An introduction to Zoey & Fungtn fundraising

Denise 1:14

Hi hi Lono Nation and welcome back to this week's episode of the Lono Drinker podcast with a fantastic episode from a wonderful , wonderful woman called Zoe Henderson . Now , before we get into it , I wanted to tell you a little bit about this recording . So this episode was recorded in November 2023 .

Zoey 1:35

And in it .

Denise 1:35

Zoe Henderson , who is the founder of the Function Mushroom Brewing Company , talks so passionately about her beers , about the inspiration that led her to create them , about the wonderful medicinal properties that are found to be found in mushrooms like Rache and Lines Mane which go into her beers , how they taste , what they can do for people . She does it in such a down to earth and really open and honest way . What I loved about talking to Zoe is that she felt like a bit of a kindred spirit , in that she's not trying to tell people that they shouldn't drink . She's not trying to demonise alcohol , she's not trying to say that all boozing and boozers are bad . She's simply trying to produce a product that is exceptional quality , that can help you live a lifeless intoxicated , on your own terms , and that is 100% what I am about and what Lono Drinker is about . Since recording this episode back in November , zoe has been working really , really hard to keep the business going , to raise some funding for the business , because , as with most small , independent Lono producers , there comes a point where scaling becomes an essential part of your business plan to move things forward , and if you're not able to scale , you won't be able to reach the demands of your public to be able to produce enough good quality product to serve the people that want it in a way that is financially viable .

Denise 3:14

One of the biggest challenges that our small independent producers have is the sheer cost of producing their beverages . When you compare it to big alcohol , who are able to roll out zero or Lono beers and other products at a rate of knots because they already have the factories behind them , they already have the processes behind them , they already have the marketing budgets behind them , they already have the name of the brand behind them . So , when they knew an independent brand is coming up to do the same thing , the scales of economy are not in their favour . As such , zoe is now finding herself in a position where , if she's not able to raise the right investment within a short period of time I don't know the exact time frame , but I should imagine we're talking about within a few weeks or within a month or so if she's not able to raise that investment , there is a danger that she will have to stop producing function beer and close down production altogether , and that would be really sad . It is so heart breaking watching people in our industry trying their damnedest to help people to live the life that they want to live and produce something of exceptional quality and coming up against these barriers that all businesses do face .

Denise 4:32

Of course , I myself you know acknowledge that it is difficult to find the funds sometimes to keep going , but obviously , when you're talking about beverage production , we talk about food and drink . There are so many costs involved to make sure that the drink is produced safely , that it's produced to the right quality , that particularly with alcohol free drinks , that they made in such a way that they can have the longest possible shelf life , a lot of people still don't understand the cost challenges of producing low and low beers . So , with all that being said , I'm going to send you into the episode now and hope that you enjoy listening to it and if , after you've heard Zoe talk so passionately and with such good grades and such good humor about what she does , if you think this might be a brand that you'd like to invest in , then make sure you reach out , slide into the DMs , put a note in the comments below , email me on Denise at lonodrinkermagazinecom and I will put you directly in touch with Zoe . Or , of course , you can go and find her via her website , which is function brewingcom , that's fungtncom . So , without further ado , here we go with this week's episode and I'll relaunch back into the Lono Drinker podcast .

Denise 5:53

Happy listening , hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Lono Drinker podcast . Today I am joined by Zoe Henderson , the founder of Funkton beers , the mushroom beer brand , and I am very excited to start chatting to her , because this is one of those areas that I think people just don't know enough about and I want to get the word out there and mushrooms are one of those foods that can divide a room . So my best friends my husband and I's best friends they hate mushrooms and we love mushrooms and we argue about it all the time . So I'm going to then show them , make them listen to this podcast so they can find out just how wonderful they are . But that's enough for me . I'd like to say hello to Zoe and welcome to the podcast .

Zoey 6:42

Hey , zoe how are you ? Hi Denise , I'm great . Thank you so much for having me . I'm glad I got a chance to rep Team Shroom . That's right . I'm just going to miss about the rumors that people hear about mushrooms .

Denise 6:58

Fantastic , fantastic Fight , the good fight for the shroom . So

Zoey's Story

Denise 7:02

what I'd like to do so it's like just spread the word and educate people about your fantastic brand and also about yourself , because you're an awesome woman and you're doing some amazing stuff . I can see that you've got so much going on . Take us back to wherever you're comfortable . What is the journey that's led you to be where you are now in terms of creating this amazing bit ?

Zoey 7:28

So I'll do a short version because I know it's long form content , but we've not got all day . So function was kind of founded in from a desire to get more functional mushrooms , medicinal mushrooms into people's diets to try and help me and others to empower their health , and kind of doing that through the foods and drinks that they consume . I'm very passionate about being able to people being empowered to look after their health and I think that there's so many things that we look over now in our modern world in terms of herbs , botanicals , plants and fungi that have been used historically ancient wisdom . That's been kind of used to keep us healthy and well and healthy over the years , and we see there's a bit of resurgence coming back in that you know , food is thy medicine . Things that we put into our bodies every single day can be really critical in keeping us fit and healthy . And this has been no more kind of highlighted than the last few years , where people are suddenly going out right , what can I do to help support my immunity ? You know , 2020 , 2021 , we weren't going many places , we weren't able to do lots of things that we normally did to help support our physical and mental health , so people really started to go . What can I do today ? Now , 3 , 4 , 5 times a day to help empower my health , and a lot of that was around eating less you know crap , less sugars , less toxins which alcohol is a huge one , you know looking to different herbs and supplements to try and support immunity .

