Recap of Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2015

July is Oregon Craft Beer Month, and as part of the celebration I am going to share a way to celebrate beer. Today, I’m going to talk about beer and cheese.

As per my previous years where I recapped the beer and cheese pairings of the Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2014, and 2013, and 2012, here is the one for 2015. I hope besides for those researching in 2016 whether to attend, this post also gives you ideas on how you might want to think about pairing beer and cheese. At the end of this post, I include some of my own general tips for pairing beer and cheese in case you want to give it a try at home,  and list some upcoming events that include beer and cheese.

As usual, the Portland and Beer Cheese festival took place on Father’s day last month. They had a punch-card that helps you look forward to the list of beers and the pairing that Steve from Steve’s Cheese Bar and Chizu and Cheese Annex (Cheese Annex is also located here at the premises of The Commons Brewery). It’s also smart as it lets them manage the number of samples with the attendance. If you are having your own beer and cheese tasting at home, you may want to follow this example by creating and then print out a pairing sheet yourself.

Olympia Provisions was on hand providing charcuterie buffet of sliced meat, sausages, pickled things and bit of mustard to also allow you to try some additional flavors with the cheese and beer. To help balance the flavors of beer and cheese, having some side charcuterie and mustard, or fruit compotes and nuts and crackers, is something to add to your own beer and cheese pairing party.

And, new this year was Woodblock Chocolate also offering some samples of their various chocolates to pair with the cheese and beer (I liked them best with the last 2 beers, though their chocolate infused with hops worked well with the other beers as well). Woodblock even made two special chocolates, a Milk Chocolate infusion with Patagonia Crystal Malt and a Dark Chocolate Infusion with Meridian Hops. Just like cheese can be paired with beer, and food can be paired with beer, you could theoretically do a whole pairing of just chocolate and beer too!

The pairings this year at the Portland Beer and Cheese Fest 2015 included:

pFriem Family Brewers pFriem Pils with L’Amuse Brabander Goat Gouda Goat Cheese from Netherlands

The Commons Brewery French Country Ale with Raclette du Haut Livadors cow cheese from France

Fat Heads Rye bock with Willamette Valley Cheese Brindisi cow cheese from Oregon – one of my favorite beers, cheese, also pairings of the day

Laurelwood Brewing Co Chateau du Sylvia with Uniekaas Vintage Grand Ewe sheep cheese from Netherlands

Lompoc Doppelbock with Le Saut du Doubs Summer comte cow cheese from France

(the photo of the meat, cheese, chocolate together, no lone photo of just cheese and beer)

Firestone Walker Lil Opal with Ferns Edge Mt June goat cheese from Oregon

Ecliptic Ultraviolet Blackberry Sour with Hooks Cheese Co 8 Year Cheddar cow cheese from Wisconsin – the only beer pairing I was not as enthused about because the cheddar was strong and overwhelmed the beer

Breakside Brewing India Golden Ale with Mahon Curado Reserva cow cheese from Spain – a great pairing because the cheese could stand up to and last as long as the flavors of this hoppy beer

Alameda XX Stout with Marquis del Castillo Zamerano sheep cheese from Spain

Hopworks Urban Brewery Big Poppa with Neals Yard Colston Bassett Stilton cow cheese from UK – my other favorite beer, cheese, and beer cheese pairing of the day. Overall I think Big Poppa (aged Notorious FIG in Woodford barrel) was my favorite beer all day with its big bold flavors.

In case for Oregon Beer Month you are interested in creating your own beer and cheese matching at home, you can see some hints at how to pair beer and cheeses with this line up.

