Guest Post: Dutch Cheese with beer

I'm not the only person with a hankering for beer and cheese, my friend Scuff is also a fan. I've known him for almost as long as I've been drinking beer but met through a different medium...music. Probably my first Belgian beer experience was drinking a Kwak in a Brighton pub with him. So without further ado, here's a guest post

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 I'm a lucky chap! I knew things would improve once we'd moved into our new house and I was proved correct when one of my best friends presented me with a selection of fine aged Dutch cheeses as a housewarming present. He won them in a raffle at a pole dancing competition that his girlfriend took him to - how's that for a back story!? 

These cheeses might not have been to his taste but fortunately they are very much to mine. I've visited Amsterdam several times and I'm a big fan of the food and drink scene out there. I didn't want to waste this good fortune so I set out to pick up some suitable beers to enjoy alongside my cheese. I'm quite the novice when it comes to beer and cheese pairing, though I'm fairly confident I could bore people sufficiently in a conversation about either one on its own, so I took a few wild stabs and this is what I came up with... 

I decided big strong cheese would probably need big strong beers. Unfortunately good Dutch beer is not as widely available as I would like in England and I was rather at the mercy of the supermarkets and a couple of independent off-licences. To the keen beer drinkers out there these will probably seem quite familiar, to everyone else I encourage you to hunt down and try them. 

Beemster (2 years old)

A smooth textured and obviously carefully kept cheese that still managed to retain some sweetness despite the ageing. This was the first one I tried and it was clear from the first bite that these cheeses were of a class that would be offended to be offered up on a biscuit or alongside any condiments. I played it cool on this one and went for something light, but that would hint at all the flavours I wanted to bring through, and picked a De Koninck.

Dutch Sheep's Cheese (4 years old)

As well as the usual nuttiness that you'd expect from Sheep's cheese this had quite a lingering bitterness to it that came through very strong in the aftertaste so it was going to take something powerful to cut through that. I think I made the right choice by going with a good powerful stout, and they don't get much more powerful than an Ellezelloise Hercule Stout. Strong malty pallate and with a sweetness in the aftertaste that brought out the nuttiness of the sheep's cheese whilst balancing the bitterness. 

Old Amsterdam (3 years old)

Last time I went to Amsterdam I bought a huge chunk of this back with me. It's a lovely cheese made with milk from dairies in and around Amsterdam. I knew exactly what beer to drink with it, unfortunately I couldn't find any. My recommendation for this would be the Natte made by Brouwerij ’t IJ (pronounced "Brewery eye"). It's a red/brown double beer, well hopped and with the sweetness of caramel malt that would compliment this traditionally aged cheese well. However I've found that the beers brewed in this converted windmill in Amsterdam don't travel particularly well and you rarely see them in the UK so I made do with one of my favourite beers of all time, Pauwel Kwak. Simply because a) it's a suitable substitute, b) I'm a sucker for challenger hops, and c) I'll look for an excuse almost any day of the week to sit back and enjoy a Kwak in my traditional stirrup glass. 

Aged Gouda (2.5 years old)

Wow, what a fine cheese this was. All the fine creamy flavour of gouda with a mature bite to punctuate it. This was the easiest pairing for me though. I have always enjoyed gouda and trappist together and I don't care if its 2.5 or 25 years old, I'm not making an exception this time. If this hadn't been a strong enough cheese to look after itself I would have brought in the dijon mustard and a gherkin or two, but as it was this little cheese stood up to the mighty Trappistes Rochefort 8 all by itself. Good for it. 

If I was to pick a favourite I would have to say I particularly enjoyed the Old Amsterdam and Pauwel Kwak. The flavours transported my back to fond memories of sitting in Amsterdam's fine drinking establishments enjoying a plate of cheese alongside a fine quality beer whilst deciding which pub to hop to or which canal to stroll alongside next, or whether to simply order yet another beer and a plate of ossenworst and some pickled gherkins.

