend of Cascade, Centennial, Citra & Mosaic hops, we’ve also dry-hopped this brew with Citra and Mosaic" (source).
• Bell's Q Falls, $2.09/12oz - "Larry Bell, president and founder of Bell’s Brewery, dreamt that he was at the mystically hidden retreat of Quinannan Falls, somewhere in the boreal north. Neither Quinannan Falls nor the beer actually existed outside his imagination, but he remembered enough about it to sketch a recipe and label, which was put into full form by Michigan artist Kathleen Kalinowski, the following morning. The end result is a dry-hopped lager that possesses a crisp, dry bitterness you would expect from a German pilsner, but the use of highly aromatic Simcoe hops from the Pacific Northwest, evoke the fragrant pine forests that inspired this beer" (source).
• Creston Bloody Fifth, $3.89/16oz - "Red Ale dry-hopped with Michigan Summit hops" (source).
• Creston Bokonon, $3.89/16.7oz - "New England IPA with Mosaic, Citra, and Simcoe hops" (source).
• Decadent Ales Wildberry Smoothie, $6.29/16oz  - "Our Tropical Smoothie IPA featuring raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and vanilla bean" (source).
• Evil Twin Big Ass Money Stout, $9.99/16oz - "This is Big Ass Money Stout and it is a collaboration with Lervig. This imperial stout will roll in at 17.4%-AbV and it will be brewed at Westbrook Brewing in Mount Pleasant, SC" (source).
• Evil Twin Even More Pecan Jesus, $4.59/16oz - "This is Even More Pecan Pie Jesus and it is a limited release imperial stout brewed with molasses and pecan extract" (source).
• Evil Twin Modern IPA, $2.19/12oz - "This is a tasty tribute to a beloved and iconic beer style - the India Pale Ale. The style goes 200 years back - has been through every spectrum of the flavor palette and had it’s ups and downs on the IBU scale. This time around we re-created a contemporary style IPA - basically the taste of the perfect IPA right now. Understated hop flavors, fruity and crisp. The future is now" (source).
• Evil Twin Molotov Surprise #4 (Pink Guava), $3.29/12oz - "Triple IPA" (source).
• Evil Twin Race Day IPA, $4.99/16oz  - "A sour IPA brewed with aloe salt and pineapple" (source).
• Evil Twin Whereof One Cannot..., $4.99/16oz - "A double dry-hopped IPA" (source).
• Fat Orange Cat Vito the Beer Whale, $5.49/16oz - "The hop combination of Azacca and Simcoe creates a unique and intense mix of tropical fruit flavors up front with a creamy mellow finish" (source).
• Griffin Claw Bonnie Raggedy Ass, $3.59/16oz - "2010 world beer cup silver medal - brewed and dry hopped with American, Centennial, Columbus, Cascade and Bravo" (source).
• Hoppin' Frog B.O.R.I.S. Crusher, $8.79/12oz - "BORIS stands for Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout and it will crush you like no other stout! BORIS The Crusher will crush your taste buds under its intense flavor and full body" (source).
• Hoppin' Frog Baltic Pirate Porter, $7.69/12oz - "Immensely smooth, yet complex and substantial. Made with our Baltic brewing friend Wojtek, a master of the style from Brewery Widawa in Poland. Pirating this awesome recipe from Baltic history, we created this crazy collaboration by getting all the traditional malts, lager yeast, and even fresh hops from his source in Poland! Then for distinct hop character, we increased the kettle aroma hops by 3X. Plus, to make it world-class. we added a touch of dried plum which is often part of the flavor profile of the best Baltic Porters" (source).
• Hoppin' Frog Grapefruit Shandy, $4.49/12oz - "Born from European traditions, a fresh grapefruit character nicely compliments the light malt flavor of this Grapefruit Turbo Shandy" (source).
• Hoppin' Frog Infusion A, $4.49/12oz - "Infusion A starts with the base of our Silk Porter and adds to its deliciousness with tasty swirls of chocolate and peanut butter flavor" (source).
• Hoppin' Frog Lemon Lime Shandy, $4.49/12oz - "Its crisp and inviting lime character adds a tasty pizzazz to the refreshing lemon and light malt flavors of our Turbo Shandy" (source).
• Motor City Brewing Ghetto Blaster Mild, $1.19/12oz - Motor City Ghettoblaster is a classic English Style Mild Ale, tawny in color with a clean biscuit flavor. Ghettoblaster is also the “Beer You Can Hear” an on-going documentation of the Detroit music scene" (source).
• Shacksbury Arlo, $3.29/12oz  - "Aromatic, grapefruit, lightly sparkling, and dry" (source).
• Shacksbury Rose, $2.79/12oz - "Meet Rosé, crafted in partnership with our friends at Sunday In Brooklyn. Rosé features 100% local fresh pressed apples from @sunrise_orchards in Cornwall, Vermont. Post fermentation, we let the cider age on local Marquette grape skins — collected from winemaker friends here in Vermont — to impart flavor, color, and tannin. The result is a fun-loving but refined cider that is as delicious as it is beautiful" (source).
• Stillwater Action Bronson 7000, $4.39/16oz - "Dry hopped sour ale with muscat grapes" (source).
• Stillwater Mainstream Pop, $5.49/16oz - "Mainstream Pop Song is a double IPA brewed with Amarillo, Citra and Mosaic hops" (source).

Video of the Week | North Channel Brewing

Siciliano's welcomes North Channel Brewing to the market.

Cheers!