• Gouda always tends to be a good choice as it is mild and depending on the age of the gouda, can be slightly nutty to having caramel notes, both which go well with flavors in pale beers varying from ales to lagers and farmhouse styles and most German styles that have a malty component. To me having gouda is like having pretzels – of course it’ll go with beer.
• The citrus tang that you can often found in goat cheeses like chevre go great with wheat and Belgian beers. Some soft cheeses like brie can also go well with this style in echoing a bit of the earthyiness and grassyness
• Another alternate way is to let the pale beer help cool some spiciness – and thus pairing a pale ale or pilsner with a pepper jack or jalapeno cheese
• I pretty much trust any Willamette Valley Cheese to good with anything – in particular their Brindisi is an aged fontina that is a good balance of nutty and salty (though WVC also makes many gouda and havarti styles). During my recap you saw that Steve paired it with a rye bock, but it works just as well with many other darker German styles that are smoky like a Rauchbier or other Oktoberfest and dark lager beer styles. That means you a lot of the alpine cheeses (Swiss, Gruyere) or Italian (Fontina, Parmesan) could work with the beer style as well.
• With a hoppy beer, you want a cheese that is strong enough to balance the slight bitterness and bring out citrus and grass if they are present in the beer. A Spanish cheese, or aged sharp cheddar, or muenster, could work well here depending on the IPA’s IBU and flavor profiles. Or go intense in a funky way with a soft rind cheese
• Blue cheeses and stiltons, which are rich and salty and big and flavors themselves, are fabulous with imperial stouts, barleywines and big boozy barrel aged beers because they can stand up to the strength of the beer
• For a fruit beer, I like the idea of a fresh light cheese like ricotta, ladysmith, and marcarpone the same way fruit and cream go well together.

Goudas and Cheddars or Specialty Cheeses with special treatment (aka rubbed with espresso or with dill or cumin or such) are the cheeses I most often buy to pair with beers. Favorite cheesemakers that often show up on my receipts include cheeses from Willamettte Valley Cheese, Beecher’s Handmade Cheeses, Sartori Cheeses and Beehive Cheeses have never failed to make an interesting combo with beer.

To get more ideas, visit Cheese Bar, Chizu, or Cheese Annex at The Commons to see more examples of the great cheeses Steve pairs with beer, and at all those locations Steve has even selected beer to already go with his cheese offerings!

Any cheesemonger at your local store is sure to be happy if you bring ideas of beer you might be serving to help you pick out a cheese, or you can have them help pick cheese and suggest beers – don’t be shy about asking. I’ve had great luck asking the Murray’s Cheese cheesemongers at Fred Meyers or the cheesemongers at every Whole Foods for unusual pairings when I’m looking for something new to try (plus often they let you try a sample to make sure it’s right).

With July being Oregon Craft Beer month, I suggest keeping an eye out for future possible beer and cheese pairing events: you can see the Oregon Craft Beer calendar here, and also check Brewpublic and New School of Beer for listings. I’ll also try to share events on Twitter. A few upcoming ones include

• For another Beer and Cheese Fest this month, the next upcoming beer and cheese specific event is July 11th – Saturday at Fred Meyer Wilsonville with their own Beer and Cheese Fest. The Beer and Cheese Fest kicks off at 5 PM featuring Ecliptic Brewing Beers. There will be a Beer and Cheese pairing class on July 15th at Fred Meyer Stadium on W Burnside/100 NW 20th from 6 – 7 PM featuring Burnside Brewing. This “Suds & Curds: The Perfect Pair” class is FREE (you can even sign up online). Contact those specific locations of Fred Meyer for more information.
• Although this isn’t a beer and cheese pairing event, this coming Saturday is a Brewer’s Dinner with New Belgium Beer and Elephant’s Deli that sounds delicious – see the specifics of the 5 course meal for $50 (one of the courses includes a cheese- Pecorino Two Ways paired with a beer) at the Brewpublic article here.
• Food Pairing Dinner every Friday in July at Rogue in Astoria — If you are escaping to the Coast and by Astoria during any weekend this month, you might consider grabbing dinner at Rogue on Friday nights. Rogue Public House is featuring a Rogue Ales and Food Pairing every Friday on top of their normal 30 taps featuring Rogue beers along with other Oregon beers on tap, including Buckman Brewery. While in Astoria, also consider stopping by Fort George, and Buoy Brewing!

Do you have any plans to celebrate Oregon Craft Beer month of July, whether it be out at an event or at home? Do you have a true and tried favorite beer and cheese combo?