Welcome to this week’s Beer & Cheese Pairings. For this installment, I’ve chosen three rich and tasty cheeses to pair with Left Coasts Trestles IPA. Let’s jump right in!
BEER:
Trestles IPA from Left Coast Brewing is light bodied, clean and pleasantly hoppy. It has a strong copper color and delivers a clean finish. With the heaviness of the hops, it will be interesting to see which cheese will be the best partner.
CHEESES:
Pecorino Brigante is an Italian sheep milk cheese imported by Tony’s Fine Foods. This is a semi-soft cheese with pale, ivory color. It is matured for about 3 weeks and has a great creamy color with citrus undertones. It is a delicious table cheese and paired fairly well with the beer. The citrusy notes were a fun addition to the beer.
Goat Gouda from Central Coast Creamery is a semi-hard cheese made from goat milk with some goat cream. It is aged for 4+ months and develops a nice dense smoothness. It has a caramel scent with a light nutty and cooked milk flavor. This was my favorite cheese and pair of the day. The sweetness came together with the bitterness of the beer to create a beautiful balance of flavor.
Carboncino is a beautiful cheese from the Piedmont region of Italy also imported by Tony’s Fine Foods. This is a rich sheep that is made from a blend of sheep, cow and goat’s milk. It has a pronounced tangy flavor that comes from the goat milk with sweet undertones the come from the sheep and cow milk. The ash rind lends it a much deeper flavor from the creamy inside. Unfortunately the sweet notes of the cheese were not enough to balance out the hops of the beer when paired together.
Make sure to check back next week for another all new installment of Beer & Cheese Pairings!
