Bearface aside, I’ve never been particularly crazy about Canadian whisky. Maybe it has something to do with my upbringing. You’re more likely to catch me nosing a Islay single malt or even a drop of Irish. My main encounter with Cdn, whisky was at long vanished, still missed Vong’s Kitchen. There, back in the 90s, all the BYO wine went in a teapot (just in case the VPD dropped by). But if it was your birthday there might just be a teapot of ‘hot tea’—aka Crown Royal!
An April lunchtime foray to Stanley Park’s Teahouse yielded a pleasant surprise. I was absolutely charmed by a Canadian Whisky. Not only that, it was a pine mushroom whisky!
A mushroom whisky? Seriously? Yes, indeed. Bearface Matsutake 01 is a blend of sherry cask-aged Canadian Whisky with an infusion of Matsutake mushroom. (In BC it’s known also as the White Pine mushroom.) ‘Wilderness Series Matsutake 01’ actually tastes delicious—and not just to mushroom geeks!
Bearface teamed up with educator Reece Sims and the Teahouse for a whisky cocktail themed lunch. All of the pairings impressed, including the Forager’s Sour with citrus and achiote marinated cauliflower
However, the standout was chef Sic Kim’s duck breast and cherry sauce. The perfect match was a Bearface Matsutake Whisky and red Vermouth cocktail. Mixed in were Artemisa, Smoke & Oak bitters and bee propolis with a garnish of Castelvetrano olives. Not only was it a slam dunk with the duck. A little even survived to play well with a homemade peanut butter crunch bar. Unquestionably, these were the best dishes I’ve tasted at The Teahouse in years.
And then it was down to business with a Bearface Matsutake component tasting.
The Bearface Wilderness project
What would inspire Bearface master distiller Andres Faustinelli and colleague Bram Bolwijn to venture so boldly into the unknown? You may well ask. The two had connected at Mission Hill (in Kelowna, BC). Marketing manager Bolwijn (who has a strong wine background) supplied tasting notes for Faustinelli’s spirits.
They’d often mused about some kind of collaboration involving wild foraging. But everything came together, ironically, thanks to Covid! Faustinelli, who commutes between San Francisco and Kelowna, was stuck in quarantine limbo. And going just a tad stir-crazy. Somehow it all came together. And so the Bearface Wilderness Series was born.
The Hardest Blend
“We usually talk about whisky in terms of time and cask age, such as 12 or 14 years,” notes Bolwijn. However, Faustinelli explains the genesis “was to make a whisky that has a sense of place.” That place just happened to be the heart of the Monashee Mountains.
There were no fancy focus groups or any consumer research, he confides. “There was no real strategy at all, just an idea to make a mushroom influenced whisky.”
That idea, while it may sound quite simple, was far from it.
For one thing, as a blender, explains Andres, “the process was completely upside down. This has been the hardest blend we’ve ever made. Usually you start with the larger component and blend back to the smaller. But here we started with the smaller component that was actually a Matsutake whisky…”
The challenge: to make sure the mushroom didn’t overshadow the whisky. “We needed to find a way to bring the Matsutake to life but without it being “too mushroom forward.”
Fleeting Funghi
Then there was the need to find the mushrooms, at the just the right time and in the quantity required. Matsutake are notoriously scarce and have a very short life span. And canny pickers guard their locations zealously.
Never mind. Faustinelli, Bolwijn and local foragers “took a helicopter ride to the top of a mountain. We started to walk down for four or five hours. We collected everything we could find that we thought would be interesting.” They also came across “other things.” Some were toxic and others, well…” They gave a wide berth to anything hallucinogenic. Indeed, says Bolwijn, this is a ‘Matsutake’ whisky, as opposed to a ‘mushroom’ whisky.
On a second excursion the crew camped out for ten days, foraging cleaning and slicing. In all they picked 100 kg. of Matsutake. But, says Bolwijn, “We did pay for the mushrooms. We tried to be conscious; not only in terms of sustainability but also contributing to the community.”
They would clean and slice the day’s crop, first checking it for freshness. Matsutake thrives in its own little microclimate. When just picked it has a very interesting smell, says Bolwijn. The mushrooms with the best aromatics are supple—and free of worm holes! Matsutake are one of few mushrooms that you can safely eat without cooking.
Wine into Whisky?
Matsutake in teabag with spirit (supplied)
The team started infusing right on the mountain, using a giant teabag immersed in overproof whisky. The Matsutake were left for about six weeks before Faustinelli began blending. Over time he found the mushrooms’ high water content reduced the alcohol (ABV) in the spirit.
“In the end it looked like natural wine. Really cool!” Faustinelli experimented with various casks including a Pedro Ximénez (PX) and cream sherry. But eventually leaned more toward Amontillado. “It’s walnut and nutmeg forward, so we created that as the bridge,” he explains. The final base (the “skins”) is like open top fermented wine in a cask. It tastes almost like fortified wine.” Indeed it does.
Says Bolwijn, “The Matsutake was a revelation. When we started playing with the infusion we knew we had to showcase something no one else can do.”
The end result is a smooth, nutty and spice toned sipper that’s also a pretty classy cocktail companion. Imagine the lovechild of whisky and Amontillado, conceived in a magical, mountainside forest! This mycologically nuanced sipper is as much about the umami, or mouthfeel, as the sherried cinnamon and spice undertones.
Faustinelli with flask (supplied)
As for what’s next? Wilderness Series 02 will be radically different, promises Faustinelli. But he’s not giving away any clues. Other than the key ingredient will be just as wild and just as ‘out there.’
“I’m against whisky snobbism,” he declares. “I believe whisky should be enjoyed. It’s to have fun with.”
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