Hop in the Dark from Deschutes Brewery

Was at New Seasons this past week and spied this on the shelf – Deschutes Brewery’s new bottle of Hop in the Dark, Cascadian Dark Ale. Of course, I had to buy it. The mister and I had had this at the brewery before but they just started bottling it this summer. There’s been quite a few “dark” ales coming out lately. It’s a fun trend.

We both loved it! It has a lovely color and aroma — light on the nose but with a very pleasant, kind of carmelized scent. It has undertones of coffee and that’s how I like them. Coffee beers are kind of entertaining but I personally can’t drink a pint of one. I love me some coffee with a fierce passion but I don’t really need it in my beer.

I’m kind of wishing we had tried this beer last night with the Alsea Feta I bought to pair with Rogue’s Hazelnut Nector for a miniature beer/cheese tasting I had with friends. We couldn’t find the Nector on the shelves so we substituted another nut brown that didn’t work as well. I have not generally paired Deschutes beers with cheese (with the exception of the standout pairing of Mirror Pond and Pondhopper – those two go together like peas in a pod) but this one really has pairing potential.

But, what I really want to say in this review is that I think Deschutes Brewery is amazing. And I absolutely do not want to diminish the wonderful product coming out of the many innovative and exceptional breweries here in Oregon but Deschutes is tops for reaching two markets: your craft-beer newbie and your aficionado. They take risks but they know just how far to go to make a beer that is absolutely appealing, drinkable, giftable and memorable. So, well done again, Deschutes! Stay classy; we’ll never take you for granted!

Pairing with Tea

A delegation from FUCheese convened two weekends ago in Central Point, Oregon, for the Oregon Cheese Guild’s Fourth Annual Oregon Cheese Festival hosted by Rogue Creamery. They had a handful of workshops and we were drawn to the tea and cheese pairing. The tea was provided by Steven Smith who has developed an eponymous line of teas and who hails from Stash and Tazo tea fame. He knows his stuff. He and David Gremmels of Rogue Creamery developed the tasting and David walked us through the cheeses explaining how he analyzes cheese and why the pairs work together.

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Pennsylvania Madness!

This screenshot from fixedgear blows my mind. Every state had their own laws regarding beer, wine and alcohol sales with their own method of oversight. Typically, these methods date back to the good old fashioned days of prohibition, rum runners and bathtub gin. Mmmm… sweet, soapy gin…. I want to learn more about this arcana and what is the proper course of action to take in these modern times so that I can do silly things like send my brothers awesome beer from Oregon without a directory of state laws by my side.

Steve’s Cheese Bar Review

Hooray!! Steve’s Cheese Bar is open!! As soon as we heard that Steve got his server’s license (Monday morning) and had received his first shipment of beer and wine (Monday afternoon) we made plans to go over there. So we did (Tuesday night). The short review: yum. Go there. For the longer review, read on….

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Dreams do come true at the Cheese Bar!

Well, the word is out! Steve Jones, the proprietor of Steve’s Cheese here in Portland, is starting a new venture this year. He’ll be moving his cheeses out to Southeast Portland and opening a larger shop where you can buy and sample cheeses, enjoy a small plate, have lunch or dinner and stay into the later hours pairing beer and wine with your favorites. Be still my heart!!

“It was time, we needed room to do more,” says Jones, whose clients include many top Portland restaurants as well as adventurous cheese shoppers. Jones says the spirit of the Cheese Bar is inspired by France’s tabac shops. “Every corner has one,” he says. “All the old men drinking espresso or grappa or having croissant. A tabac is for the neighborhood — they’re social yet convenient locations.”

~ Karen Brooks, The Oregonian

He’s hoping to open up in March and you can be sure I’ll be the first one in line.

The Cheese Bar • 6031 SE Belmont • Whoop! Whoop!

Hops! Hops! Hops!

I just had to post a couple pics from our hop harvest today. I’m so proud of my husband — these hops are his babies that he started last spring. We had a small yield last year but this year’s crop is pretty damn good! We have Willamette, Cascade & Magnum hops. Cascade were the highest yield but overall we got over a pound of hop cones. You know how I feel about cheese and beer together so I’m just tickled to make some homebrew from our very own hoppy hops! I wonder what cheese I can pair with this?

This was originally posted to FUCheese.com, a blog about home cheesemaking.

Fred Eckhardt & Rogue – 10 cheeses, 10 beers

We went to another cheese and beer tasting event last night and it was EPIC. Going in knowing that the menu would include 10 pairings, I was a bit intimidated. Luckily, both the beers and cheeses were more on the mellow side, lighter beers without super complex flavors and cheeses that were all unique but none that really knocked your palette out. We also sampled Rogue’s new whiskey which was pretty darn good as whiskey goes. I could definitely see taking it on a camping trip which is my metric for tasty whiskey.

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Beer + Cheese = Happy

So, the Mister and I are big beer fans around here. He has been homebrewing for a couple years and I swear that he has never made a bad beer. There has been one or two strange beers but nothing undrinkable. In fact, most of them have been highly drinkable! When I started getting interested in making cheese I felt like there was some kind of crossover potential there. They both relate to the science of applied heat. They both relate to farm life — beer is made from grains, cows eat grains and grasses. But, obviously, these are tenuous connections. The light came on, though, when I started reading about pairing cheese with beer.

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Beer and Cheese Tasting at Saraveza

Our friends Dave (BS Brewing) and Sarah (of FU Cheese) won tickets to a beer and cheese tasting at Saraveza Bottle Shop & Pasty Tavern. After promising them our first born, they invited us to go with them. It was so worth it!

Saraveza is a bottle shop and tavern owned by Sarah Pederson. They had their grand opening last fall, 2008. It’s in a very cute little building off North Killingsworth and they keep their for-sale beers in these great vintage coolers. They’re the kind of coolers that you might open a restaurant around since they are so adorable. The bar has a nice, casual vibe and we tried a couple of their pasties (all good) and a sausage plate (yum!). One of our favorite bartenders from the Green Dragon works here, too, so that was a nice surprise.

Steve’s Cheese is located in the Square Deal Wine Shop on 23rd and Thurman and is run by Steve Jones. He’s a young, very bearded guy who has a clear passion for cheese and cheesemakers. He was able to answer our many, many questions with enthusiasm and point us toward some great Northwest creameries.
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Exploring Cheese and Beer Pairing

Inspired by the New York Times article I wrote about previously, I started looking for some recommendations for cheese and beer pairings. We like beer near as much as we like cheese so it seemed only natural to put these two together. I came across a recommendation to pair summer beers like a wheat or hefeweizen with fresh young cheeses like chevre or fromage blanc. Since we had just made a batch of chevre that morning, I thought this would be perfect. Thom, my incredibly smart and handsome husband, who also happens to be a homebrewer and writer over at the BSBrewing Blog, came along to help me choose the beers.

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