TOPIC:

"silenus":h6ffn77x wrote: As regards an expert attending, maybe.
When i bought the cheese for the James & Oz night, i mentioned to the staff in Sheridans what was going on, and they laughed at the idea, and told be to go get some wine. [/quote:h6ffn77x]

Sorry but they are idiotes then and really need to look at match what they sell to an appropriate beverage that can actually match, wins dirty little sects is that is very poor mach with cheeses, spicy food and chocolate.

A nice big Imperial stout/ porter goes very well with chocolate or a good cheese

So do we want to arrange a meet up? In someones house? Bring a beer and a cheese. I 100% guarantee* that bogmyrtle wont mind using our house.

Alternatively if people don't want to rely on the dubious charms of the 40D bus we can go somewhere else.







*not a guarantee

"a_friend_in_mead":3plmgtsu wrote: Bring a beer and a cheese.[/quote:3plmgtsu]Brilliant idea. I'd be happy to host* except [insert same tired old line about house being done up]. It might be possible in the run-up to Christmas, though. I'm fairly well served for cross-town buses, and have parking as well.

*And I'm sure[size=75:3plmgtsu]**[/size:3plmgtsu] MrsBeerNut would be too.

[size=75:3plmgtsu]**Not really sure at all.[/size:3plmgtsu]

Geoff that sounds great. Myself and gav did a wine tasting before and amongst the wine was a beer table and an unbelievable amount of cheese to be had. It was mainly german beers but i think some nice english ales would be super too. Dark Chocolate always works well for me with a stout/porter. Probably why my body shape is going that way too.

"silenus":3bqnkwjv wrote: If one of these clubs were to be set up, how would you like to see it run. How often, how many pairings at each meet up, etc etc.

Answers on a postcard..[/quote:3bqnkwjv]

I like the idea of a cheese club. Trying to imgaine what that would entail in this context is something else entirely!

Having a generous selection is always good but if you mix a product of which there is many (cheese) with a product of which there is many (beer) then what you get is a confused blend of dairy malt, or is that malty dairy?!

IMO a selection of one variety of cheese with a small selection of beer of a certain style (please, save me the 'beer style' arguement!) that is a known and acknowledged match would be best for a cheese club. For example as mentioned above blue cheese and the rich style of Trappist; Cheddar and Swiss mountain cheeses with stouts, porters, weiss.

By tasting different cheddars for example one can appreciate the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle differences in colour, texture, density, flavour, and aroma. I think pairing to a small selection of beers is a good idea as it keeps the focus on the cheese and doesn't end in a free-for-all of debauched gastronomy (YES, I'm guilty OK!).

Best of luck with this Geoff. Mead goes very well with blue cheese and this I can help you out with!

Myself, Declan and my missus sat in last monday with 18 beers of various styles, and 12 cheeses. We knew what not to try, so we thought this would make things easier. Wrong.
Of all the combinations we tried of what was left, we probably had a 20% succesful pairing rate.Here are the more succesful of those.

Chimay blue/rouge wuth Chevre Goats cheese
Hoegaarden with Ardi Gasna
Pawel Kwak/Duvel with Smoked Gubeen
Hofbrau with Shropshire Blue
Budvar Pilsner and Feta
Goose Island with Mont d'or

Someday when i have time, i'll post the full results, good and bad.

One thing we did learn is that fancy styles of beer and cheese are not guaranted to work together, and sometimes the simple options provide the winners.