Beer & Cheese, Beer & Cheese, Beer & Cheese!
Mar 19, 2012 Beer & Food, Education & Training, Events
At the recent 8th Annual Oregon Cheese Festival, we had the pleasure to conduct the inaugural Beer & Cheese pairing session. Our friends at the Rogue Creamery (event hosts) were gracious, had everything together and the events was sold out - SRO even! Proof positive that festivals and events should offer fun educational sessions for the guests and attendees.
A BIG THANK YOU to Tom, Tasha, David, Carey, Anna, Francis, and the whole crew of Rogue Creamery for putting on such a well run and well received festival. Seriously – it’s one of our favorites because it goes sooooo smoothly. And it’s very well attended because of that – the guests have a great time, which also makes it a good investment for us as well.
Sue & Larry, great helpers, prep the cheese
The audience in the cozy room were engaged, polite and had some terrific questions about beer specifically. A bonus for me as the leader of the session was that friend and colleague Matt Van Wyk, brewer of Oakshire Brewing, was also in attendance.
I’m one of those people who always welcomes anyone in the room – most especially the folks who are directly tied to the going-ons. Matt supplied 2 of the 4 beers I chose to pair for the session. He was gracious, fun and chimed in & answered questions with thoroughness and tact. I know the guests enjoyed having a brewer in the mix as well, particularly one that could speak to the beers in front of us.
The other brewer was in fact at the festival, as their brewery booth, enlightening more folks about beer – Larry Chase, Standing Stone.
Matt Van Wyk and other guests at the tasting
Since we rarely hand out paper programs that people have to then schlep around or toss or recycle, we always post menus on our site following an event. As promised, here’s the tasty line up we used to edutain and converse about.
- Standing Stone Amber Ale with Pholia Farms Takelma cheese
- Standing Stone I Love Oregon Ale with Willamette Valley Cheese Company Havarti - the creaminess really stood out with the beer.
- Oakshire Brewing Watershed IPA with Rogue’s Flora Nelle, natural-rinded bleu cheese
- Oakshire Brewing Overcast Espresso Stout with Rogue’s Pistol Point cheese, with paprika and chipotle
The line up was a great cross-section of beers and foods to pair. The best ingredient of the tasting: The People. We’re already excited to get back to it next year.
As requested, we’ll cover why beer and cheese do in fact pair so nicely later this week. Thanks to Australian guest Mashka for asking. Stay tuned!
Tags: 2012 Oregon Cheese Festival, beer and cheese pairing, Oakshire Brewing, Pholia Farms, Pistol Point, Rogue Creamery, Standing Stone Brewing Company, Willamette Valley Cheese Company
Southern Oregon Brewing Hospitality
May 17, 2010 Beer & Food, Celebration Worthy, Education & Training, Events
Many Thanks to Scott, Justin, Kristen, and Tom for Thursday night’s success.
Southern Oregon Brewing was our host location for May’s monthly meet up – with resounding success.
Women Enjoying Beer and Cheese
We had 24+ women show up just for the event – most had reserved a spot and we had some more fabulous women come join us to the groups benefit. More truly is merrier! Thanks to everyone who came to enjoy the SOB beer and cheese pairing.
To the patrons who were in the taproom already enjoying beer, wondering what was happening when Anna and I began setting up – cheers! Thanks for being game to let us (unknowingly) interrupt your Thursday night.
Cheese is a classic to pair with beer. Why?
Because like cheese, beer has many complexities that, since it’s a living thing (yeast and all), has infinite possibilities of what flavors may develop. Yes, you can plan some, yet since yeasts and molds are rather independently spirited organisms, in the end it can be a surprise.
The SOB beers and cheeses we paired:
- 1. Gold Ale with Monterrey Jack
- 2. Pale Ale with medium Cheddar
- 3. IPA with Camembert
- 4. Porter with Caved Aged Swiss Gruyere
- 5. Black IPA with Gorgonzola
How’s that sound?
Good beer and food references:
p.s. Happy American Craft Beer Week – May 17th – 23rd – we’ll be at SSBC celebrating tonight from 6 – 8
Tags: American Craft Beer Week, beer and cheese pairing, Lucy Saunders, Randy Mosher, Southern Oregon Brewing
