Cheese and Beer Pairings - Sam Adams Fall Beer

I was able to squeeze in a cheese and beer pairing class before a busy weekend of packing, and it was just what I needed to relax a little. Samuel Adams featured their fall beers and they were all new to me.

Cheese lineup

Accoutrements

We kicked off the class with their version of Octoberfest, which was easy drinking beer with a low ABV and IBU.

The first beer was actually a cider by Angry Orchard, but even though it's called "Hop'n Mad", I really tasted all apple and not hops. I guess the hops are there to reduce the sweetness and give the cider a dryer finish. This was an amazing pairing with the Grafton Village 2-year raw milk cheddar. The sharpness of the cheese cut through the sweetness and in turn, the sweetness helped to tame down the sharpness. What bliss! Vermont knows their cheese!

Then the two were paired with the dark chocolate!!! Oh my goodness...

Next up was the first non-summery shandy that I've ever had. The Jack-o Traveler had a pumpkin flavor, but the shandy aspect added a citrusy finish. Also quite easy to drink without being overwhelmed by the pumpkin. I think it's a good way to ease into the pumpkin beer season. The cheese stood out again as I am a huge Gruyere fan. Another sharp cheese flavor took on the pumpkin and spice quite easily. These were paired with the caramelized walnuts.

The official pumpkin beer came next, Pumpkin Batch, but it was not your typical pumpkin since it's actually a saison. This had a little too much spice or perhaps the hoppiness bothered me. Luckily, the roasted red pepper creamy goat cheese came to the rescue and cut right through once again. Intense goaty flavor and the creaminess just melted in my mouth. I probably could eat a container of the cheese with a spoon! These were paired with marcona almonds, but the cheese stood alone on this one.

The last two beers were super hoppy with high IBUs, and their names say it all: Hoppy Red and Rebel Rouser Double IPA. Again, I credit the cheese as saving the day since it was hard for me to get past a taste or two of the beer.

This was the first time for me to try Champignon Cambozola, which is an interesting combination of camembert and gargonzola. While there were large mold lines like a regular blue cheese, the creaminess of the triple creme was like tasting butter. The blue aspect was very mild and was easily tamed by the spoonful of honey. Just divine.

The full flavored Cotswold from Britain easily gave off chives and onion in each bite, which was completely necessary to stand up to the double IPA. While the cheese was very much "in your face", the soft cheese was complex and delicious. The intensity was cut by the gerkins or baby sweet pickles. I could have made a meal of just those two as well!

Resources:

Dierbergs Cooking School = http://www.dierbergs.com/School

Samuel Adams = http://www.samueladams.com/

Cheese and Beer Pairings - Sam Adams Part 2

Samuel Adams got another chance to be featured at the Cheese and Beer pairing night at Dierberg's last month. I would have preferred there be an emphasis on local beers, but I admit that I was happy to try this round of beers since they focused on summer and lighter beers.

You can read about my first cheese and beer pairing class with Samuel Adams here:
http://www.stlcheesegirl.com/2015/02/cheese-beer-pairings-at-dierbergs.html

The welcome beer was just Samuel Adams Light and since it wasn't too cold, I didn't have too much of it. I knew better and saved room for the other, tastier beers.

Cheese and Samuel Adams lineup

We started off with a twist on cider beer with the Angry Orchard Summer Honey. There is indeed a slight honey flavor, but not too sweet. The Parrano cheese is a gouda style made from Holland, so it was typically smooth, creamy, and nutty. This cheese made the beer less crisp on on the finish and bring out the butter and honey flavors of the beer. The bonus pairing was the apricot paste, which brought out more fruit and cream flavors.

I really thought the Summer Ale would be the best beer since Schlafly's Summer Lager is my favorite, but this beer was a little too strong on the wheat and yeast flavor. This was paired with a Van Kaas Red Wax Gouda so it helped to stand up to the rich cheese. Together, you get more of the fruit and lemon flavor and the beer does cut through the cream. Dried apricots were the extra pairing here and it made the beer less sweet.

