the session

The Session #51: Simple pleasures

The SessionBefore the clock strikes twelve here in the Mountain Time Zone on Session Friday just a few thoughts vaguely related to our assignment for Session #51, hosted by Jay Brooks and called “The Great Online Beer & Cheese-Off.”

I apologize for not exactly staying on track. If you read Jay’s post or Bryan Koselar’s you’ll see this was a great social and perhaps educational opportunity. But this was not a party week around here, nor was there time to round up friends or beers.

Sierra and I enjoyed a simple “cheese night,” very nice but not the same with mom a thousand miles away. (We’re packing like crazy, discarding, condensing, etc., and should be in St. Louis for the Heritage Festival.) But without my favorite beer drinking companion a simple beer night became simpler still.

The kid and I shared Maytag Blue Cheese (from Jay’s list), Manchego aged 12 months and cave-aged Gruyere. I wasn’t about to open a bunch of beers I wouldn’t finish.

I don’t remember how “cheese night” became a regular but always anticipated event in our house. Certainly not because we can hoof on down to the store and buy something made locally. Great cheese at Whole Foods, yes. From anywhere nearby, no.

Cheese mongerPerhaps that is why during our Grand Adventure we scooped up Wisconsin cheese in Wisconsin, Vermont cheese in Vermont, French cheese in France. Why we sought out places where cheese is made (quick bit of advice, not every road leading to a Vermont cheese facility is fun driving, and the worst case scenario is you might find he road out blocked by sheep and the gate you came in through locked). Watching cheese made is not as exciting, or as personal, as seeing somebody make beer, or potato chips for that matter. More on a level of Moose Munch or Jelly Bellys (sorry, but we find it hard to pass on any factory tour that includes ingestible samples at the finish).

Then you meet the guy above at a Saturday market in the French countryside. He slices off really thin slices (just a taste) and he tells you Americans hate this. “You like it? You’ll hate this.” And you like it as well. And pretty soon you’ve spent 37 euros on not very much cheese. You give him a 100 euro bill. He says he’ll have to get change for the neighboring booth. He returns with 13 euros. You tell him you gave him a 100 euro bill. He apologizes and you leave happy, because you’ve only spent something like $40 a pound for cheese at an open-air market.

That’s not a complaint. The cheese was great. And it was great during a picnic lunch with wine. Let’s be honest, wine would have served the cheese Sierra and I enjoyed tonight just fine. But that wasn’t the assignment, was it?

I had Boulevard’s Smokestack Tank 7 with “meal” portion, eating mostly Gruyere and Manchego. It was tougher to pick what to have for dessert, to stand up to the Maytag Blue. I thought about an Imperial Stout, a Double IPA (if locally brewed Marble were in 12-ounce bottles instead of 22s that likely would have been the choice) and then decided on a 2004 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine.

Tank 7 is a beer with some heft, 8 percent alcohol and plenty of hops (flavor, bitterness, citrus and juicy). The Gruyere and Manchego are cheeses with finesse, but with age their flavors grow more intense. Their earthiness and that in the Tank 7 play well together, peppery notes stronger when the beer and cheese are joined in the mouth than they are in the saison by itself.

Tank 7 doesn’t seem quite as confident matched with the Maytag, but underlying fruity notes and a touch of sweetness don’t give up against the richness of the blue cheese or the tangy notes that imply vinaigrette must be nearby.

I chose Bigfoot to stand up to the Maytag, and its deep, rich maltiness (accented with oxidized sherry notes) certainly did. But it wasn’t so big it overwhelmed the Gruyere. In this case the saltiness of the cheese enhanced the malt sweetness, and in turn made the hop bitterness more satisfying. And the Manchego was a total surprise. Too many cheeses made with sheep’s milk smell like a hot county fair 4-H barns in the Midwest in August. That’s not a earthy aroma; that’s sweaty wool and sheep shit. Manchego is earthy.

Tonight, after this long week, I was mostly interested in drinking the Bigfoot, so a tiny bit of each cheese was plenty for dessert. Then two-thirds of the way through the beer I got to thinking about the Manchego. I headed back to the fridge for another piece. I let it sit on my tongue and took a sip of Bigfoot. I inhaled and the aroma took the direct route to my brain only aroma knows.

Alaskan rain forest. Wet. That’s a good dirt smell. Thank you, cheese. Thank you, beer.

Don’t forget the cheese; Session #51 Friday

The SessionA quick reminder that Session #51 is Friday, and Jay Brooks is hosting what he calls “The Great Online Beer & Cheese-Off.”

Get some cheese — perhaps Maytag Blue, Widmer 1-Year Aged Cheddar and Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog, remembering nobody has ever been kicked out of the Session for showing up with the wrong cheese — and some beer. Have a few friends over, or not. Taste. Takes notes, also optional. Post your thoughts on May 6. Read what everybody else tasted, paired and thought. Get some more cheese. Repeat the rest of the steps.

