It's not everyday one gets a chance to pair delicious Welsh cheeses with tasty British beers, so when I told Mark about the sign I saw in the window of the King's Arms, we decided to give it a go. And it wasn't just beer they were pairing the cheese with, but British cider and British wine as well. The wonderful and whacky Todd Trethowan from Trethowan's Dairy, a family owned business of cheese makers & mongers from Gorwydd Farm, Llanddewi Brefi, Wales was on hand to give colourful descriptions of each cheese that was presented. Also on hand were representatives of the three beverage providers, who described their products ahead of each pairing. Everyone was provided with a voting form and were asked to rate the three different drinks that we thought went best with the cheeses in each flight. Of course, beer readers, Britain is not known for it's wines, and alas, I have nothing good to say about the wines that were presented at this evening of pairings, I placed the wines at number 3 each time, so I will leave it at that. The ciders were good, but of the sparkling, commercial variety, very similar to each other and not the zesty and fresh rough, cask ciders I've been enjoying around town, so, of course, my focus was on the beer. The Bristol Beer Factory was the featured brewery, in business since 2005, making an interesting array of beers, using all British sourced ingredients and winning awards for them as well.
The first delectable curd up was Gorwydd Caerphilly, an award winning mature cheese made by hand to a traditional recipe using raw unpasteurized cows milk and aged for two months on the farm. It exhibits a fresh lemony taste with a creamy texture right through to the outer mushroomy rind (known as the “breakdown”) and a firmer but moist inner. It was paired with BBF's Acer, a 3.8% ale with a fruity nose, a big hop presence (they use Soracchi Ace hops), with hints of tangy citrus over a bready malt base. Quite a wonderful combination.
Next up was Dorstone Goats Cheese, presented by Todd, but actually from Neal's Yard Creamery, a traditional, unpasteurized ashed goats cheese with a delicate, wrinkled rind, fluffy yet creamy texture and a lovely zesty tang. This went quite well with BBF's Bristol Hefe, a German style wheat (unusual for a British beer maker), refreshing, tart and light bodied with the traditional banana and clove notes, but also small hints of bubblegum and grapefruit. Delicious!
The last pairing featured a Collingthwaite Farm product, Stichelton, a classic blue cheese from unpasteurized cows milk that is cool and buttery, with an underlying nuttiness and a spicy element. BBF brought out their award winning Milk Stout for this one. This 4.5% brew is black, full-bodied and a touch sweet. They use unfermentable lactose sugar in the boil that accentuates the chocolate sweetness and black malt roastiness. I think this pairing won over the crowd to beer being the best thing to taste with cheese.
On hand from BBF was Brett, one of the brewers, who had a couple of extra beers for those interested. He happens to be an Californian living in Bristol, so was likely responsible for the next brew he poured for me, Southville Hop, a 6.5% American style IPA, made with Columbus and Centennial hops. This is a big beer, amber in colour, huge hoppy nose of grapefruit over a strong malt base, wonderfully complex palate, hinting of tropical fruit, definitely a US West coast inspiration. I had the unique opportunity of tasting this brew cask conditioned on a hand pump, and was suitably impressed again. As a real ale, the hops are somewhat subdued and more evenly balanced, though still running juicily through the huge maltiness quite impressively. He also shared their Exhibition Ale (see Beer of the Day, Oct. 20), perhaps my favourite of the evening. We chatted some more and he invited me to visit the brewery, located in one of the remaining buildings of the old Ashton Gate, once a brewery for almost 200 years.
Todd came over and spent some time at our table as well, talking to us about apprenticing as a cheese-maker, the labourious process of making cheese by hand, his love of beer paired with cheese and beer in general. Turns out we have a lot in common. We agreed to meet the next day at his local, which just so happened to be The Seven Stars, the CAMRA Bristol chapter's Pub of the Year for 2010.
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