Session #51 is being hosted by Jay Brooks at Brookston Beer Bulletin and he has gone all complex on us! Not only not just notes on pairing beer and cheese but he even specified the cheese.We found it impossible to get the cheeses he suggested but we found some interesting substitutes, and being good Ontarian's, we stuck to beers currently available at our Government store (well, one came from my stash, but it was available during much of the winter). We did stick to the style of cheese Jay suggested, a Blue (Stilton in our case), a Cheddar, and a Goat Cheese.

The Stilton.
From Tuxford & Tebbutt in England, where you must be in order to produce Stilton cheese, it is a protected name much like "Trappist Beer". The four beers we decided to try and pair it with were, 1) La Granja Espresso Stout Nørrebro Bryghus Brewing in Denmark. 2)Duchy Originals Organic Old Ruby Ale from Wychwood Brewery in England. 3) Neustadt 10w30 from Neustadt Springs Brewery in Ontario. 4) St. Ambroise Vintage ale, 2010 from McAuslan Brewing in Quebec. John's comments: St. Ambroise Vintage 2010: The beer overpowers the cheese, believe it or not. A bite of cheese followed by this brew turned it into a mush in my mouth. Not at all fond of this combination. Duchy Original Old Ruby Ale: Cheese and this beer don't quite mix. The cheese is a bit strong for this brew. La Granja Stout (Espresso): Fairly good combination. They seem to blend quite nicely with neither the cheese or the beer battling for top spot. Still and all not the best. Neustadt 10W30: Blends beautifully with the Stilton. It just tastes great. The beer cuts some of the saltiness and leaves a nice creamy coating in the mouth. This is a combination well worth trying. I could make a meal out of this with some light rye and a nice kosher pickle or two to round it out. Bruce's comments: St. Ambroise Vintage 2010: The best match. Both beer and cheese work off each other and create a very mellow blend of tastes, even the creamy textures of each blend wonderfully. Duchy Original Old Ruby Ale: A fair match but not as good as some of the others. The beer tends to be overpowered by the cheese. La Granja Stout (Espresso): Quite a good match, the texture of the beer stands up to that of the cheese and the tastes try to compliment each other. Not bad but not quite great. Neustadt 10W30: Another quite good pairing, the tastes compliment each other but cheese tends to flatten the taste of the beer and the texture of the cheese seems to make the beer feel a bit watery. We were agreed on most but very different on our perception of the sole Barley Wine in the batch. Personally I think John has no taste but then maybe I don't.

The Cheddar.
We chose Balderson 1 year old aged cheddar. Balderson is an Ontario company in Balderson Corners near Perth and they make a range of very good aged cheddar. We decided to try to pair this with a variety of IPA's, some with North American style hop profiles and some with more traditional English hops. We chose, 1) Hoptical Illusion from Flying Monkey Brewery in Barrie Ontario. 2) Tankhouse Ale from Mill Street Brewing in Toronto. 3) Wells IPA from Wells & Young's Brewing in Bedford, England. 4) Greene King IPA from Greene King Brewing in Suffolk, England. John's comments: Hoptical Illusion: The cheese intensifies the hops. This is not unpleasant, but I think I would like something a little maltier. This is good beer. Tankhouse Ale: This is a little maltier but it still isn't that good a match. It makes the cheese creamier in the mouth but the cheese overpowers it. Wells IPA: This is a nice match. It sweetens the cheese and both the cheese and the IPA become creamy. I like this. Greene King IPA: Just a hint of skunkiness in the aroma of the beer. Darn clear bottles. However this is quite good and compliments the cheese. I got a hit of sweetness when I took a sip after swallowing the cheese. Great combination. Surprisingly the best combination of all for me. Bruce's comments: Hoptical Illusion: The citrus taste of the hops gives a bit of a clash with the cheese but it is an interesting combination. It takes a bit of getting used to but the clash is not necessarily bad. Tankhouse Ale: The hops don't seem to clash as badly as the Hoptical illusion, they seem to blend a bit better with the cheese but somehow this combination just doesn't seem to work. Wells IPA: A nice blend of flavours, the hops don't clash and the combination leaves a light bitter taste and a clean bright feel. Very good. Greene King IPA: The best match, the beer is quite malty and it just works with the cheese, the combination leaves an almost sweet taste that I found very pleasant. What do you know, we agree! Never thought I would live to see the day.

The Goat Cheese:
For the Goat Cheese we chose Woolwich Dairy Chevrai Mostly because it comes from a Dairy in Orangeville Ontario which is relatively close to us. We decided to try to pair this with a variety of Wheat beers, some Belgian style and some German styles. We chose, 1) Erdinger Weissbier from Erdinger Brewery in Germany. 2) Mill Street Belgian Wit from Mill Street Brewing in Toronto. 3) Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier from Weihenstephan Brewery in Germany. 4) Blanche de Chambly from Unibroue in Quebec. John's comments: Mill Street Belgian Witt: Stop right here! This accentuates the creaminess of the cheese. The blending is fantastic. The flavor of the cheese and the flavor of the beer are not overpowered by each other. Perfect match. Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier: Very good. The cheese brings the banana flavor of this beer to the front. This is a tough matching to choose folks. Erdinger Weissbier: The beer and the cheese both disappear. It's a total cancel out. Blanche de Chambly: It's a tie people. This is a beautiful match as well. The spice from the beer really kicks up the flavor of the cheese. Hard to choose so I won't. Like I said it's a tie. Bruce's comments: Mill Street Belgian Witt: Very nice. The lemon citrus flavour of the beer brings out the best in the cheese. The tastes just meld beautifully. The best combination from all the pairings. Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier: Not quite as good as the Mill St. but still great. The banana tastes from the beer mixes nicely with the light saltiness of the cheese. Erdinger Weissbier: Not so good. The flavours seem to cancel each other out, leaving little in the way of taste from either the beer or the cheese. Still and all, it's passable. Blanche de Chambly: Very nice, the banana and light spiciness of the beer work well with the cheese, the beer offsets some of the saltiness and the tastes seem to blend together nicely. I give the Mill St. a slight edge but it is a close call. I want to thank Jay again for hosting this session, it seemed like a lot of work at the start and it did turn out to be a lot of work but also a lot of fun along the way. We will be doing more beer and cheese pairing now. We aren't satisfied with some of our match-ups and hope to do better especially with the Stilton and Cheddar.