Session #51 Round-Up & Announcing Session #51.5

Well that was great fun, I was certainly glad to see so many people step up and participate, despite my best efforts to make things as difficult as possible. And everybody seemed to have a very good time, too. Cheese and beers just brings out the best in all of us, I guess. Anyway, I’m doing the round-up a little bit differently this Session, because this is not just the end of the Session, but also the beginning of the second phase, or Session #51.5. Below you’ll find a list of all of the beers paired with each of the three cheeses, or their substitute parenthetically, along with a link to each Session post submission. In most cases, I listed just the best pairing from each blogger for each cheese, unless otherwise noted. Also, I’ll continue to update this list as late submissions continue to roll in, as they inevitably do. Following that, you’ll find instructions on how to participate in round two, Session #51.5 on Friday, May 20.

The Beer & Cheese Pairings

1. Widmer 1-Year Aged Cheddar

Here are the best pairings everybody chose for the Widmer 1-Year Aged Cheddar, or a suitable substitute. I’ve noted what substitute cheese was used, where applicable.

• Adnams Innovation IPA (Lincolnshire Poacher):
  Reluctant Scooper
• Alaskan Smoked Porter (Apple-smoked cheddar):
  The Brew Lounge
• Brasserie Dupont vec Les Bons Voeux (English Cheddar, age unknown):
  Hoppy-Hour
• DC Brau The Public Pale Ale (Isle of Mull Cheddar):
  Yours For Good Fermentables
• Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (Three Year Old Aged Wisconsin Cheddar):
  Ramblings of a Beer Runner
• Drake’s 1500 Pale Ale:
  Brewed For Thought
• Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA (Dubarton Cheddar):
  Beer Search Party
• Fort George Vortex IPA (Tillamook Extra Sharp Vintage White Cheddar, aged two years):
  The Brew Site
• Green Flash Hop Head Red Ale (Black Creek Extra Sharp Cheddar, aged 3 years):
  Bottle Chasers
• Green Flash West Coast IPA (Carr Valley 10-year WI Cheddar):
  The Pour Curator
• Greene King IPA (Balderson 1 year old aged cheddar):
  BeerTaster
• North Coast Old Stock (Black Creek 9-Month Sharp White Cheddar):
  99 Pours
• Paulaner Hefeweizen (Spanish Adarga de Oro, aged):
  Thirsty Pilgrim
• Samuel Smith Imperial Stout (Widmer 10 Year Cheddar):
  What We’re Drinking
• Sierra Nevada Ovila Dubbel (English Cheddar, aged 15 months):
  Growler Fills
• Speakeasy Payback Porter:
  Brookston Beer Bulletin
• Uinta Organic Sum’r (Black Creek 9-Month Sharp White Cheddar):
  99 Pours
• Unibroue La Fin du Monde (Balderson 3 year old cheddar):
  A Good Beer Blog
• Williams Brothers Joker IPA (Wexford Cheddar):
  The Beer Nut

2. Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog

Here are the best pairings everybody chose for the Humboldt Fog, or a suitable substitute. I’ve noted what substitute cheese was used, where applicable.

• 21st Amendment Fireside Chat:
  Bottle Chasers
• 21st Amendment Monk’s Blood:
  Ramblings of a Beer Runner
• Allagash Dubbel:
  Beer Search Party
• Brasserie Cazeau Saison Cazeau (Fivemiletown Cooneen):
  Reluctant Scooper
• Butternuts Moo Thunder Stout (Monte Enebro blue goat cheese):
  Yours For Good Fermentables
• Dogfish Head/Birra Del Borgo collaboration My Antonia (French, surface ripened goat milk cheese):
  Hoppy-Hour
• Duchesse de Bourgogne (Brouwerij Verhaeghe):
  Wine and Beer of Washington State
• Firestone Walker (for Trader Joe’s) Mission Street Pale Ale:
  Bottle Chasers
• Fremont Brewery Abominable Winter Ale:
  Wine and Beer of Washington State
• Gagleer:
  Brewed For Thought
• Gordon Biersch Blonde Bock:
  Growler Fills
• Harviestoun Old Engine Oil (Snøfrisk):
  99 Pours
• Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere:
  What We’re Drinking
• Left Hand Fade to Black Vol. 2 Smoked Baltic Porter:
  The Pour Curator
• Mill Street Belgian Wit (Woolwich Dairy Chevrai):
  BeerTaster
• Paulaner Hefeweizen (Roquefort):
  Thirsty Pilgrim
• Saison Dupont:
  The Brew Lounge
• Schneider-Weisse Aventinus Weizenbock:
  Brookston Beer Bulletin
• Sierra Nevada Ovila Dubbel:
  Growler Fills
• Unibroue Blanche de Chambly (Woolwich Dairy Chevrai):
  BeerTaster
• Widmer Cherry Oak Doppelbock (Trader Joe’s Goat’s Milk Cheddar):
  The Brew Site