My favorite beer of the night ended up being the Porch Rocker, which is their version of a Radler. I would call this a "porch pounder" myself as you could easily drink a few of these in a row with only 4.5% ABV. This beer was paired with a Kerrygold Cashel Blue, which I thought overpowered the lemon flavor of the beer. The extra pairing of pear paste helped to chill out the cheese a little bit.

Another new beer to me, the DownTime Pilsner, had a big floral note to it and was a bit too hoppy for me. I did think the drier Sartori Asiago, an Italian style cheese, was a good balance with this beer. The extra pairing of chocolate almonds (delicious by itself!) also brought out more of the savory flavors.

For the Rebel Rider IPA, the Comte was definitely needed to help deal with the mild hoppiness in this IPA. The fruit nut bar helped a little, but I would probably prefer the cheese by itself.

Dierberg's is now switching to wine and cheese pairings for next month, but I do think there will be more beer and cheese pairings later this year!

Beer Lineup

Resources:

Dierbergs Cooking School = http://www.dierbergs.com/School

Samuel Adams = http://www.samueladams.com/

Cheese & Beer Pairings - Samuel Adams

February's featured beer at Dierbergs' Cheese and Beer class was Samuel Adams and I have to admit that I don't know much about their beers. For example, the brewery actually started in St. Louis until the prohibition got in the way and had been located where Big Daddy's is now on the landing.

Our "welcome beer" was their most popular Boston Lager and it's quite an easy drinking "light" beer so I can see how it is so popular. I didn't drink much since I wanted to save room for the newer beers.

Samuel Adams lineup

Cheese Pairings

Starting from the lightest beer, the "Cold Snap" is a hazy, unfiltered wheat with lots of citrus flavor. Perfect for summer time and my favorite kind of beer.

The Carr Valley (same makers of my favorite Midnight Moon) Red Wax Fontina had a cooked butter smell and a nutty finish so when you paired it with the yeast flavor of the beer, and added some cashews as well, you ended up with a "PBJ" explosion in your mouth.

One of the reasons why I love these classes is because the combinations of the cheese with other ingredients, just makes for a delicious experience thanks to Cheese Pairing expert, Michael Landis, of Gourmet Foods International. This time around,each person got a side plate of treats of their own!

Nuts, prosciutto, and chocolate

I am not the biggest IPA fan and I can certainly understand why a strong McCalls Irish Cheddar was needed to handle this beer. The hops were definitely overpowering in the Rebel IPA so a 12-month aged, crunchy cheddar helped to tone down the hops. And when you mixed in some milk chocolate with the cheddar...the flavor in my mouth ended with a sweet finish! I was really surprised.

I immediately thought of Patience when I tasted the Cream Stout since it's the perfect beer for her. You get a full taste of coffee and tobacco and burnt toast flavor. I thought that the beer overpowered the La Bonne Vie Triple Creme Brie for sure, but I do admit that the combination of the two along with the fig fruit paste ended up with a "toast with butter and jam" flavor. The sweetness from the fig really helped to make the beer less intense.

My second favorite beer was the Cherry Wheat because I love fruity beers. This Ale was not aged long at all and has a big maraschino cherry nose with a short finish. But when you combined it with the chocolate, you end up with a tart dessert! The Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve had very little flavor to it and was there to help tone down the fruit flavor.

While not a beer, I did enjoy the Angry Orchard since I love cider beers too. Now we had a big apple flavor from start to finish. I never would have thought to pair a blue cheese (Point Reyes Blue) with a cider beer, but both have an intense flavor and even more so together. The crisp flavor also helps to cut through the cheese as well. The spoonful of honey also helped to tame the cheese here for an "apples and honey" combination.

More beer and cheese pairings are coming up next month and the featured beer will be Schlafly!!

Resources:

Dierbergs Cooking School = http://www.dierbergs.com/School

Samuel Adams = http://www.samueladams.com/