New Years Eve 12/31/2010

New Years Eve 12/31/2010 , the perfect day to start up our blog. We decided to stay in and enjoy our 1st Beer and Cheese pairing and allow the "rookies" their night out. We picked up three cheeses to match with beers we already had at home.
Our 1st pair was Widmer The Drifter labeled as a Pale Ale with a Sharp Cheddar that had been aged for 2yrs. T noted that The Drifter seemed to have more characteristics of an IPA, even being a little cold it had a very hoppy aroma and a bitter bite. The Cheddar was delicious ,though I may be biased it being my favorite type of cheese, having a very sharp mouth watering taste. The mix of the two was very surprising the beer seemed to make the cheese almost creamy and the beer lost some of its bitterness and became more floral and citric in taste.
Next we moved on to Parmesan (due to a aweful Brie choice by A) paired with Maui Coconut Porter. The Parm was pretty standard in taste with a very grainy texture. The Porter was on point for a Robust Porter but we both had trouble picking up any coconut. Paired together they didn't blend as well as the 1st pairing but the earthy roasted quality of the Porter was subdued by the Parm and a subtle sweetness was brought out .
The final pairing of the night was the most intimidating of the 3, Anchor Foghorn and Stilton. The Stilton was very imposing not looking very appealing and definetly giving off some funk and tasting highly salty with lots of Umami (fun word to say). Anchor Foghorn a big beer (Barleywine) big in every way alcohol, maltiness and hops. We were having trouble seeing how these two could pair well, no matter what we read about pairings. After building a little courage (no doubt fortified by earlier beers) we dove into the pairing and both of us were surprised at how well they blended no longer to salty or funky of a cheese nor was the beer to big an experience tough to descibe .
To sum up the pairings I feel the Old Foghorn and Stilton paired the best followed by the Drifter and Cheddar with the Maui Coconut Porter and Parmesan coming in 3rd (slightly unfair to judge because it was a last second swap out of cheese for this pair).
We learned a lot in our 1st pairing of cheese with beer. 1)take some chances, try differant/new cheeses. 2)be prepared for mishaps, like picking a cheese that seems to have gone bad(dummy). 3) have fun with it food pairing guidelines are just that guidelines not hardcore rules.
To add 1 final footnote I would like to thank @agirlandherbeer from Twitter for the Maui Coconut Porter that she sent to us in a beer trade that I will blog about later.

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