Thirsty Thursday

All day I had been looking forward to checking out the Dogfish Head tasting down at River City Cellars. A local gourmet shop that primarily focuses on wine, River City Cellars also features a cache of select craft beer in addition to superb cheeses. Not only did they have a variety of Dogfish Head products for sale, poured by a brewery rep (now legal again!), but they also had a small sampling of cheese to pair with each beer.

First up was the Aprihop with a cheese from Spain called Drunken Goat. The pairing was decent enough, but it didn't really sing to me, so to speak. The Red & White, however, went splendidly with an Australian blue cheese called Roaring 40's Blue, with the fruity flavors of orange and Pinot Noir juxtaposed against the formidable funk of the cheese. Raison d'Etre and Black & Blue were paired adequately with a French cow cheese and an Italian sheep cheese respectively.

The standout for me was the 90 Minute IPA with the Gres des Vosges French cow cheese. Talk about buttery, this stuff coated the palate like no other, and the 90 Minute was just the ticket for such a fatty cheese. I was so impressed, I left the 90 Minute and picked up just the cheese to try with other Imperial IPAs to see how it does.

Lastly came the Burton Baton, a beer I had yet to try. This beer is a blend of the 90 Minute with an oak-aged English strong ale, and while it didn't seem incredibly standout, there was enough of a unique quality to it that I bought a four-pack in order to sit down with a bottle in the near future. I'm wondering if the plethora of flavors on my tongue got in the way of tasting this one at the end of the line.

And sadly, there wasn't any Palo Santo Marron to be found. Trust me, I asked. But there was some good news. While apparently Maryland and DC have already gotten label approval, Virginia just recently did so, but we should be seeing some by the end of April. I don't want to build my expectations too high, but I'm interested to see what the eccentric mind of Sam Calagione has come up with lately.

Nevertheless, after retiring to my abode, I whipped up a simple Italian meal and settled in to watch some first-round March Madness action. At the tasting, I also picked up a 3 year-old Gouda that I sampled with Steve for the last beer and cheese pairing we conducted. It didn't make the cut last time around, but only because we had a Gouda at the previous event. Still, I had been craving this cheese for a while, and decided to spring for a small wedge.

I sliced up some cubes and paired them with a Geary's London Porter, which is brewed in Maine mind you, to see what magic they could make together. Although I was a bit wary, to be honest, because at that first pairing, the other aged (but still younger) Gouda we all tried went remarkably well with a Fuller's ESB. Could I be getting too malty for my own good here?

The answer was "no". Geary's London Porter always strikes me as a well-balanced, easy drinking porter with not too much roasted malt and a lighter body. There are some sweeter, almost toffee-like notes that paired nicely with the more intense nutty and buttery taste of the cheese, like a complementary relationship, with one side making up in the places the other lacks. Not that either lack anything as far as taste goes, but you get my drift; good accompaniment. The carbonation battled the delicious saltiness and lifted the fat and proteins that coated the tongue. A solid pairing, even for going a little out on a limb.

If you ask me, this kind of Thursday needs to happen more often.