Zoey 8:53

So I have been interested in herbs and fungi and plants for a really long time

Discovering the Magic of Mushrooms

Zoey 8:57

. I actually discovered medicinal mushrooms on a trip to the US , probably almost 10 years ago , when there was a really cool brand called Forse Sigmatic , which is over here now . It's a mushroom coffee brand and they were just launching and they had a pop-up in LA in a cool place called Abbott Kenny and it was called the Shrew Room , and there was this crazy guy , long hair , had a top hair on and he was just in this room surrounded by mushrooms , and I liked mushrooms on toast and I'd heard about magical mushrooms , but I didn't really understand that there were millions of different species of mushrooms and hundreds of different mushrooms that people had used medicinally . They're called functional medicinal mushrooms and they were kind of mostly inedible so you'd have to boil them down into a tea or a tincture . But they've been used for thousands of years in traditional health and wellness ayurvedic Chinese medicine as kind of life tonics . Racial mushroom , which is one of the mushrooms we use , is known as the mushroom of immortality and was used by , like the Chinese , royal physicians to keep the royal family fit and healthy . Now , how they knew exactly what the mushroom was doing , we don't know . But now our modern science knows that these mushrooms are full of different bioavailable compounds that are really beneficial to our health , things like polyphenols , vetic blue cans that actively tap into our already amazing systems that we have in our body , but really they don't boost them , they just support them to be at their best . So I was using analogy . You're not bringing more bounces into the club , you're just like beefing up bounces that you do have to be like super , super hardcore , and this is what these adaptogens and these these mushrooms do . So I'd be into that and I've got referred to different mushrooms to different health issues .

Zoey 10:35

Over the past I had quite bad stress . I used to own a

Mushrooms & Health

Zoey 10:38

cafe in East London and I had a very hectic lifestyle and I was out enjoying myself as a young you know , 20-something does in London burning the candle at all ends , and I started to get rid of bad eczema and kind of skin conditions which I think were brought on by stress and tiredness and exhaustion , and a naturopath recommended I take racial mushroom , which is now known to be an anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine , and , as well , as you know , reducing my alcohol , cutting out things like meat and dairy , getting more sleep , not partying as much . I really started to see an effect and I started researching these mushrooms and really kind of going down that rabbit hole . At the same time , I started to kind of still working in hospitality and kind of the nightlife social scene in London . I started working for an alcohol-free bar and restaurant . This was in like end of 2018 and it was quite ahead of its time . It was alcohol-free , it was vegan , it was legal-free .

Zoey 11:32

Now it's like bang on trend then it was a bit like niche , but what I noticed were people were coming to a really cool bar . They had one in Shoreditch , one in Comet Garden , one in Nossing Hill . People were going to have a really nice dinner , meet some friends after work , pop in and have a lunch , and alcohol wasn't part of the conversation and it wasn't like you know . Normally you would have you sit in a pub or you sit in a restaurant with your pint of coke , feeling a bit sorry for yourself , not enjoying the , the flavor pairings and the exciting kind of specialness of an adult drink that your friends were enjoying , that were having a glass of wine or a beer , or you'd be in somewhere like maybe a shisha bar , or you'd be somewhere where there was like a juice bar , somewhere where alcohol was even Part of the question , but it didn't feel like the cool , nice venues that you might like to go to normally . And so this really sparks something and sparks interest in me and actually started to see that there were some really amazing products coming to market . Before our alcohol free options have been quite traditionally shit . You know we had some quite bad alcohol free beers or we have very sticky sweet mocktails and you know that the era that gave mocktails that bad name . That was just , you know , all the fruit juices behind the bar and a freaking umbrella stuck in it and you're like , no , no , the theory after getting off . And so really , you know , having an alcohol free option was , was really had a really bad rep around it . But here there was some amazing brands coming to , coming to play you know , lucky Saint or one of the first brands to walk through the door and Luke had just launched the brand , the guys in three spirit coming in and they were like we just developed this new product . And I was working as the operations director , so I was getting to meet all these founders and all these brands and I was like oh my gosh , actually , so really cool stuff is happening in the space .

Zoey 13:19

And so I moved into kind of working in the alcohol free spaces , that is , a consultant for my drinking , so taking experience . I learned in the bar and then working with brands helping them come to market and then working with venues helping them to understand how to place these products . And that was really key , because your bar staff and someone said I'll have a pint of coke . We just give you a coke . They wouldn't go . Are you not drinking because X , y , z . Can I offer you an alcohol free beer ? Oh , do you know we do an alcohol free gin ? Oh , what's that you know ?

Zoey 13:47

And teaching them to talk about the products and understand them and also to add value , which is critical , because one main reason people not drinking , certainly in my generation , was I need to save some money If it wasn't your own antibiotics , it was like money , so I'm not gonna drink and your night out was cheaper because we we attached the value of the drink on , crazily enough , the thing in the product that was doing you the worst harm and it was actually a cheap byproduct of its manufacturing . You know alcohol is a byproduct from fermentation and so you know you go why not ? Would I go out , not get pissed and still spend , you know , six pounds on the gin and tonic , not understanding that actually it's the social occasion , it's the flavor pairing , it's , you know , that kind of Signify moving into a different occasion . And so there's a lot of work to be done around the value proposition of our coffee products and it was really exciting . And then obviously we all decided to stay indoors for a little bit and everything shut and Hospitality consultant wasn't really getting much , getting much work , and so it started me thinking about products and alcohol free products and actually the next Trends that I saw coming in , which is actually people for the first time talking about health , wellness regimes and what their reasons for not drinking alcohol Into the adult occasion . We could never talk about health and wellness in that space , in the evening space , in the occasion space , in the space , because there was always alcohol framing it . You know it was the . What juice is your having the morning ? What stuff you're having after your workout ? You know what are you having in your coffee , your tea in the morning to kind of support the day . We never had those conversations around ingredients , around drinks you have in social occasions . This is the best time we start to see it coming in .

