Beer and Cheese Night Part 1:
Greetings all, let’s dive into a little experiment that I tried a week or so ago.  We all know that there are certain great pairings in the food world, some of which are unmistakable: salty and sweet, chocolate and peanut butter, cracked pepper corns and steak, flour tortilla and anything on a Tex-Mex plate….you get the drift.  Now, wine and cheese is a pairing that is often used by the upper crust as an excuse to sample a  wide variety of wines while sampling complimentary cheeses and that’s great and all, but what about us, the middle of the crust? (Lord, that’s a pathetic attempt of analogy.) Well, a while back a lovely young lass took me to Deep Ellum to sample locally made cheeses and a wide variety of beers that went along with them and it was a great experience (great date too), picked up a few good beers along the way, which one has already been reviewed for this little adventure: Xingu.  I figured I could maybe get something similar going so I complied 9 beers, 12 cheeses and some side dishes, got the lass and the other half of this grand adventure over and we drank till the wee hours, pairing cheeses with beer and what all.   So, in attempt to explain but not overwhelm, here is what we tried with what cheeses were paired with what. Now I won’t overwhelm y’all with all nine, so today will be 4 beers, tomorrow the rest…that’s 5 for all us Liberal Arts majors. 

 Side note: most beers were sampled 2 to 4 ounces at a time so the judging of the head of the beer is out the window.

(I will review in order of cheeses and their beer pairings)

Rouge Voodoo Maple Bacon Doughnut:  Don’t let the pink bottle fool you, this beer is strong in flavor.  Made with real Applewood-Smoked Bacon and real Maple Syrup this beer is a semi-transparent golden brew that, if properly prepped, has pieces of bacon and sediment floating around in the glass.  Strong nose of maple and smoke, taste is about the same though add in a carbonation that seems to cut through all other flavors and a touch of sweetness in the smoky aftertaste.  It’s okay, a bit much, but glad it got sampled.

Paired with a Sticky Toffee Cheese

Leviathan IPA: Now here is a beer that I will gladly put with Dogfish and Ass Kisser as having the best IPA, hell, one of the best beers I’ve had in a while.  Our only small bottle, this bad boy sports a quasi-Godzilla on the label and gives little in it’s boldness of hops and bitterness.  A nose of grapefruit and a taste some where in-between a 90 minute and 120 minute, this beer has now complicated my life in trying to decide which IPA to buy when this little adventure is done next year: 90 minute of Leviathan?  I will probably just buy both, never hurts to have a two awesome IPAs.

Paired with No Woman Jerk seasoned cheese

Ass Kisser Smoked Porter:  Our first porter of the night.  A nice smoky beer that doesn’t go over board on the smoke like the beer in “Bacon” beer in June did.  A nose of smoke and coffee with a dark red coloring, the beer tasted smoky at first but moved to a silky coffee and chocolate taste with the smoke just accenting the flavors.  A good beer, though not something I will want to try again for a while, though would make for a great marinade base for a meat with the combo of the smoke and the porter flavors.   

Paired with Smoked Cheddar

Left Coast Asylum Belgian Tripel:  Our first surprise of the night.  We all went into this bottle with some moderate to strong reservations with the beer being more pilsner in color and carbonation as well as the fact that it’s a Belgian and that makes it a crap shoot on flavor.  The beer’s nose is one of fruits and spices that blend to give you a semi-sweet smell that peaked our curiosity.  The flavor is similar to the nose, though lighter than you’d think and very clean thanks to the heavy carbonation and leaves a dry aftertaste.  We all ended up listing this one in our top three for the night, a great beer, will be  one of those beers that I will be buying again. 

Paired with Gruyere Swiss and Smoked Gouda, also tried with a 30-month Comte and a Vella Mezzo Secco (I my own personal sampling, this beer paired best with most of our cheeses, these are the standouts)