Craft Beer and Cheese

Summer is just around the corner although with some of the cooler temps we've been feeling one can almost wonder, when!? But have no fear hot summer days and lazy evenings will be upon us and so the beer fridge must be well stocked and ready. Friday afternoon heading into the Victoria Day long weekend, we invited some friends to stop by for Happy Hour at the Studio.  We had a great time chatting it up while they assisted us with this month's In the Rock Bottom by sampling 10 Canadian Craft Beers paired with several pounds of assorted cheese recommended to compliment each brew.

The concrete bases were taken out of the freezer just after 4pm and 10, 1000ml flasks were filled up with golden hues of goodness. All lined up and showcasing all the different tones of browns and amber was very impressive. There is lots of interesting stuff to learn about beer, it's history, the difference between the types of hops, processes of brewing, and so much more.  It truly is a fine art of its own.

The flasks were still being tip and poured at 9pm and thanks to the freezer chilled concrete Rock Bottom bases the beer was ice cold. At the end of the evening before heading out, friends were asked to share their 3 favourite beers from the selection and what pairing of beer and cheese they enjoyed most.

The line up of beers included;

Augusta Ale, American Pale Ale, Kensington Brewing Co.

All Natural Blonde, Lager, Amsterdam Brewing Co. 

Mighty Oak, Imperial Aged Oak, Trafalgar Ales & Meads

Cobblestone Stout, Stout, Mill St. Brewery

Wellington S.P.A, Special Pale Ale, Wellington Brewery

Dunkel Buck, Bock, Beau's All Natural Brewing Co.

Spark House, Red Ale, Lake of Bays Brewing Co.

Vanilla Porter, Porter, Mill St. Brewery

The "Witty" Traveller, Wheat, Railway City Brewing Co.

Pompous Ass, English Pale Ale, Great Lakes Brewery

The top 3 favourites of the evening were: Dunkel Buck, Mighty Oak & Vanilla Porter

The favourite pairings of cheese and beer were : Dunkel Buck w/Gruyere & Vanilla Porter w/Chevre (hard goats cheese) 

We have attached a PDF file of each beer with a write-up and suggested cheese pairings so if you would like to have your own Cheese and Craft Beer shingdig all you have to do is print it off and pick up the beer and cheese.

Beer and Cheese tasting PDF

Here is also two great links that we used to help guide us with selecting the types of beer and cheese.  From the site Cooking and Beer, A Guide to the Perfect Cheese and Beer Pairing listing,  and from Kegworks another awesome info graph to use for pairing called the Perfect Couples.  This graph even has suggestions for chocolate and beer tastings.

Cheers to the Summer!

Experience it. Love it. Use it.