Inspiration in Coffee

Zoey 15:29

I thought actually there could be a space for mushrooms to go into another product and , like a lot of products , you know conception , it's the founder going . I want something that I don't have . So I was putting my mushroom supplements , which I have in my coffee today , still in my coffee every morning , and I was drinking a lot of coffee and locked down I was like , want to drink less coffee but I still want to have my mushrooms . And then the thought just came , while I'm having an alcohol free beer every afternoon so why don't I put my mushroom pattern that the Flavor profiles are quite similar . So you know that the other products that contain mushrooms in terms of consumer products on the market things like coffees , cacao drinks , chocolates , things with that kind of Umami , nutty , earthy , bitter , sweet flavor profiles and hops are exactly that .

Zoey 16:20

So it was as rough as me putting a spoon of powder into an alcohol free beer and all fizzing up everywhere . But actually what was left had a really interesting taste and a really complimentary taste and not really Out there , still very , very , but enhanced by the flavor of the mushrooms . And I thought , hang on , a minute , I've got something here . And that was mid 2020 and I worked with a beer brewing technologist to help me Develop the liquid and gave him the flavor profiles of the mushrooms I wanted to use . And then we worked with learning . I certainly learned about the types of hops and those , these pairings that we could bring on , and then we launched the products in end of 2020 , so we kind of came to market about November 2020 and that , in a nutshell , is where we are today .

Denise 17:05

That is a great story and one day you have to tell me the long version Over a bit , over a mushroom beer . That's really , that's really interesting . So much stuff that you said that really resonated with me . You know that sort of Living , that hectic lifestyle and then affecting . You see the physical effects of what you're putting your body through right coming through on your skin , on your face . I still suffer with alopecia . I got really bad alopecia when I was pregnant with my second child and then went back into bad habits of eating and drinking , those sorts of things and the spots of my skin . And it's just being able to find something that can do something for us , bring a positivity , just by changing some small habits in the way that we eat and look after ourselves , and it's from something that it's . As you say , there are millions of varieties of mushrooms out there , but I think they've

Mycophobia - the Fear of Mushrooms

Denise 17:58

really misunderstood because I think people either know about button mushrooms in the supermarket or magic mushrooms , exactly in between there's that we do have a lot of mycophobia .

Zoey 18:10

So the fear of mushrooms in the West and that kind of stems from Long , complicated history of kind of crushing and indigenous culture . In the British house , which we did have an indigenous culture , you know , and it was kind of based around , you know , shamanism and herbs and plants and you know hundreds of women were burnt as witches because they use natural remedies . And you know we were kind of indoctrinated into another way of living and we were kind of told that herbs and plants were bad . You know you shouldn't be making potions , you shouldn't be using natural remedies . You know God's God will look after you and kind of . So it was really demonized .

Zoey 18:46

And there are other countries that kind of didn't adopt as as much of a kind of Christian way of living , nordic countries , which with still very much and had lots of different gods for a really long time . Their relationship with mushrooms is much more healthy . You know they forage more people really understand the different benefits that mushrooms can do from a nutritional point of view . They still use a lot of natural remedies because they kind of kept on to that culture . And then obviously you go to the West , which were the East , sorry , which is where you know , most of the medicinal mushrooms were and still are cultivated in Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine in India and they really still understand the powers of these , these plants and mushrooms and hold .

Zoey 19:25

And so we have this fear and , alongside our kind of cooking and what we , we stopped foraging for mushrooms and cultivating mushrooms so we really just stuck with these generic button mushrooms and field mushrooms and and actually a fun fact is , button mushrooms , portobello mushrooms , chestnut mushrooms are all the same mushroom , they're just different growing stages .

Zoey 19:45

So in fact we only I think they're called a gerica , so we only one type of mushroom in the UK . Now it's opening up and you see some really interesting you know , tell me mushrooms like shiitake and knockies and oyster mushrooms in supermarkets and farmers markets and stuff . But for a long time we just had that one mushroom that was never really cooked very well , could be quite slimy , it was a bit of a funny texture , didn't really get integrated into many dishes and so a lot of people just don't Like mushrooms and I get it , I really get it . But that's the one thing we always say about this being no , you want no one , get you high and no Tastes like mushrooms , people go oh my god , a bit . That is that much , you couldn't make it worse . But actually it doesn't taste of mushrooms , so people really do have to taste it to believe it .

Denise 20:32

Okay , so , first of all , it's gonna take me a while to get my head over the fact that button mushrooms and and chestnut mushrooms and portobello mushrooms are all the same thing . Yeah , I had no idea that's that's . That's blown my mind for the week , so thank you for that . So , speaking of the flavor , then tell me a bit about the beers that are in the range and what they taste like , and I know that they're all made with different types of mushrooms , yeah , and and why you chose the ones that you chose to go with each one .

Zoey 21:03

So when I launched the range I knew it was a bit of a , you know , we were in a pandemic , the world was upside down . So I was like right now it's time to do something . A little bit weird . If it doesn't work now , it's not gonna work , you know , ever and . But I really wanted to make sure that there wasn't an excuse to people to go oh , I tried it , I didn't like it and I know how people's flavor profiles Differ and things that they enjoy and also the occasion so when you might want something with more flavor , with more refreshing . So I thought launching with a range of three was a really good way to make sure at least somebody would like one in the range

The Fungtn Range

Zoey 21:31

. So we stuck to kind of three of the most well known and well loved craft beer star . So we have an IPA , we have a light citra beer and then we have a dark lager . So the dark lager is a bit more Niche , maybe it's a bit more . You see a lot more in in northern Europe these dark lagers and malted , not a stout , so still a lager and light , but with that kind of brood of malt it's got more of a kind of chocolatey , richer flavor profile to it the classic IPA . You know kind of his shot to fame in the last few years with a kind of the craft beer revolution last ten years . And then the citra beer , which is great and it's a light juicy , goes really well with like spicy foods . You can kind of pair it with most stuff . It's a great session beer in the summer . So out of those three I knew that would be one that would resonate with someone and could resonate at different points within their day and in their kind of social sphere .