Scuff Blogs at Scuff's Kitchen

Owl Beer

Ever since my session post on owls in beer design I've had a few hits a week from people searching for the "beer with an owl on the lid". So when the Hitachino Nest 5-pack was offered on Brewdog Online it was a done deal. I had some of the brewery's beers at GBBF last year and enjoyed them all so looking forward to these.

Everyone is fond of owls.

First up, the weizen. It certainly looks the part, hazy amber-gold with big fluffy white head. It starts to fail here however as the head doesn't stick around.Plenty of banana and wheat on the nose with a touch of clove. Medium carbonation, a bit thin in body, biscuity malt, shredded wheat and more clove. abrupt finish. Doesn’t hit the heights for me I’m afraid. Another confirmation of my contention that when it comes to indigenous beer styles, the original brewers are the best.

The amber ale is next on the menu. More ruby-brown than amber with a fluffy tan head. Lemon and dusty cupboards on the nose, its well carbonated, quite smooth in the mouth with toffee and chocolate notes up front, followed by some slight citrus hops and a touch of black malt astringency. Enjoyable but more of a brown ale. It pairs fairly well with pizza.

Ginger beer is becoming more popular in the UK with the advent of alcoholic ginger beer but there have always been malt beers brewed with ginger too. This Japanese effort follows in those traditions. Hazy brown with a fluffy ochre head. Sweet candy sugar and a touch of copper on the nose. Thick bodied, sweet golden syrup, digestive biscuit malt and perhaps the tiniest hint of ginger in the finish. That metallic tang is there too

XH is an interesting beer. Brewed with Belgian yeast then matured for three months in sake barrels, but how does it taste? It pours dark, slightly hazy amber with a fluffy amber-tinged head. On the nose is caramalt, cocoa powder, cloves and white pepper. Very thick, chewy mouth feel, rich malt flavours, some orange oil, more clove spiciness fairly dry finish. There's some fairly fruity esters/ higher alcohols (apple pulp and plum), lots of malt sweetness and a touch of bitterness in the finish

Finally its Japanese Classic Ale. Pouring a hazy amber with a nose redolent of white pepper and Turkish delight. Spiky carbonation, some spicy wood notes up front followed by sweet apple and plum skins. A fair amount of sweetness builds meaning it can only be sipped slowly.

Session #65: All Alone

This month's Session is hosted by Nate at Booze, Beats and Bites and asks to post about drinking alone and if so why. Nate's pretty much covered the various reasons why one might drink alone in his introductory post and I heartily concur.

My current situation sees me drinking alone frequently, not necessarily through choice but because there is noone here to share the beers with, nor do the local boozers have anything to draw me out of the house.

But even before I lived here I enjoyed going to pubs by myself. I enjoy sitting down with a book and a pint of beer without having to think about being sociable. If I want to be sociable there are people in the pub to share with in any case. A lot of my friends have been met through going to the pub by myself and chatting to the locals.

No pressure to drink in rounds or finish up to move on to another pub, you can go at your own pace. If you fancy some food you don't have to wait for others to finish up.

The one proviso to drinking alone is you shouldn't do it when already in a bad mood as the beer will probably just make you feel worse. Its these occasions you need a friend to cheer you up.

Celebrating Indpendents

July 4th is a day of celebration for one of our former colonies, ever one for subversion and puns I've chosen to celebrate Independents Day - for supporting local independent microbreweries.

The new branding

In view of that its a perfect day to post my review of the new Clanconnel (@Clanconnel) Beer-Irish Pale Ale*. Its undergone somewhat of a rebrand (as reported by The Beer Nut): A cleaner, more striking label design bringing the beers into one overall range named after the greyhound Master McGrath. Each beer is numbered with its own distinct colour, the pale is blue number 2. The rebrand is to make the beers recognisable overseas, where a lot of them are now destined, but have no fear they'll be available in the North and RoI and some keg and cask will also be produced.

At 4.4% its a good sessionable strength and like all good session beers builds flavour down the glass so that you're ready for a second almost immediately afterwards. It uses cascade hops alongside traditional English varieties for bitterness and aroma.

