Beer and Cheese Basics Seminar at Les amis du Fromage

Last night we did another seminar at Les amis du Fromage;  Beer and Cheese Basics with Chester Carey and Allison Spurrell. We learned that beer is easier than wine to match with cheese and that smell is the first sense you engage when trying beer.
Chester is a Certified Cicerone, the beer equivalent of a Sommelier and he was very interesting.  Allison arranged 14 cheeses and a charcuterie plate to pair with 5 different beers and a control beer; from East Vanacouver, Parallel 49 Brewery's Old Boy, a Brown Ale that was meant to work with each food plate.

The Old Boy was a big hit with everyone at our table.  I nice balance of malt and hops with lovely caramel and chocolate flavours.  It really did work well with all cheese.  Not so well with the charcuterie, IMHO.

Our first cheese plate was soft cheeses and the clear winner was one of The Travel Group favourites, fresh Brillat Savarin from Burgundy, France.  It was my top match of the evening with Unibroue's Blanche de Chambly the first white ale brewed in Canada.  Check out this video to learn how to serve this champagne style beer.





Our 2nd plate was Washed Rind cheeses, not my favourite but I liked the Fleur d'Aunis from Brittany France.  Chester matched this plate with Ommegang's Hennepin, a Saison ale from Belgium.
 Plate 3 was charcuterie and Powell Street Craft Brewery's Dive Bomb, a porter from East Vancouver.
I don't eat meat regularly but I tasted the 2 salamis and a Serrano Jamon.  I liked the fennel salami but I'm not going to become a beer and porter person anytime soon.
Plate 4 was harder cheeses that are easier to pair with wine and were able to stand up to Surrey's Russell Brewing Co.'s Wee Angry Scotch Ale.  I'd probably drink it just to say the name but it had a long finish that was much too scotch like for this wine drinker.
The final plate was blue cheese with another Parellel 49 Brewery beer, the Lord of the Hops, an India Pale Ale.  It was one of our top picks and we loved the Cashel Blue Cheese from Ireland.  The names work well together too and they'll be part of The Travel Group's Friday St. Patrick's day celebration.  We've been inspired to change our weekly wine and cheese to a beer and cheese this week.  
Drop by.  We'd love to see you.