Zoey 22:22

And then I wanted to pair them with three mushrooms that were Complementary in their flavor profiles but also will quite well known not all medicinal mushrooms you can use and consumer products because they're not that well known in the UK . So they fall under something called a novel food register , which means that there's just not enough in their opinion . There's just not enough evidence of them being used in foods , even if you could buy them in a supplement . For me to then take that supplement and put it into a beer it's a very complicated process . So I also chose ones that were probably the most wide known and widely known in terms of research and availability . So the first one is lion's mane , which is an incredible mushroom . It's got a lot of press recently . It's probably the one that people hear the most of . It is edible as well as being a medicinal mushroom and it has a really delicious when cooked not in the beer kind of sweet , almost chickeny Flavor to it and texture . So you throw it a pound of garlic and herbs and it's like really meaty and delicious . When it's dried it has like a sweet walnut flavor to it . So that works really nice with a hot , heavy oily IPA . Lion's mane is an incredible new tropic mushrooms .

Zoey 23:31

So in our brains we have something called nerve growth factor and this is a protein that's synthesized and it effectively covers your the Mylene sheets that go around your neurons that protect them , keep them firing , feed blood and nutrients to them , keep you sharp , keep those kind of synapses creating those pathways to keep our memory and our minds fit . As we stress , eat bad things , get older , this Coating that goes around your neurons can degrade and with that can come things like brain fog , memory loss and , at the extreme end , alzheimer's and dementia . We see very little of this protective coating in the brains of people that have those Cognitively degenerative diseases . So new nerve growth factors , it's protein that we produce . There are precursor proteins in lion's mane , called a renaissance and herena stones that actually help the body produce more of this factor . So it's been used and Epidemiologically in vitro study on rats that Patients that have on set dementia science outside is were given really high doses of this lion's mane mushroom and it was shown to increase this protective coating around their brains and reverse some of the effects .

Zoey 25:13

So it's super , super powerful . It's also a hormone regulator . There's been some interesting studies on women with the menopause hormone fluctuations . This kind of helps and and create a homostatic level with your your endocrine system , so the way that your hormones work around your body . So it's a really incredible mushroom . We're seeing lots more supplements come to market with it , lots more research on it . So lion's mane for me was a real heavy hitter . Like I said , the flavor profile worked really well with our earthy , hoppy , full-bodied IPA . Ipa is a really strong , almost bitter taste to it . It's not for everyone , so to put in a mushroom that was maybe a bit milder , that wasn't as strong and you would kind of lose it . So it adds that dimension of sweetness and it adds a really kind of balancing effect with the heavy oils of the hops .

Denise 26:03

Hey , hey , I will get you back to the episode in just a second , but first a quick word from our sponsors me , that's right . This week's episode is sponsored by low no drink a magazine , the number one UK magazine for sober , curious drinkers . Each issue is packed full of news , reviews and interviews from the people , places and brands leading the low and no alcohol Revolution . You can subscribe to low no drink a magazine and read your copy online or in print anywhere in the world , and subscriptions start from just three pounds 45 . Get your subscription today and use code low no pod to get 20% off your first two issues Over at low no drink a magazinecom .

Denise 26:47

With 24 years of experience and hospitality myself , I know firsthand just how intense an environment it can be and just how far down the rabbit hole you can go . The we recover loudly podcast , hosted by shell Regina , aims to show people that it is possible to recover from these destructive patterns and to still work within the industry they love . Shall talks to front of house and back of house team members , interviewing everyone from chefs and bartenders to managers and operations , as well as mental health professionals , about the reasons why there is so much addiction , burnout , anxiety and depression in the industry . She asked the question if alcohol and drugs were never the problem , but the solution , the . What changes do we all need to make to allow the hospitality industry and its people to survive and thrive ? Subscribe now to . We recover loudly wherever you get your podcasts . And now back to the show so with like lions may .

Denise 27:48

Is that something that if people because it sounds absolutely amazing , or that the benefits that you can get from

Where to Shop for Mushrooms

Denise 27:52

that In terms of growing old the way you want to , with your faculty still intact and , yeah , particularly for your hormone balances and things Is that something that people can find by itself in a specialist shop somewhere and go and cook it up ?

