(See Cheese Tasting Notes below)
Beer with Blue cheese
A framboise (raspberry) or kriek (cherry) lambic, like we're using with this dinner. Lambics have a lot of sour, tart and lactic flavors that pair well with strong cheeses. Fruit lambics are balanced by sweetness, creating additional harmony with tangy, mouth-puckering cheeses like blue. Strong, sweet, alcoholic barleywines would work well, too.
Belle-vue Framboise
Belle-vue Kriek
Great Hill Blue
South Mountain Product’s Berkshire Blue
Westfield Farms Hubbardston Blue Cow
Beer with Smoked Baby Swiss, mozzarella or provolone
Bamberger Rauchbier (smoked beer) is ideal, and we're using it in our dinner. Bamberger rauchbiers, particularly those of the Marzen style, are extremly smoky in aroma, but clean and drinkable. Other suggestions are a smoked porter, such as Alaska Smoked Porter, or an acrid dry stout.
Schlenkerla Smoked Beer
Boggy Meadow Farm’s Fanny Mason Smoked Baby Swiss
Calabro Smoked Mozzarella
Taylor Farms Smoked Gouda
Beer with Spicy pepper jack or cheddar
The best bet for a spiced cheese is something warm and malty, like an English strong ale that will provide a complement to the spice; or something with enough hops to hold up to hot, spicy flavors. India pale ales and continental pilsners are both well hopped beers. However, those that are too hoppy and bitter will only exacerbate the burning sensation on the palate. Almost any pilsner or IPA will go well, however, with a nice sharp cheddar that does not have spices in it.
Rapscallion Blessing
Cabot Two-Year Aged Cheddar
Grafton Village Four Star Cheddar
Shelburne Farms Farmhouse Cheddar
Crowley Cheese’s Sharp Crowley Cheese
Beer with Brie or Sweetened Fromage Blanc
A versatile cheese that will work with a number of flavor-filled golden beer styles, such as Belgian saison, French biere de garde, of German wheat beers.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
Blythedale Farm’s Brie
Vermont Butter & Cheese Fromage Blanc
Westfield Farms’s Hubbardston Blue Cow
This pasteurized cow’s milk cheese is an American original. Others have tried, but failed to duplicate Bob and Debbie Stetson’s popular cheese. Penicillium roqueforti mold is added to milk. Cheese is put in a curing cabinet at room temperature for about a week; and will then turn blue. Next, it is wrapped and cured for about a week. This allows the mold to develop a grayish bloom or “skin” on the outside. Cheese will then soften; it is put in the refrigerator. Mold flavor permeates cheese, but no veining occurs due to lack of air in center of cheese. Total aging is about three weeks. Hubbardston, Massachusetts
South Mountain Product’s Berkshire Blue
Made by retired newspaper man, Michael Miller, the flavor of this cheese varies slightly with the changing seasons and the diet of the small herd of Jersey cows producing milk for the cheese. Michael begins with unpasteurized milk and makes only 46 two-pound wheels by hand and ages them 60 days. This artisan process is unique from the well-know Stilton blue which is manufactured in a factory on a much larger scale into hundreds of gigantic wheels. Berkshire Blue has a creamy texture with some kick from the subtle blue veins. Winner: Best Blue Cheese at the American Cheese Society Competition 2002. Lenox, Massachusetts
Great Hill Dairy’s Great Hill Blue
The only cheese made by company founder and owner, Tim Stone, Great Hill Blue is made with raw, un-homogenized cow’s milk. “Un-homogenized” means that the fat globules are not broken down and instead, stay large, making for a creamier cheese. The light- to medium blue veined cheese is aged between eight and 14 months; it has nearly as many blue ribbons and it does blue veins. Marion, Massachusetts.
Taylor Farms’s Farmhouse Gouda
The strong initial impact of this cheese then slides into a great back-of-mouth flavor that that lasts and lasts. Cheese maker Kate Wright’s gouda has a fairly soft texture and is sprinkled with small holes. It has a rich yellow color from the milk of Jersey cows cared for by Kate’s husband, Jon. The cheese melts beautifully and keeps its flavor when cooked. Londonderry, Vermont.
Crowley Cheese’s Sharp Crowley Cheese
Oldest continuously-operating cheese plant in America. The cheese is raw milk and aged between two months and fourteen months. When young, Crowley is mild with a creamy texture. As it ages, it becomes firmer with nutty yet sweet flavors. Some liken the washed curd cheese to Colby, but, in fact, it differs significantly in flavor. Thus this is a truly original American cheese. Healdville, Vermont
Cabot Creamery’s Private Stock Two-Year Aged Cheddar
Milk is collected through a co-op of small New England farms to make Cabot cheddar. Large-production cheese has artisan taste and flavor because cheese is evaluated at every step of the process by in-house cheese graders. Private Stock Cheddar is one of the company’s most popular due to sharp, quintessential cheddar flavor and smooth texture. Milk is heat-treated rather than raw. Cabot, Vermont
Vermont Shepherd’s Putney Tomme
David and Cindy Major learned their artisan cheesemaking craft in France. Cutting into this gray-brown, pitted natural rind is an amazing tasting experience. Putney Tomme is a tangy, rustic farmhouse cheese with a smooth texture and a mold-ripened exterior. Soon after the cheese wheels are made, they are taken to a cool, humid cheese cave to be cured. Every other day each wheel is turned, washed and brushed by hand until achieving a perfectly ripened, raw cow’s milk cheese. Putney, Vermont.
Cabot Creamery’s Five Peppercorn Cheddar
This cheese begins with Cabot’s award-winning Mild Cheddar. Freshly ground pepper from five different peppercorns is added. The result was the First Place winner at the American Cheese Society for the entire Flavor Added, Cow’s Milk Cheddar category, one of the most competitive categories at the show. Cabot, Vermont.
Calabro Cheese’s Smoked Mozzarella
Calabro Cheese Corporation was founded in September 1953 by Joseph Calabro in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Mr. Calabro was born in Sicily, Italy in 1922. Today, Calabro Cheese Corporation is still a family owned and operated Italian Cheese company with Mr. Calabro as president and CEO. Calabro specializes in producing Italian cheeses such as this high-quality mozzarella. Many local supermarket carry Calabro heat-treated cow’s milk mozzarella. East Haven, Connecticut.
Vermont Butter and Cheese’s Fromage Blanc
Despite the fact that it has zero percent fat, Fromage Blanc tastes more flavorful and smooth than yogurt. Made by Allison Hooper and readily available in supermarkets, this French-style soft curd fresh cheese is fluffy and light in texture. As seen tonight, Fromage Blanc is a perfect building block for a variety of dishes from dessert to lasagna. Try it with granola and fruit in the morning or with smoked salmon, capers and lemon juice. Heat-treated cow’s milk. Websterville, Vermont.
Contact: Serena Ball 617-734-6750 sball@newenglanddairy.com
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