I’ll admit that I quite enjoyed the Chaga Lager from Fungtn so thought that I would dip my toes into another mushroom-based beer from the same company, this time in the form of Lion’s Mane IPA which is brewed using organic Lion’s Mane mushrooms.
Will the mushroom addition work as well in a completely different style of beer? Read on to find out.
1. Name : Lion’s Mane IPA
2. Brewery: Fungtn (Fungtional Brew Company), Kelsall. Brewed at The Great Yorkshire Brewery, Cropton
3. Hops : Not specified
4. Grain : Barley, Malt, Wheat & Lion’s Mane mushrooms
5. Aroma : Faint hop presence breaks through the earthy undertones
6. Appearance : Pours golden/light amber with a quickly dissipating head
7. Body : Light to medium earthy body
8. Taste : Initial taste the mushroom is highly present. This makes way to a lingering hop bitterness.
Despite the lack of head retention, the beer pours an inviting colour and gives off a welcoming rather than mind blowing aroma which leads you into thinking that this is going to be another solid effort from Fungtn.
The initial taste however is one that had me going whoa (not in a good way) as the presence of the Lion’s Mane mushroom is much more pronounced than the Chaga mushroom as featured in Fungtn’s Chaga Lager. Once you get past this, the hop bitterness kicks in as it cuts through the earthy undertones leaving a lasting and not particularly pleasant flavour on the pallet.
Lion’s Mane IPA does not live up to the quality of the Chaga Lager as the beer just has too much going on which in my opinion does not quite work and left me scratching my head as I felt that this one was just a bit odd.
Not the most enjoyable beer, possibly worth a try for the novelty factor alone but overall this is one to miss.
Our overall rating: 2.4/ 5.0
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