Zoey 28:09

Yeah , definitely not even a specialist shop shop . Now you know we're seeing mushroom supplements in your high street chemists , holland , barrett boots now I've seen it's got a range of supplements , mushrooms and then obviously all your plant organics , your whole foods and all little health food stores . Yeah , you can buy it in powder form , in capsule form , in tincture form . You know , just Google lions main benefits . You'll see lots of information , loads of like peer reviewed studies as well about it , not just kind of kind of personal opinion . And yeah , it's something that's really widely known and like you can buy it fresh and and cook it up and eat it . But what's interesting about these compounds so they call better glucoons and they're kind of polysaccharides , so the the carbohydrate , carbohydrate base chains . Some of them live in deeper parts of the cell of the mushroom than others . So by getting an extract you're pulling out different parts of the mushrooms and you're getting the whole whole complex of benefits . You eat it . You're not getting All of the range of benefits . So I'd always recommend eat it great , because nutritionally they're really really good for you as well lots of magnesium , copper , vitamin b , vitamin D . But if you use an extract you're getting kind of at the full spectrum and you're getting more benefits of it . But yeah , they're really widely available . And then our dark lager , which is kind of a bit of a marmite . You know , people either really like us down or dark lager they don't , but that's a really full-bodied malted chocolate Lager . We use shiitake . So shiitake is one of the most well-known calorie mushrooms in the world . You know we have it in our supermarkets now . We didn't 10 years ago . Um , which is great , so you see it in a lot of recipes . It's really high in vitamin D . It's really happy in in manganese , but also it's a natural statin , so it can help lower blood pressure as well . Um , it's really immunosupportive and it's packed with nutrients that can kind of help support well-being , like B12 . Um , it's been used in . It's used in medicines , medicinal in pharma . In pharmacology they turn some extracts of shiitake into statins and into drugs that help to lower blood pressure and it's just been used as a food to generally incorporate in shiitake in in china , in asia , for for thousands of years .

Zoey 30:23

Shiitake has got a really interesting bumami kind of savory flavor to it that just adds that depth . So that's why it's such enjoyable mushroom to eat , but it adds a real kind of A bouncing depth to the sweetness of the malls that we put in the dark lager . And then the final one is is our ratio citrus ? So that's use citrus hops . So they're kind of quite oily , quite heavy , quite floral hops . And ratio is a very bitter mushroom . It is , you know , probably one of the most unpleasant to just have a powder . You didn't mix it with water so you have to get a balance right . But it really paired well with the oily floral hops we were using . So I've been kind of floral light , almost like a sweet honey Flavor running through as well , but not on the not on kind of the perfume . He had a like a lighter top note . And ratio is an incredible mushroom .

Zoey 31:14

It's an anti histamine , it's anti inflammatory . I start taking it from March through to the end of summer for a fever and it's really helped my allergies I've noticed . I used to take over the counter a fever medications but since becoming vegan I realized that most of them have lactose in them as a binder . Stop taking those and a natural said well , can also take . Take ratio as an anti histamine . And it's incredible mushroom , that known as mushroom of immortality , as I mentioned , and that again can really be a supportive . It's also a vasodilator so it helps calm us . It helps get into that person , that nervous system Kind of fight or flight , so it's used as a kind of calming tonic . It's really great to have kind of towards the end of your day and , yeah , the bitterness in it really pairs well with the juiciness of the citrus hops . So that's the range .

Denise 32:07

Wow , that is . That's a lot of amazing things going in those beers , it is . It's mind blowing , isn't it , to think about all the benefits that you can get In your drink or in your food , what you consume , just by turning to nature , excuse me , and just saying you know , what is it that I can just have from other nature to add to my life ? And I guess that's where there was a term that you use before that I wanted to come back to , because some of our listeners or watches might not know it use the term new tropics , yes , and so if you could just explain a little bit more for people what that phrase actually means , because I know there's a lot of talk at the moment about new tropics and functional and and another word used for adaptogens , can you just tell people a little bit what those words actually mean ?

Zoey 32:55

Yeah , there's quite a lot of these words that are coming into our kind of culture now around , kind of a healthy eating and healthy living . We live in a culture that's quite dominated these days by this pill popping culture . You want something to be immediate . So I have a headache , I have an illness , I have something , put a cream on it , take a pill and I want to see immediate effects . That's not how the body works . The body works in cycles , the women , the female body , especially due to our menstrual cycle or hormone fluctuations . So we really work in a , in a cycle of days . So our skin has a certain amount of days it takes to regenerate . Our liver has a amount of days that it takes to regenerate .

Zoey 33:32

And so if you're taking something to cure or to support your body , to fix an ailment

The Power of Adaptogens and Nootropics

Zoey 33:39

one , you have to look at the bigger problem . So why is , why have I got that skin ? Why have I got ? You know , is it just ? It's not just a physical , mechanical issue , it's probably stress , probably something I'm not addressing . Can we get to the root of that ? Then there still might be a fallout and your body will still take a while to recover from whatever it is that's caused this ailment and then you can really start to support your body and nourish it . And so we have to consumers and us , you know , we have to get into the mindset that If I just take mushroom supplements , if I take it today , will I feel better tomorrow ? Probably not . Maybe because there is a bit of placebo and placebo is a real ingredient . You know , if you think something and you manifested to be true and it's true and it's worked , so you know we have to give these things time .

Zoey 34:24

So Adaptogens is a first time I'll address , and adaptogens are basically herbs and plants and fungi that work synergistically with our body to help , to help our bodies perform at their best . And that might sound a bit lofty , but actually our bodies performing at their best are incredible . We are basically super humans . You know we can repair , we can heal . We heal a lot more than we actually think that we can , but we need to give our body time to do that . And so adaptogens help kind of boost our internal systems . We degrade them every day by our modern lives . Even if we're pretty healthy , you know we don't get the right sleep . We put our circadian rhythms can be all over the place . To eat the food should do . We don't move enough all of these things , or we do things through extremes and so our body all the time is really kind of fighting to keep us at this optimal functioning , and adaptogens simply support that .

