Thursday, 11 February 2010

• A Brew and Some Blue Cheese, Please!

  
  

  
  I don’t know about you but when I think of a nice, cold beer, cheese is one of the last things I want to pair with it.  Until recently, I never even considered it a possibility to combine the two but after attending a beer and cheese tasting at Artisanal Cheese, I realized just how great the combo can be. 
  
  Southampton Publick House brewmaster, Spencer Niebuhr, presented 6 different brews, which I have listed and described below:

  • Double White Ale – lemon, orange and coriander notes; similar to Blue Moon
  • Southampton Saison Deluxe – yeast, earthy, peppery, dry
  • Southampton GRAND CRU’ 09 – pungent, sweet orange rinds, coriander; kind of a Grand Marnier flavor
  • Southampton Triple 09’ – banana and clove notes
  • Southampton Cuvee des Fleurs 09’ – flowers, honey, lavender and rose notes
  • Southampton Imperial Porter – cherries, coffee, toffee; English malt nature

  Our cheese aficionado, Candela Prol, provided us with 7 different cheeses:

  • Laurier – creamy, herbal, tangy
  • Pecorino Toscano Stagionato – grainy, salty, pungent
  • Le Moulis – sour and big flavor
  • Uplands Pleasant Ridge – nutty and sweet
  • Parmigiano-Reggiano – nutty, harder, rich
  • Gouda Aged 4 years – sweet and coffee flavor
  • Grassland Blue – mushroom-y and extremely pungent (She suggested not to taste the Grassland Blue, blue cheese, until we complete all of the other pairings since the blue cheese is so pungent.) 

  To avoid tasting the blue cheese and tainting the palate until the end, we stuck with one cheese and tried each beer against its flavor.  Although I was dedicated to keeping good notes, I became increasingly inebriated, so my comments are not as coherent as they should be for the blue cheese tasting. 

  Since everyone has different taste buds, not everyone agreed with Spencer and Candela as they rated the different pairings.  I cannot possibly go into each tasting, nor would you want to read all of my notes, so here are the highlights:

  • Laurier matched well with the Double White and Saison but it was too overwhelming with the Grand Cru.
  • Pecorino was terrible with the Double White and Imperial but was perfect when matched with the Grand Cru.
  • Le Moulis was perfect when matched with the Triple but did not go well with the Imperial.
  • Upland was excellent with the Cuvee des Fleurs but too harsh on the throat with the Grand Cru.
  • Parmigiano was delicious when paired with the Cuvee des Fleurs but overpowered the Double White.
  • Gouda was good with the Grand Cru and Imperial but not with the Saison.
  • Surprisingly, the blue cheese went well with all of the beers and enhanced their flavors except for the Double White.

  I will certainly be using my newfound knowledge to throw a beer and cheese tasting soon.  I can almost guarantee my friends have not taken part in such an event!

   

  Do you think beer and cheese are a dynamic duo?  Are their any cheese pairings or beer pairings you’re partial to?

   

  

  • 5:44 PM
  • 413 Views
  • 12 eProps
  • 7 Comments