Pouring a burnished gold with fluffy white head and fairly aggressive carbonation, in the mouth its not OTT. The aroma is dusty pineapple and lemon pith, it tastes of shortcake with a dry bitter finish. A flavour of lemon cheesecake and a touch of resin builds toward the end of the pint.

I'll certainly be buying these if I see them in the shop and reckon it would be excellent on cask, lets hope Mark finds the outlets to take it!

The fifth beer in the McGrath's Range, White Ale, is out next month, look out for it!

*Mark was kind enough to send me a beer and pint glass in the post.

The rest of the Clanconnel range was reviewed here.

Mmmmm Cheese

Just a quick one today. I've a guest post up over on Matching Food and Wine listing my favourite five cheese & beer pairings (that I've tried so far!). Let me know what you think of my choices!

The site is run by the fantastic Fiona Beckett, Wine columnist for the Guardian, cheese fanatic (she organises a cheese school a few times a year), and good food and drink lover. She's also very friendly and welcoming to new food and drinks writers and quick to offer guidance when needed. Check out her work!

On Twitter as @winematcher and @food_writer

CABPOM July: Roquefort and Rochefort 10

Well, gorgonzola, actually, but I liked the wordplay.

Trappistes Rochefort 10 is one of those beers I've had before and will certainly have again. Its been about three years since my last bottle; so this is long overdue. Its the strongest of three produced at L'abbaye Notre-Dame de Saint-Remy in Rochefort. Held in high regard (and rightly so) its fairly widely distributed in the UK; do go get yourself some if you've not had it!

Resplendent in its chalice

It pours dark chestnut with a luscious, mocha foam. Fantastically complex nose, plums, stewed apples, molasses, toffee and vanilla. Mouth coating, sweet crystal malt at first, followed by a big boozy note, touch of buttered popcorn, increased vinous fruit towards the end, a touch of noble hop and more vanilla.

It slips down far too easily.

Gorgonzola is an Italian semi-soft salty blue cheese, often using the same peniciliium roqueforti bacteria for its blue streak as the eponymous French cheese. Its salty and sharp and an acquired taste. Certainly I had to first overcome my dislike for Stilton before Gorgonzola and Roquefort even got a look in. Looking back I can't even see what my issue with it was!

Gorgonzola (left) and Mature Cheddar

At first it jars slightly with the hops and looks to be a duff pairing, but try a second mouthful and its transformed. Suddenly there's a lot of sweetness and fruit in the cheese which just serves to accentuate all those vinous flavours in the beer. The salt here has a part to play too, seemingly accentuating the alcohol in the beer in a complementary way, lifting it to sherry territory. Pears and other orchard fruits also dance on the tongue as the cheese is washed away. Not so much evidence of that umami of blue cheese and dark beer here, those fruity flavours being the strongest players. Nevertheless, superb beer, great match.

The beer also works well with mature cheddar, the older the better and of course if you can get hold of something unpasteurised like Keen's you're on to a winner.

A Quasi-Bombastic Review

Hardknott brewery is one which needs no introduction from me. Well known among bloggers as trying to do something a bit different in the craft beer scene. Today's beer is no different. Billed as the first in a series of "Rhetoric" beers this is a Belgian Quadrupel inspired beer with star anise. Coming in at 10.2%, its a fair bit under the target ABV but that doesn't mean it will be too cloying.

Always one for a novel marketing technique, Dave gave away 24 bottles to those he deemed deserving, carted by Alex to Leeds with instructions not to open until an agreed date. Saturday 30th June at 7:30pm was the time decided and I wasted no time in opening my bottle.

Its a magnificent specimen, chestnut coat, beige mane and powerful legs. Thankfully that's where the horse comparison ends, no farmyard in evidence here. Instead we're treated to a complex nose of  licorice, orange peel, demerara and a hint of clove. Bizarrely there's also wet-wipes, a mixture of some higher alcohols and yeast esters perhaps.

 Quite oily in texture but very smooth on the swallow. Lots of sugar sweetness, aniseed, honey, lots of booze, tangerine. It lingers on the tongue. Low carbonation perhaps but great as it is.I can certainly see this maturing well.