Zoey 35:17

The term was coined by a Russian scientists kind of back in the 60s when he was looking for natural remedies to help support troops on exercise duties and he identified certain things like ashwagandha and rhodiola and and rashi and another types of herbs and fungi that actually naturally helps support the body to perform at its best without using a chemical substance . So that's an adaptogen . Just think adaptogen adapt . Your body is adapting to its surroundings and these herbs are helping you perform your best . When you're taking them over a long period of time , you might not see that if you're taking something just to keep a good balance of health and well being , you might not notice something instantly , but then you might look back and go . I've not had a cold for like a year . You know I really recovered from that cold or covered or flew whatever really quickly . Okay , actually Maybe you know , without submitting your body to science , it's probably going to be the fact that you're taking these adaptions to help balance it . You tropics , again kind of in the same . We've seen , we've heard a lot of like bio hacking and you tropics and those kind of things that you can do to boost yourself , to make yourself a bit more superhuman . And you tropics are simply , again , herbs and plants and combinations of remedies that help support your brain function and help support your cognitive health , which we all know is super important . Now that can be one end from you know taking things that lines main to help with brain flog and memory , all the way to taking things like micro dosing to help support your mental health , which is really coming into the mainstream , taking really small and psychedelic doses of things like mushrooms and to help kind of create an open your neuronal pathways . And we know there's a lot of information and studies around psilocybin , which is the , but to the point where it just opens up your neuronal pathways and really starts firing and it's like you know your brain is a muscle in your brain , you know needs to be exercised and you need to break down different pathways and if you tread on the same road all the time , that path becomes really ingrained , that road could be very unhealthy in terms of your behaviors , in terms of things you do your habits . But working with , say , very small doses of psychedelics in a micro dosing way can just take you off that path and help kind of carve out new paths of behavior . So there's lots .

Zoey 37:45

The term utopics can can be quite varied , but it's basically helping to support cognitive health . And then functional , which is a bit harder to pin down because Having a function , coffee could be functional it's a function , you know a protein water could be functional . So it is being used across everything from energy drinks to sports drinks , to caffeinated products , to medicinal products . But again , functional is basically . Coca Cola is not functional . You could say it's giving you some energy because of the caffeine . But you know it's more products that have a function that go beyond it's . It's primary usage of quenching or giving you an energy rush . So you know that could be herbs and plants that have adapt genic qualities . It could be something that helps support your immunity with added vitamins and it could be something that supports your sleep regulation , or so functional is really products that go past just nutrition and practical use of quenching your thirst .

Denise 38:52

Okay , fantastic , Thank you for that . That's a really that's a clearest explanation . I've heard of that and I think it's because you hear a lot of these terms and you know , I think you think you understand them . We've got a vague idea . So you got , yeah , yeah , yeah , I get it . But then if you're asked to explain it , you're like , well , I think it does this and I think it works with that . So it's good to actually know more clearly . So , thank you for that . So take me , I'll take you back to the beers . So how is it that these beers are made ? Obviously , I don't want you to give away too many trade secrets , but in terms

How is Mushroom Beer Made?

Denise 39:29

of the mushrooms themselves , what can you tell me about how they're actually incorporated into the liquids ?

Zoey 39:35

So it has to be a clear night , there's a full moon in a cave Fairies it's actually not that exciting . I mean it's . We stick really true to a craft beer recipe and that's what I love about our coffee beer , unlike some other alcohol products which are still amazing , but they are kind of reengineering a product to give effects of alcohol or to give a flavor profile . That's similar and that's brilliant , but it's it's kind of not the actual original product . So it's a good idea to do this because alcohol free beer , if you cap fermentation , which we do , so there's two ways you can make it . You can do alcohol eyes , which is a short ferment getting up to you know , two , three , four ABB , and then using heat reversal , osmosis , basically pulling the alcohol out of it . You can do that way . Or you can use a different type of yeast , heat sensitivity , and you can kind of cap how much it ferments . So it gives a little short run , breaks down some of those really nice sugars in the in the war , gets those flavors coming out of the beer , and then we kill off the yeast with heat or temperature control and then it doesn't ferment anymore . But essentially you're making a beer , we're in a brewery , we have exactly the same ingredients barley , malt , yeast water . We do exactly the same process . It's just the time that we ferment it it's different . So for initially , we're an amazing , we're a beer which is great . So it's really easy for consumers to understand .

Zoey 41:01

If you love the taste of beer but you don't want the alcohol , you know what you're getting , you know how to use it . It's in a can , there's no fapping around , you don't have to make it into something snazzy , it's just there . You just got to make sure it's cold . So the alcohol free beer was was for me the vessel that I just love the simplicity of it . And then we , we brew quite traditional cross recipe , but we do a few things differently . One , we reduce the fermentation . But also I wanted to make the drink gluten free .

Zoey 41:29

Now , I'm not intolerant , but you know , one of the main side effects of

Gluten-Free & Vegan

Zoey 41:33

drinking lots of beer is gas and bloating . That's because you're literally drinking gluten and you know gluten is is fine , it's not harmful to most people and if you have an intolerance , but it is quite a complex protein for our bodies to break down . So you know , when you're caning pints and pints of beer , you do get gassy . That's from the CO2 , but it's also from you know your body's processing these quite , quite intense carbohydrates and proteins . So I use a natural , a natural supplement in tank that basically does what your body does , so it breaks down the gluten . So use all the delicious gluten grains that have a nice flavor your body , your malt , your wheat but we then reduce the gluten . So by the time we have the finished product , we get it down to less than 10 parts per million , which we can say is gluten free , gluten free friendly , unless you're really extreme celiac . If you just have a gluten intolerance , then you're good to go . So we do that .

Zoey 42:28

We've also make the beer vegan and a lot of people go . Well , all beer's vegan ? Well , no , not necessarily , especially in alcohol free , in order to make sure you're getting back some of the body , that alcohol , because alcohol is an amazing flavor carrier and it's amazing to give a body of viscosity into a product . So when you're removing that or not putting much in , you can be left with something that's a bit flat and a bit watery . So people put lots of different things in to pad out and to support the viscosity in their liquid , and lactose is one , or whey is one , which is obviously a derivative of milk .

