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I have a cousin who fights wildfires. I’ve always know that the work was hard and often dangerous, but I never fully appreciated it until he told me one of his stories. Caught in a flashover, he laid face-down beneath his fire shelter (aluminum blanket, basically) as the firestorm rushed over him. That is an abbreviated version of his harrowing tale and, like I said, it is just one of his stories.

The Herbfarm, the world-renowned restaurant in Woodinville, teamed up with Dreadnought Brewing of Monroe to create a beer to benefit wounded wildfire fighters. The beer, called Red Mule, is described as a hybrid Irish red and Scotch ale. What really sets it apart is the use of morel mushrooms. Unbeknownst to many, the coveted fungus grows particularly well on recently burned land.

Harvesting such a treasured culinary prize from burned land presents something of a moral dilemma. If you risked your life fighting a fire, you might not appreciate seeing morels, potentially harvest from a burned forest, on a restaurant’s menu.

Foods in Season, one of America’s largest purveyors of wild-harvested food, wrestled with the moral dilemma of these “burn morels” and has now launched #moralmorels, challenging restaurants to partner with them to raise $100,000 to help fallen firefighters. Foods in Season gives each partner free burn morels and the restaurant, in turn, uses the mushrooms to raise funds for the Wildland Wildfire Fighters Foundation, a 501(c)3 charity.

The Herbfarm restaurant in Woodinville partnered with Foods in Season and Dreadnought Brewing to create an unusual small-batch beer. Just 144 bottles of the beer are available. Reportedly, the mushrooms add an almost-imperceptible earthy umami flavor. The beer was also brewed with fresh spruce tips to give it the aroma of a forest morning.

The beer is available at The Herbfarm for a $25 contribution per bottle. For those who don’t drink, the restaurant has also created a few sealed, keepsake bottles without the beer inside for a $20 donation. The Herbfarm is donating 100 percent of the sales to the Wildland Wildfire Fighters Foundation. Dinner reservations not required to purchase the beer.

To reserve a bottle — or a few — call The Herbfarm at 425-485-5300. Or visit the restaurant in the Woodinville Wine Country

The Herbfarm

14590 N.E. 145th Street

Woodinville, WA 98072

http://www.theherbfarm.com