SACRAMENTO, CA
Welcome to the week’s Beer & Cheese Pairings. I chose these three delicious and diverse cheeses to pair with Duchesse de Bourgogne beer from Brouwerij Verhaeghe. Let’s get started!
BEER:
Duchesse de Bourgogne from Brouwerij Verhaeghe is a Flanders red ale-style beer brewed in Belgium. After a primary and secondary fermentation, this ale is matured in oak barrels for 18 months. The final product is a blend of a younger 8 month old beer with an 18 month old beer. It smells of cherries, yeast and spice and has a dynamic sweet and sour flavor. With such a flavorful beer, I chose three diverse cheeses to see which pairs the best.
CHEESES:
Fougerus is a mold-ripened cow’s milk cheese produced by Rouzaire in the Seine-et-Marne region in France and imported by Tony’s Fine Foods. This handmade cheese has a soft, creamy texture and a white bloomy rind. It is slightly sweet with a somewhat salty overtone. This was my favorite pairing of the day. The dark, fruity flavors in the beer balanced nicely with the overall profile of the cheese.
Bucheron is a goat cheese that is imported from the Poitou-Charentes region in France by Murray’s Cheese. This semi-firm cheese is aged for 5 to 10 weeks. As it ages, Bucheron gets a softer texture and a sharper, more intense taste. This delicious cheese paired very well with the beer, but was slightly overpowered, losing its light flavor tones.
San Joaquin Gold is a cheese made from cow’s milk by Fiscalini Farmstead Cheese. It has a natural, thin rind with a tawny buttery color. It is mildly sweet and mellow when young and develops a darker golden hue and nuttier flavor over times. This cheese has a great balance between acidity, saltiness and sweetness. Unfortunately, it didn’t keep the balance going when paired with the beer.
Make sure to tune into the next installment of Beer & Cheese Pairings!