Zoey 43:05

Our mushrooms are , you know , 90% polysaccharide based . They're starch based and actually as they break down in the liquid they add back a bit of body . So that's kind of what we use as our body enhancer and we put the mushrooms into the brew as an extract . So they've been worked in the lab already . We have a really great mushroom partner that we use that extracts the beer with water and with ethanol to get different compounds out . So you're getting a really full complex of the mushroom and we put that into the brew and then we condition it and filter it and do it .

Zoey 43:41

You know the whole process is very , very similar , exactly the same , to making beer . There's a bit different filtration that goes on because of you have certainly different strategies you need to employ when there's no alcohol . Obviously alcohol kills lots of bugs , kills lots of stuff that you're going to get in there . So there's a bit more technical stuff in terms of filtration . But yeah , it's a really great craft beer recipe and I think what was interesting in the last few years we've seen some mad flavors in beers , like you know , roast dinner flavor

Mad Flavours

Zoey 44:11

and chocolate , peanut butter , porters and some really wacky stuff .

Zoey 44:15

So actually putting a mushroom into a beer isn't that weird . And that was one thing that when we kind of launched , people were going mushrooms in a beer and you what you think fungi is . So what do you think yeast is ? And they're like oh , yeast is like the OG fungi . Yeast is one of the oldest microorganisms we have on the earth and it's a fungus . And they're like oh , so already all beers are a fungi beer . We're just adding in a fungi . And then they go oh , okay , that's not that weird .

Denise 44:42

Um , I'm sorry , roast dinner beer .

Zoey 44:45

I've missed that one . Yeah , there was a brewer up north that did roast beer flavor . Roast dinner flavor beer , which was pretty wild . Gravy roast potatoes yeah , okay .

Denise 44:56

I mean it works for crisps . I'm not quite sure about the beer .

Zoey 45:01

I think I would have a sip of beer , but you know .

Denise 45:06

Okay , interesting , interesting . So how has it been received then ? So you mentioned , you know people say , oh , is there's ? There's mushrooms

Public Opinion

Denise 45:15

in the beer . Obviously , I know that having . Anyone who goes and takes a brief look at your website will see that it's been received by a lot of different establishments . A lot of different people have covered it . Um , what's been the sort of reaction you've been getting when you speak to people in terms of is it ? I'm guessing they're sort of like , oh , what's that ?

Zoey 45:35

And then they taste it and then they're like , yeah , definitely , and that was one of the challenges from a branding point of view and how we were going to talk about it . You know the design of the can we wanted it to be , you know to have . So we've got the stylized mushroom logo and can , which actually came from ? Where is it now ? Came from a tattoo on my arm , Amazing . So the logo went on my arm and then on the can . So it's like I'm on brand . That's it yeah .

Denise 46:03

That is 100% commitment Love it .

Zoey 46:08

So we wanted it to be , you know , we want to people to understand our mushrooms in it , but we didn't want it to be too woo woo and , like you know , dancing mushroom on the can or something a little bit weird . We wanted people to know about it , but we also had to be very careful about kind of the layering of information . So it was like , first and foremost , we were really great alcohol free craft beer . We won awards for it , We've got that flavor profile , we're vegan , we're gluten free , we're brooded mushrooms .

Zoey 46:30

It depending on what trade shows and obviously the first year was really difficult . There were no trade shows . We didn't start doing trade shows . So kind of mid end 2021 , really 2022 is the year of the trade shows . So it was hard to get the liquid onto people's lips to taste it . But a lot of the time you lead with alcohol free beer Great , they try that . I mean that was a hard enough sell . You know , a few years ago , people get what's the point ? But they taste it and they'll be like , oh , that's really good . Oh , yeah , so it's brooded mushroom . And then you kind of have that whole conversation and the thing is is to be like unapologetic about it .

Zoey 47:07

You know our tone of voice is kind of almost like Oatly . You know the way that we talk . It's like , yes , we brew beer with mushrooms . It's actually quite cool it's not the only fun guy in your beer , you know and people start doing it . We can play with that and people start to understand it . For us , getting people tasting it was really key . Getting awards for it in the craft beer space was really key . So people have that recognition to like oh okay , it's one of gold in this and then bronze in this . So they understood that people who love beer were recognizing it for its flavors . But I think , yeah , getting people to try the product was really key .

Zoey 47:41

I think people's experimentation and people spend a lot of time just stuck on their laptops in 2020 , you know , trying new things , researching new stuff and there were some interesting products that were coming out into market . You know there were mushroom supplements coming out . There were lots of talk about , you know , health and immunity , and so people were a bit more experimental and willing to try stuff and there was actually some benefits of having we're basically launching a brand backwards . So you'd date your product , you launch in the on trade , you'd get

Launching Backwards

Zoey 48:14

your brand ambassadors . You do all the trade shows you do , all the festivals , then maybe , if it was going well , in a few years you might sell stuff on your website online . You might do that . That was quite rare for drinks to sell direct , you know . Five , 10 years ago it was all on the on trade and kind of to consumers that way . So we didn't have any of that . So it was like right , we're launching online , we're launching where people , you know , need to try the product and experiment with the product .

Zoey 48:40

And actually I think people were a bit more inquisitive , you know , because if you just been relying on a bar , it to get listed in bars would have been a bit of a harder sell to begin with . You had to have that person to choose . It was literally we could target and find people online , make this cool proposition around the mushrooms , get their kind of interest and then they try to create at home and be like , oh , this is quite cool , you know . So when it opened up , they then wanted to find it in the shops . They then want to find it in the local cafe or restaurant . So yeah , it was interesting . But I think once people understood it wasn't going to taste like mushrooms and it wouldn't get them high . That might have put some people off .