Those interested can participate in a second round two weeks later. Jay explains: “Whoever wants to participate, pick up some of the other beers that were suggested, and try them with the same three cheeses and do a follow up blog post on Friday, May 20 — let’s call it Session #51.5 — to explore more fully pairing cheese and beer.”

Session #51 (& #51.5) announced: Beer and Cheese-Off

The SessionJay Brooks has announced the topic for Session #51, and volunteered to host Session #51.5 as well. He calls it “The Great Online Beer & Cheese-Off” and it takes a little explaining. Like somewhere north of 1,300 words.

So the short version. Get some cheese — perhaps Maytag Blue, Widmer 1-Year Aged Cheddar and Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog, remembering nobody has ever been kicked out of the Session for showing up with the wrong cheese — and some beer. Have a few friends over, or not. Taste. Takes notes, also optional. Post your thoughts on May 6. Read what everybody else tasted, paired and thought. Get some more cheese. Repeat the rest of the steps.

Refer to Jay’s instructions for more suggestions. As he writes, “Even with making this next Session as difficult as possible, I’m hoping the fun factor of trying these cheeses with a lot of beer will make for a lively and interesting Session, with a lot of participation.”

Cheese night

Yes, the instructions are a little long, but this is do-able. We managed to celebrate more than one “cheese night” in the RV during our Grand Adventure. We’re still talking about the Madison Blue.

Alan tucks Session #50 into the record books

The SessionAlan McLeod has posted his roundup for the 50th Session, so quickly some contributors may still be hung over.

He concludes: “But, as you see, there was a lot to it but only in the sense of how the answer explains the question. And, as a result, it is I who is the Grasshopper so to you I bow.”

We’ll see if Jay Brooks, the host for Session #51 on May 6, gives us our marching orders with the same Grasshopper-like dispatch.

Session #50: You can’t make me

You can go through the motions with your magic spells
Buy all the potions that Fifth Avenue sells
You can try to call down all the stars above,
but –

Don Henley concludes “you can’t make love.” Were this YouTube you might listen to me instead sing, “you can’t make me buy your beer.” That would surely cure you of YouTube.

The SessionI bring this up because host Alan McLeod politely asks that for the 50th gathering of The Session we write about “How Do They Make Me Buy The Beer?”

They don’t.

In all fairness to Alan, I’m probably overthinking this. And the question put to us — well, the first of several — beyond the headline is “what makes you buy someone’s beer?” In fact, it seems today’s sessioners have chosen to reveal what it is that causes them to make their own choice. Not how a beer company makes, or compels, any of us to buy their beer.

Yep, he’s overthinking this. Time to go read what The Beer Nut has to say.

I might be a bit naive, but I’m also old. I understand the advertising-marketing-business-consumer matrix. The only market in our village puts signs on the cooler door to let me know Marble IPA and Alien Amber Ale are “New Mexico’s Own.” The liquor store down the road advises which beers get 99 from Rate Beer users. Selected six-packs of Full Sail are on sale for $4.99 at the grocery store where we stopped to by grapes (on sale) yesterday.

I’ve got a lot of choices. A lot more than just a few years ago. A lot, lot more than 30 years ago. A lot more than in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1885. For that, a bit from Doug Hoverson’s wonderful “Land of Amber Waters,” in which he writes about “imported brands.”

Most towns had at least one establishment offering “fresh Milwaukee Beer always on tap.” Prestige was also a way to neutralize the increased cost of providing imported beer. It was made up elsewhere, but in the case of a large beer garden where beer was the only product, the cost could make or break the enterprise. Planners of the temporary saloons at the Minnesota State Fair in 1885 estimated that “if Milwaukee beer is used, this will cost $8 — a trifle over a cent a glass, or $576 for the 54,000 glasses. If, however, the purchases of the privilege decides that he must figure close, St. Paul beer can be purchase at $6.50 per barrel, or thireen-fifteenths of a center per glass.” Serving only Minnesota beer at the State Fair to promote the state agricultural products does not seem to have been an important consideration for planners.

I got to thinking about history because of the knee jerk reaction at midweek to totally unsubstantiated claims from Anthony Bourdain (so silly that rather than providing more Google juice for a rumor that search engines will forever turn into fact I’ll give you this one instead). Something bad? Blame it on Big Beer. They’ve got the bucks and the power to make¹ sure all those dufuses who drink Bud and Miller Genuine Draft and something called Silver Bullet remain under their spell.

Go read “Ambitious Brew.” Beer drinkers were complicate. Something to remember when celebrating the diversity of what’s available now. It disappeared before. And not because of the super powers of Big Beer².

OK, I’m done, but I feel obligated to answer Alan was really asking. What’s the best way to persuade me to buy a particular beer?

Don’t tell me. Show me. (I would have typed that even if I weren’t moving to Missouri.)

*****

¹ For the record, I don’t think that’s what Alan was implying when he wrote the headline announcing this month’s topic.

² I’m kind of digging this phrase Big Beer. Hope somebody makes it part of a Session theme.

Not beer related, but as I was tracking down the lyrics to Don Henley’s song the thought occurred to me . . . Moscow girls do actually make me sing and shout. No YouTube video. I promise.