Fungi and fermentation meet at Mushroom Spirits Distillery where Wendy and Joe Rizzo are turning mushrooms into spirits.
Husband and wife, Joe and Wendy Rizzo met in New York City in 1995. Joe was working at a farmers market for his family’s farm in New Jersey.
After getting married, they had two kids and Wendy shifted from her career in law to higher education and Joe became a science teacher. In 2008, they planted roots in Ithaca, to start a mushroom farm.
“Ithaca is just a great place,” Wendy said in an interview with The Sun. “We have a lot of fans here. There are a lot of mushroom people in Ithaca and at Cornell.”
Blue Oyster Cultivation began in 2009 and over time, their name became known for high-quality, gourmet mushrooms. Joe and Wendy wanted to explore what else they could do with mushrooms.
“One day, we just started tinkering and tried to figure out what else to do with mushrooms besides eating them — so we put them in liquor,” Wendy said.
Though Joe’s original idea — experimenting with biofuels — never took off, it sparked the concept that would eventually become Mushroom Spirits Distillery.
Wendy Rizzo, founder and owner of Mushroom Spirits Distillery, described the process of making the spirits. The mushrooms are used to infuse flavor into the spirits but are not part of the actual distilling process.
The Rizzos grow and dry most of their mushrooms on their Ithaca farm, including blue oyster , hen of the woods, enoki and shiitake. Chanterelles, which can’t be cultivated, are foraged in the wild.
They craft a whiskey which is a blend of all of their mushrooms except for the chanterelle. Raw ethanol is sourced from other distilleries. The mushrooms are ground and then soaked in spirits for three to four days. The liquid is then filtered, proofed and bottled to create a “little bit earthy, little bit umami” tasting final product.
Mushroom Spirits Distillery boasts five different vodkas — each with distinct flavor notes.
Wendy painted a flavorful picture of the flavor palette of their spirits — from the bold, savory shiitake to the delicate, fruity notes of chanterelle.
“Shiitake is like mushroom in a glass — very, very mushroom forward,” Wendy said. “Chanterelle, though, is a little bit different. It’s a little bit on the fruitier side.”
Looking ahead, Wendy shared some new projects in the works. They are coming out with Peak mushroom which is an aged whiskey, aged in a single malt barrel.
From their fungal roots to their flavorful experiments, Wendy and Joe hope their unique, fungal drinks will be in liquor stores around the state and regionally and hopefully move some ready to drink cocktails online.
With a growing following and such a unique product, the Rizzos are carving out a new niche in the world of craft spirits.
“People expect it to taste like dirt,” Wendy said. “But everybody is really pleasantly surprised.”
Cereese Qusba is a reporter at The Ithaca Voice and a news editor at The Cornell Daily Sun working on The Sun’s summer fellowship.
Cereese Qusba is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a news editor for the 143rd Editorial Board. She can be reached at cqusba@cornellsun.com.