Zoey 49:21

But you know this was a different type of mushrooms and at the same time , there was loads of people talking about fungi and mushrooms in the world . You know we had the New York Times had a huge feature on adaptogens . You know we were featured at NBC Access . Hollywood is like the future trend in food and drink . You had lots of different people launching products containing different types of mushrooms or containing different types of herbs and botanicals . It was featured as like a top trend in health and wellness in 2021 and 2022 . So the world started to learn more about fungi and , of course , if anyone hasn't seen Fantastic Fungi on Netflix , really recommend watching it . It's an incredible movie and that kind of really brought mushrooms out into the zeitgeist and into the trends and so suddenly a beer with mushrooms wasn't that weird .

Denise 50:11

Suddenly . It's like these waves that things going , where everything seems a bit strange and unusual , and then you hear about something once and then you hear it again , and all of a sudden you hear about it everywhere .

Zoey 50:23

I think you have to hear something , is it like four or five times before it kind of goes in . You're like , oh , I read about that , someone told me about that , I've seen that . Oh , ok , it must be cool , it must be real , it's happening . And people spending a lot more time online definitely helped that , because you can be in multiple places at multiple times and really , yeah , there is this algorithm targeting , but I think just in general , you know , reading an article somewhere and then seeing a product and then seeing something on Instagram , yeah , it really helped us to kind of build the brand probably quicker than if we'd just been relying on putting all my energy onto , like trade shows and going into bars and finding brand ambassadors , because you could only you could get some amazing ambassadors , but that's one bar in one location , one trade show in one city , whereas , you know , we've managed to get a global audience and interest from , you know , the US , Canada , australia from really focusing on this third space , which is the internet .

Denise 51:20

That's it , and then those bars and those venues are going to be coming to you because that's it . You'll be recognized that you are and , as far as I'm aware , you're the only . You're the leading or the only mushroom beer out there . I've not been able to find any other ones .

Zoey 51:35

The only one . There are some products that contain mushrooms . Three Spirit has mushrooms . Katie Perry's new drink has Racy Mushroom in her kind of wine based products . And yeah , there's mushroom coffees , but there is nobody brewing an alcohol free craft beer with mushrooms . We're the only one .

Denise 51:53

There you go One of a kind , one of a kind . Yeah , love it , zoe , this has been amazing . And before I let you go , I have two final questions for you . Now one is one that I ask everybody who comes on , because , being low , no drink , a magazine and trying to spread the love and the appreciation of the world of low and no alcohol drinks . So you're off to a friend's dinner party and , other than your amazing funk , also funk function .

Zoey 52:24

I want to make sure I'm saying it right . It's a bit of a Nike , nike it's .

How to Pronounce Fungtn?

Zoey 52:27

I say function because it's functional , but let's say function , so you do OK .

Denise 52:35

Thanks , babe . So you're off to your friend's dinner party . You're bringing your own drinks along . Apart from the amazing function , what other low or no alcohol

Sharing the Low/No Love

Denise 52:45

drinks do you enjoy of an evening ?

Zoey 52:47

So when you stop drinking , there are there are certain or moderate your drinking . I do drink , but you know I moderate it . And then , sure , yeah , I kind of I choose what and when to drink very carefully . These days you turn up at a party and a way to get a party dinner party started , you know , let's have a glass of bubbles . You know , maybe after dinner let's have a shot .

Zoey 53:07

When I was a lot younger , you know I think kind of can add some fun dynamic to an evening's event . Unfortunately , a lot of that fun in the past has been created by alcohol . Let's , it's an instant fun starter . Right , yeah , you can have this fun without it . But I think one thing I like doing is bring that bit of theater and a bit of fun to an occasion . So you know , I'd always be the person that probably in skate having a shot .

Zoey 53:27

So I take something like three spirit , the live now . It's an amazing product . It has hibiscus in it , it has chili , it has adaptogens and it's like it just makes your your mouth explode . It's gorgeous , it's such a great taste . So I definitely bring a bottle of that and then maybe , like after you've had dinner I'm having a pudding or everyone's kind of chatting afterwards . I get everyone to do a shop and it would just kind of raise everyone up a little bit , pack you full of something really amazingly healthy and kind of get that feeling that you might have been doing if we were doing a shop , but way more benefits .

Denise 54:00

There you go . Fantastic , great choice , great choice . Where should people go to find out more about you , more about the beer , if they want to join any newsletters

Where to Find Fungtn

Denise 54:12

or follow you on any socials ? Where would you like them to find you ?

Zoey 54:16

So best place is functioncom , our website , and second place we're really active is Instagram function dot brewing . You can find us there . We are stocked in you know kind of about 150 independence all around the country . We've stopped in Planet Organic . If you're in London and if you can't find function in one of your local stores , then jump online and you can buy us direct . But also if you have somewhere near you that you think , oh , this is really cool , I'd love to be able to buy function from there . Always send me a DM , send us an email on the website and say get in touch with this cafe , restaurant , shop . And that's how we get a lot of our stocking by consumers coming to us and saying I buy online , but you know , I'd love to get at my weekly shop in XYZ , and yet we will reach out to them and hope we get stocked near to you .

Denise 55:03

Excellent , excellent , and just for those who are listening , that's functioncom . F-u-n-g-t-n dot com . That's it Brilliant , fantastic . I will make sure all the links are in the show notes and the captions and such below and all those jazzy places where people go to find things . Thank you so much for joining me today , zoe . It has been eyeopening and informative and fun and I hope that everyone who was watching or listening has now walked away with a lot more knowledge about mushrooms than they ever thought that they would get in one very quick chat in the afternoon .

Zoey 55:40

I hope so too . Yeah , I hope so too .