My sister Anne Marie is from Michigan and we both took a breather from reality to spend the weekend on the beach of Lake Michigan at a family cottage. She’s a hard workin’ mama of two girls and she deserves some cheese love! Such an occasion demanded not just any cheese, but well thought out selections that needed serious pairing attention. To shake things up I decided to go the beer and cheese route this time around. Tip: far more economical to buy 6 different bottles of fancy beer than to buy 6 different bottles of fancy wine. Cost of my mixer sixer: $18. Cost of mixer sixer of wine: add a zero on the end, and for 2 gals, there would have been a lot gone to waste...maybe.
The Line-Up!
The Line-Up!
As pictured, we also had a pear and ginger chutney, eucalyptus honey, prosciutto, and plenty of granny smith apples and red bartlett pears. The pears were so perfectly juicy that the flesh was translucent and nearly melting. My sister did indeed reply, “pears are sexy!”........She is not wrong.
Let the fun begin…
I took a chance on pairing a goat cheese with a sour beer...sours can be seriously intense teetering on the edge of tasting vomit-like. However, the classy Duchesse is extremely well balanced for a sour; it tastes as if you crossed a Belgian tripel and a white wine. I thought the acidity would pair well with a goat cheese, but it could have easily been a situation in which one overpowered the other. I was rewarded for my risk-taking however, and the pair was oh-so sexy. The sour, acidity of the beer was tamed by the creaminess of the goat cheese, but not lost. Sweet, caramelly notes popped in the beer when paired with the tangy Bloomsdale. Awesome!
Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound Cheddar...they say to pair aged cheddars with IPA’s, so I tried it. I remember the last time I drank a Victory Hop Devil and I thought it would pair nicely with cheese because it is not a West Coast style IPA (i.e. bitter bomb), it is more complex and full bodied with some citrus notes and a touch of malty sweetness. This pair did not reach sexy status sadly. Cabot Clothbound is a good stand-by, but I always want there to be more “must” (like the classic Montgomery’s from Somerset England) than there is. I believe this is due in part because it is a pasteurized cheese so complexity is lost with all those good microbes. The Hop Devil overpowered the cheddar, but when we tried it with Magic Hat Jinx…...fireworks. We did find that the Hop Devil and prosciutto play well together because the flavor intensities were a match. The bitterness of the beer and the smoky sweet of the prosciutto were a good fit.
Herve Mons Tommes des Berger with Leffe Brune...holy sexy-pair, batman. This pair had it all...This cheese is a washed rind, semi-firm that is made by blending goat and sheep’s milk. The sheep’s milk flavor’s of bouillon and umami are prevalent. The cheese is salty, creamy, beefy, and tangy all at the same time. Pair all of that with a Belgian’s caramel sweet, roasty, and spicy beer and you’re mouth literally can’t handle it! I felt like Bill Murray in the dinner scene of What About Bob when he is just happily grunting away eating all of Faye Marvin’s delicious food. “Faye this is so scrumptious!” When tasting the cheese by itself, the gamey sheep flavors win out, but when eaten with the Brune those tangy goat flavors move toward center stage. It’s amazing how the same cheese can taste so different depending on context.
Lastly, we had the Igor Gorgonzola Picante. Creamy yet piquant, though not overly salty as can happen with blues easily. Anne Marie gave a hefty smear of gorgonzola on a cracker, popped on a juicy pear slice and it was decadent. Sadly, none of our beers came together with the blue, but we loved it with all those sweet accouterments: the apples, those sexy pears, the honey, the chutney. I learned from the Bloomsdale experiment and next time I’ll take a risk and try this one with Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, or perhaps an ice wine or Sauternes. The classic pair of blue cheese and dessert wine is an intensely sweet and savory experience that is just perfect...and some things are not meant to be messed with. It's like trying to make a great PB and J with grape jam instead of strawberry. You just don't do it!
Esther’s Closing Thoughts:
Take a risk with your pairings...as they say, no guts no glory! Be sure to write your notes in a book so you can keep track of all your tasty experiments.
Stay cheesy out there!
Let the fun begin…
I took a chance on pairing a goat cheese with a sour beer...sours can be seriously intense teetering on the edge of tasting vomit-like. However, the classy Duchesse is extremely well balanced for a sour; it tastes as if you crossed a Belgian tripel and a white wine. I thought the acidity would pair well with a goat cheese, but it could have easily been a situation in which one overpowered the other. I was rewarded for my risk-taking however, and the pair was oh-so sexy. The sour, acidity of the beer was tamed by the creaminess of the goat cheese, but not lost. Sweet, caramelly notes popped in the beer when paired with the tangy Bloomsdale. Awesome!
Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound Cheddar...they say to pair aged cheddars with IPA’s, so I tried it. I remember the last time I drank a Victory Hop Devil and I thought it would pair nicely with cheese because it is not a West Coast style IPA (i.e. bitter bomb), it is more complex and full bodied with some citrus notes and a touch of malty sweetness. This pair did not reach sexy status sadly. Cabot Clothbound is a good stand-by, but I always want there to be more “must” (like the classic Montgomery’s from Somerset England) than there is. I believe this is due in part because it is a pasteurized cheese so complexity is lost with all those good microbes. The Hop Devil overpowered the cheddar, but when we tried it with Magic Hat Jinx…...fireworks. We did find that the Hop Devil and prosciutto play well together because the flavor intensities were a match. The bitterness of the beer and the smoky sweet of the prosciutto were a good fit.
Herve Mons Tommes des Berger with Leffe Brune...holy sexy-pair, batman. This pair had it all...This cheese is a washed rind, semi-firm that is made by blending goat and sheep’s milk. The sheep’s milk flavor’s of bouillon and umami are prevalent. The cheese is salty, creamy, beefy, and tangy all at the same time. Pair all of that with a Belgian’s caramel sweet, roasty, and spicy beer and you’re mouth literally can’t handle it! I felt like Bill Murray in the dinner scene of What About Bob when he is just happily grunting away eating all of Faye Marvin’s delicious food. “Faye this is so scrumptious!” When tasting the cheese by itself, the gamey sheep flavors win out, but when eaten with the Brune those tangy goat flavors move toward center stage. It’s amazing how the same cheese can taste so different depending on context.
Lastly, we had the Igor Gorgonzola Picante. Creamy yet piquant, though not overly salty as can happen with blues easily. Anne Marie gave a hefty smear of gorgonzola on a cracker, popped on a juicy pear slice and it was decadent. Sadly, none of our beers came together with the blue, but we loved it with all those sweet accouterments: the apples, those sexy pears, the honey, the chutney. I learned from the Bloomsdale experiment and next time I’ll take a risk and try this one with Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, or perhaps an ice wine or Sauternes. The classic pair of blue cheese and dessert wine is an intensely sweet and savory experience that is just perfect...and some things are not meant to be messed with. It's like trying to make a great PB and J with grape jam instead of strawberry. You just don't do it!
Esther’s Closing Thoughts:
Take a risk with your pairings...as they say, no guts no glory! Be sure to write your notes in a book so you can keep track of all your tasty experiments.
Stay cheesy out there!