I was excited last night to present the first of what will be a regular tasting class at Brisbane's Black Pearl Epicure. Working with my good friend and cheese expert Peter Gross we matched six cheeses with six great beers.
My approach to beer and cheese matching rarely involves sitting down with Peter in advance and working out the perfect matches. Instead, he tells me what he's going to bring and gives me a brief description and I then select a beer. There is never a guarantee that the match will work perfectly but, at the same time, I know that the cheese will be great and the beer will be great so no-one is getting short-changed if the pairing is less than perfect. Instead, I think that there is more value in this approach in a demonstration class.
The real value is that I believe you often learn more from an imperfect match than you do from a tightly controlled, pre-planned tasting with a perfect match assured. It lets you discuss your thought process for the match, what you were hoping to achieve and then discuss whether that came to pass. With taste being so subjective, I believe it also demystifies the process and lets people know it's ok experiment and find the matches that they like. I sometimes find that wine leads people to think there are things that are objectively perfect matches, and there just never are.
Last night provided a perfect example of this. I had planned to take a Bridge Road Chevalier Saison to match with the Kingaroy Bunya Black triple cream brie. Somehow, I grabbed a carton of Bridge Road Biere de Garde instead and was horrified to see a much darker beer than I expected being poured into the glasses. However, the match proved inspired - and was much better than the saison would have been. The richer maltiness of the Bridge Road also proved a much better match than the 3 Monts, a French biere de garde that followed and worked wonderfully with the Marcel Petite Compte but just didn't work with the brie. Same beer style, very differnet flavours and very different outcome in the match.
As usual the Roquefort with Brew Boys Seeing Double was just heaven on a cheese knife, but all the matches worked well.
The only secret is eat and drink widely, experiment and be prepared to have the odd matching failure. You lose nothing - the beer and the cheese are still great!
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Matches:
Burleigh Brewing (Burleigh Heads, Qld) Hef with Mt Vikos Barrel Aged Feta
Bridge Road Brewers (Beechworth, Vic) Chevalier Saison with Bunya Black
Brasserie De Saint-Sylvestre (Saint Sylvestre Cappel, France) 3 Monts With Marcel Petite Comte
Notre-Dame de Scourmont Abbey (Belgium) Chimay Blue (Grande Reserve) with Fire Engine Red Jindi
McLaren Vale Beer Co. (Willunga, SA) Vale IPA with Cabot’s American Cheddar
Brew Boys (Adelaide, SA) Seeing Double with Carles Roquefort
Tasting notes:
Burleigh Brewing (Burleigh Heads, Qld) Hef Hefeweizen 5% abv
A classic Bavarian unfiltered wheat beer. The style name translates as hefe (yeast) weizen (wheat) and this beer is cloudy through the yeast in suspension. Bursting with yeast-derived aromatics of banana and a little clove, the texture is creamy and full but never heavy. Slight citrus tang and good, but fine, carbonation.
Suggested Match: Mt Vikos Barrel Aged Feta Origin: Mt Vikos, Greece Milk Source: Ewe and Goat Approximate Age: 4 – 6 months
Almost all the feta exported from Greece today is mass produced and sold in pre-cut slices (feta means to cut), or in moist firm salty lumps lifted fresh from a large tin. But it is still possible to find traditional Feta matured the old fashioned way in barrels made of beech wood.
The barrel subtly influences the flavour and texture of the cheese through natural cultures growing in the grain of the wood, and unlike tinned cheese, the wood also enables oxygen to reach the cheese inside as it matures. This authentic Feta is nothing like the industrial cheese and develops a wonderful soft, creamy, milky taste, intense aromas, soft melting textures with a complex peppery finish.
Storing Feta: The best way to keep feta is tightly wrapped in rice paper in a plastic container in the fridge. The paper quickly hydrates and keeps the surface moist and protected. Some people recommend immersing feta in a home made brine solution but this invariable leeches flavour from the cheese, reducing its creaminess and increasing its salt content. If rice paper is not available, then cling film can be used instead for short period of time.
Bridge Road Brewers (Beechworth, Vic) Chevalier Biere de Garde Biere de Garde 6.5% ABV
From the French for ‘season’ this is a rustic farmhouse ale, once brewed to keep the farm workers fed during the harvest. Spices with some citrus and a dry finish.
