...And we're speaking about beer and cheese.
In the past days, the singular and hedonistic pairing of these two staples has announced itself in my life time and again; I imagine I'm stating the apparent to many of you, however, the readiness and propensity for such pleasure and complexity from such an unpretentious pairing has gripped me and simply will not loosen. Pity for you...
Unexpectedly, Tuscany and California met in my mouth just a few days ago. I hadn't planned the match. In fact, far from being a culinary architect, I felt afterwards as though whatever muses sang to cheesemongers and beer stewards had let loose an odd note which, by some circumstance, rang to a pitch discernible by one idiot savant, namely myself! Specifically, after the suggestion of a salesperson at Pastaworks on Hawthorne (and subsequent tasting of the product), I bought a small wedge of Peccorino Toscano, a sheep's milk cheese with a dry nutty flavor and consistency quite similar to Piave Veccio. That evening, I sliced the cheese along with some peppercorn-studded finely ground Tuscan salami, making myself a nice appetizer plate to snack on while I checked my email. Usually I don't treat myself to nice salami and cheese, but the tips had been good the past few nights and these were some of my favorite treats. Before setting on the plate, I opened the fridge to select the inaugural beer for that evening. Imperial stout...Baltic porter...oak-aged porter...imperial amber...It struck me that my love for dark beer had become hyperbolic. Yet, in a lone row I spotted a Lagunitas Pale Ale. I snatched it, popped the cap and poured it into a glass, choosing this ale because it intuitively felt right; insofar as it was a lighter beer and seemed least likely to detract from the special items before me. Generally I don't have the luxury, or perhaps I simply do not afford it to myself, to premeditate beer pairings for the food I am going to consume. Thus, I was struck when that moderately hopped and simple, yet well-made, pale ale accentuated the cheese and salami plate rather than acting like some quaffable backup element! In particular, the equally restrained and delectable aromatics and flavors of the pale ale, bready and with a crisp citric hint, and the cheese, a tad gamy with a quickly softening paste, befriended one another; everything about the Peccorino Toscano was lifted and accentuated by the entrance of the buoyant though sturdy pale ale!
And then this...
I've been revisiting the works of Joseph Conrad lately; for those unfamiliar with the name, Conrad was Pole who emigrated to England and wrote a number of short stories, novellas and novels in English during the late-19th and early-20th centuries, most notably "Heart of Darkness." Anyway, shortly after the aforementioned experience, I was reading a short story by Conrad titled "Youth." What is pertinent to our discussion is that at one point during the story, a group of sailors prepares to abandon their ship and board a set of three lifeboats with whatever necessities they can haul off the main boat because their coal cargo has caught fire and sparks an explosion that renders their vessel useless. Tired, injured and uncertain of their fates, Conrad's narrator recalls of the sailors: "They were sitting on deck right aft, round an open case, eating bread and cheese and drinking bottled stout." After reading this passage, I smiled and decided that these men had the right damned idea! If death were dancing about me in circles and I had the opportunity, I can certainly imagine myself feasting on a hunk of pungent cheese and vigoriously imbibing stout. To be exact, given the choice, I think some well-aged Gouda, the type that had matured to a degree that its paste crumbled like wax, and a bottle of Synebrychoff Porter, would suit me very well.
In any case, my long-winded point is that a few related life-beer events opened my eyes to the magic of a pairing that we can actualize so easily in our everyday lives. It is amazing how readily beer and cheese will match one another. Beer is not so fickle as wine and far less often, in my experience, will a beer overwhelm the flavor of a cheese. This is not to say that there aren't amazing wine and cheese pairings. Nor is it an easy feat to contrive a profound beer and cheese match. However, beer and cheese attain a relationship one step under the divine with such readiness that it is painful to keep the two apart.
Oh, and speaking of "stout," don't forget Monday's St. Patrick's Day tapping of both Deschutes Abyss and Ft. George Coffee Girl Stout, two beers that would evoke envy even from some 19th century Brits!
