Shitake and the end of the keg
Yesterday afternoon a nephew, Keita, from Japan arrived. I went to pour a beer and that keg was empty. However, there was a keg of pilsner ready and waiting. Keita was with me when I opened the empty keg to rinse it out. He was immediately struck by the smell of the yeast deposit in the bottom of the keg. With his brother, Keita grows shitake mushrooms. They grow the shitake by injecting the shitake spores into holes drilled into metre lengths of chestnut logs. Keita said that the yeast smelt exactly like the shitake spores. Very interesting as both yeast and shitake are fungii.
We are heading off for a few days tomorrow morning, including a stop at Mudgee Brewery – of course to check out the floor amongst other things, Andrew Larsen did the installation at Mudgee. I’m looking forward to drinking more of their porter.
Enjoy your time in Mudgee Pat, I have fond childhood memories of going to the building which now houses the brewery with my father to sell wool. Mr Poulton the wool buyer would put me on the old sliding weight wool scales and write my weight down on a piece of paper. I was surprised when i visited last that the air didn’t still hang thick with the smell of lanolin and tanned skins…
Mudgee is great part of the world! I go out to see my cousins every now and then. Until the Flemington tasting day, didn’t know there was a brewery out there as well. Now I have another reason to go – that Porter was very tasty indeed.