Ever since I found Becca doing a cheese and beer pairing at Odd Breed sometime last year – I became a fan. I LOVE cheese. I love eating cheese! I love beer! And I get to eat cheeses I haven’t heard of before or thought of and I get to eat cheese with beer?! Score! My happy place, beer WITH cheese!
I walked into Prosperity and was surprised at how packed it was and trying to let my eyes adjust from the brightness outside to coming into a place that is not as bright and a little darker than outside. Picked at a seat at the end of the bar and waited to be served cheese and beer (after ordering of course!). For those that didn’t want beer with the pairing, I believe Prosperity had some wine available – which is good for those who enjoy wine. Another option for those non-beer drinkers to try Becca’s pairing.
I took a look at the board to see what they had on tap while I waited for my pairing.
Nothing I necessarily wanted to drink, though at the same time, I only came to have cheese, finish some beers and head out.
I love how pretty it looks from lighter colored beer to darker and the pop of color the blood orange and raspberry lend.
I like to go from left to right and finish in that order, unless I like one over the other. So, beginning with the Satori Herbed Bellavitano that was paired with Clutch Plate IPA. First, I’m not a fan of IPAs, I drink them to try them, I drink them to get a better understanding of Hops and their bitterness in beers/variety. So, with that being said..
The cheese was nice, a little creamy as you eat it, a nice tasting Parmesan. I tried my best to figure out the “herbed” flavors, the things that I could think of were parsley, maybe a little bit of oregano? something similar and perhaps a hint of rosemary. The cheese on it’s own was great. Drinking the cheese with the IPA, I though the IPA brought out more of the herbed flavors in the cheese. I’m not a fan of the IPA, I felt the bitterness of the hops and disliked it. It was interesting though that eating the cheese while drinking the beer made the beer more palatable to me.
Next was the Fresh Goat Cheese with Blood Orange Hef-A-U. The goat cheese was tangy and had a good overall taste. It wasn’t overly tangy or off-putting. The flavors in each neither detract or add flavor that I could notice. The beer itself, I thought it could use more “blood orange” – it tasted like a regular/average Hefeweizen to me. I honestly had to double check that that name said “Blood orange” Hef-A-U simply because I didn’t think it had any blood orange flavor in it, though that’s my take on it.
Onto the, Saint Angel Triple Creme Brie. It was delicious! It was extremely creamy/nice mouthfeel as you eat it. I felt like it was almost butter-like in taste and texture while I was eating it! It was paired with Electric Ladrio Land which is a raspberry berliner. I thought the berliner was okay, needed more raspberry flavor in there. I also tried this with the Hef-A-U, which also went well too.
Last but not least, Gjetost cheese – apparently it’s pronounced “Yay-toast” – to me it’s Yay cheese! There’s this trying new cheeses I love. Never heard of it until Becca had it out. It’s interesting, it’s the last one on the board cut into small pieces. This cheese was also delicious! It’s not what you are expecting in the least. It seems to be a dessert cheese. It’s tasty – similar to caramel or peanut butter flavor, a little pliable in my mouth/texture was similar to peanut butter. According to the pairing this one came with an “Imperial Stout w/ Cinnamon, Coffee & Cocoa Nibs”. I wonder if someone fucked up and gave me the wrong beer or whether the beer I was provided was just lacking in flavor. I didn’t taste cinnamon. It tasted like a regular/average american style porter, with some coffee. I did think the cheese brought out more of a roasty note in the beer.
I have to say that this was the most enjoyable cheese board to date! In other pairings I could probably identify which one or two were my favorite, though on this board, they were all my favorite.
If you want to follow Becca her info is: https://www.facebook.com/beccasmuncheese