Suggested Match: Bunya Black Silver Medal Winner – 2004 Melbourne Royal Show
A cellar door favourite, this triple cream style brie hides a layer of vine ash which adds complexity to flavour and provides a visual treat for cheese platters. Don’t be fooled this is not Blue Vein; this is a rich creamy Brie and something very different.
Brasserie De Saint-Sylvestre (Saint Sylvestre Cappel, France) 3 Monts Biere de Garde 8.5% ABV
The style, which comes from northern France, translates to ‘beer of keeping’ and these beers normally undergo a lengthy conditioning and storage. The style is rustic and earthy. This beer is spicy with clove and aniseed, malt bodied but dry finishing.
Suggested Match: Marcel Petite Comte Origin: Franche-comte, France Milk Source: Cow Approximate Age: 12 months
This large cheese from the Jura Mountains in the Franche-Comte has a diameter of 75cm and a weight of 35kg. It takes about 530 litres of milk to make one cheese. The reason for its large size is due to a long tradition. In earlier times, large wheels of cheese had the advantage that they could be stored for long periods of time, keeping throughout the long winter.
The method and the area in which Comte is made, have not changed for centuries, and are now controlled by the AOC. Comte is consumed by 40% of the French population and has the highest production figures of all French cheeses.
Beneath its hard rind, Comte has a firm and supple centre which melts in the mouth. Its flavour is sweet and floral with a nutty tang. A versatile cheese, it can be eaten in salads, with fruit, in sandwiches or fondue.
Notre-Dame de Scourmont Abbey (Belgium) Chimay Blue (Grande Reserve) Belgian Strong Ale 9% ABV
Ripe fruit, some spice and brown sugar. A rich beer brewed under the Trappist appellation.
Suggested Match: Jindi Fire Engine Red Origin: Jindivic, Victoria Milk Source: Cow
In honour of the Fire Engines and the Firemen who fought tirelessly to defend the Jindi factory in February 2009. This cheese expresses many of the characteristics of those wonderful people. It’s powerful, and courageous, aromatic and at times challenging, but let it work over the palate and the memory will linger on.
The red rind occurs by regular scrubbing with Brevibacterium linens. The affect of the bacteria contributes to the strong and at time over powering aroma of this cheese. One might well ask ‘how can a cheese that smells so bad taste so good? In true French tradition it is recommended for first timers to peel the rind back and scoop the cheese from the middle. Its flavour characteristics will include caramel and cauliflower and cabbage, it has a soft texture and is a truly flavour driven cheese.
McLaren Vale Beer Co. (Willlunga, SA) Vale IPA India Pale Ale 5.5%ABV
A fragrant, hop-driven beer bursting with citrus but revealing some stone fruit. Solid toffee malt profile balances the bitterness for a very satisfying IPA.
Suggested Match: Cabot’s American Cheddar Origin: Vermont, USA Milk Source: Cow Approximate Age: 12 months
A simple, approachable, balanced cheddar that impresses with layers of lingeringly nutty, slightly fruity and nearly buttery flavour, while finishing with the mellowness of caramel undertones. Made by Cabot Creamery and aged at the Cellars of Jasper Hill, this clothbound English-style cheddar won Best of Class at the 2010 World Championship Cheese Contest. Made from pasteurized milk, this cheddar has flavour notes typically attributed to raw milk cheeses.
Brew Boys (Adelaide, SA) Seeing Double Scotch Ale 8% ABV
One for the whisky lovers. Made with a percentage of peat-smoked whisky malt, Seeing Double tastes of sweet and smoky malt and calls to mind many of the descriptors used for an Islay malt – bandaids and iodine.
Suggested Match: Carles Roquefort Origin: France Milk Source: Sheep
Carles is a family business, located in the heart of the village of Roquefort. Milk is collected every morning from a collective of 20 farms, whose dedication produces milk of superb quality. Purely from the Lacaune breed of sheep, the milk brings to the “King of cheeses” all the fragrance and flavour of the pastures of this region. Carles are the last remaining cheese makers who are still hand making the cheese, from the cutting and handling of the curd to the adding of the mould. The cheeses are matured in one of Carles four natural caves deep in the Combalou Mountains. Here thanks to cool, moist natural air flow through the natural vents in the caves, the Penicillium Roqueforti begins to work its magic.
The only raw milk soft cheese in the country, Roquefort is deliciously sweet and creamy with hints of spice from the veins of green-blue mould. It can be used to make sauces or in salads but is best served on the cheeseboard accompanied by a glass of Sauternes or iced Riesling.