3. Maytag Blue

Here are the best pairings everybody chose for the Maytag Blue, or a suitable substitute. I’ve noted what substitute cheese was used, where applicable.

• Brewdog Tactical Nuclear Penguin / Sink the Bismark (Long Clawson Stilton):
  Reluctant Scooper
• Kasteel Rouge:
  The Pour Curator
• Lagunitas Gnarleywine:
  Ramblings of a Beer Runner
• Neustadt Springs Neustadt 10W30 (Tuxford & Tebbutt Stilton):
  BeerTaster
• Pelican Pub & Brewery Stormwatcher’s Winterfest 2010 (Rogue Creamery Oregon Blue Cheese):
  The Brew Site
• Pike Brewing Old Bawdy Barley Wine (2009):
  Wine and Beer of Washington State
• Russian River Pliny the Elder:
  Brewed For Thought
• Russian River Temptation:
  Brookston Beer Bulletin
• Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Barleywine:
  The Brew Lounge
• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine Style Ale:
  Appellation Blog
• St. Ambroise Vintage 2010 (Tuxford & Tebbutt Stilton):
  BeerTaster
• Stone Old Guardian Belgo Barleywine (Stilton):
  Beer Search Party
• Stone Sublimely Self Righteous (Salemville Amish Blue Cheese Crumbles):
  99 Pours
• Williams Brothers Gold (Bellingham Blue):
  The Beer Nut

I was also glad to see so many people not stress too much about the specific cheeses I recommended. I knew that not everybody would be able to find them going in, but it seemed like the more who could find the same cheeses, the better the experiment would work, because it could more easily be duplicated regardless of location. But I also realized that with beer bloggers so spread out around the world, that in the end it was an impossible task and felt it was better to participate with a substitute cheese then not at all, and as long as the cheeses were somewhat similar, I figured it would still be valid. A number of people also added additional cheeses or could not find substitutions that were similar, so the list below is all of the other and extra cheeses that peoples paired together.

4. Other or Extra Cheeses Paired

Part 2: The Extra Special Second Follow-Up Mid-May Session

Okay, I know not everyone will want to go for this, but if you’re with me so far and you’ve already participated in Session #51, here’s the idea for part two. Use the list of beers chosen by everybody for each of the three cheeses that are listed above to try a few more beers with the same cheese. Over the next two weeks, simply 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 — which I’m calling Session #51.5 — to explore more fully pairing cheese and beer.

You can write about how your choices compared, or what you learned from the other suggestions, or which out of all the ones you tried worked best. What recommended pairing most surprised you? Which didn’t seem to work at all, for you? It’s my way of taking the Session concept and making it more interactive and collaborative, essentially an “online cheese-off.” First, we made our best recommendations for pairing a beer with these three cheeses, and now we have an opportunity to try as many of the suggestions as we can, and discover which worked best. I’ll then do a second round-up and report the findings of the group as a whole to the beers and the three cheeses together.

Spread the cheese .. er, the word. If you’ve already done Part One, don’t stop now, keep going. Read what your fellow bloggers liked, and pick a few to try yourself. To participate, just post a comment here with a link to your blog post for Session #51.5.