Our 67th Guinness ad, in honor of the Great Online Beer & Cheese-Off yesterday, is a poster Guinness did in 1965 showing a variety of English cheese with the tagline “Guinness goes well with food.”
They also made a metal sign of the cheese poster, as well, though with a different tagline. In the metal version, it’s “— And Guinness enhance the flavor.” The cheeses, too, are almost the same, but not exactly, plus their order is changed up.
Friday’s ads are for a Brazilian beer (where I’m heading next week) from Primo Schincariol. The brand of beer is Nobel and this series of ads is from 2008 and uses the slogan “Appetizers Are Just An Excuse.” Each ad shows a beer glass filled not with beer, but two appetizers that, from a distance, make it look like the glass is full of beer. The first, given that today is the beer and cheese Session, is filled with cheese and eggs.
A second shows French Fries — my favorite — in the bottom with white onions on top.
And a third uses popcorn, both popped and unpopped.
There were at least two more of these ads, peanuts and cashews, which you can see at Coloribus.
It’s my great pleasure to host our 51st Session, my second time playing host over the four years we’ve been doing them. I chose a frightfully complicated topic which I’ve taken to calling by an overly grand name: The Great Online Beer & Cheese-Off. You can go back and read the long, original version of what’s going on, or here it is in a nutshell.
So in addition to the Session Announcement , I also wrote about cheese and beer pairing in my last newspaper column, similarly challenging readers to try some beer with the same three cheeses and send in their best pairings, too.
Wednesday evening, a few friends joined me to try several beers with each of the cheeses. Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef, and Pete and Amy Slosberg, who started Pete’s Wicked Ales in the 1980s, each brought a beer for each cheese, I picked a couple for each, and then I included some of the most promising sounding pairings that readers of my newspaper column sent in. Here’s what we discovered.
We started with the cheddar. The Widmer is a simple cheddar, but with solid, strong flavors. I love the nuttiness and the way it melts in your mouth. The beers we had for the cheddar were the Belgian sweet gale beer, Gagleer, Bear Republic’s Racer 5 , Russian River’s Pliny the Elder, Anderson Valley’s Brother David’s Double, Speakeasy’s Payback Porter, HUB’s Secession Cascadian Dark Ale and Firestone Walker’s Pale 31.
A few of our choices didn’t really work at all, which was immediately apparent. The Gagleer was too sweet, Pale 31 was too mild to stand up to the cheese and the roasted malt in HUB’s Cascadian Dark Ale was accentuated by the cheese, making the pairing too harsh to work well. The vegetal, oniony cattiness of Pliny — delightful on its own — brought out an equal amount of bitterness in the cheese and led to a hash astringency in the combination. While talking through the cheeses, Pete asked if I had another dopplebock we might try, so I opened an older Salvator I had in my beer cellar (a.k.a. “the garage”). Even slightly oxidized, it was our third best pairing with the cheddar. It had only a slight malt sweetness, which complimented the nutty flavors in the cheese nicely. Racer 5, Bear Republic’s IPA, was our second favorite. It seemed to have the right level of bitterness to work with the Widmer Cellars cheddar, the two were a little bit more than the some of their parts. I think it could have been fun to try the cheese with just a variety of IPAs, because it really seemed like the IBUs and the choice of hop varieties make a big difference in whether or not the beer and cheese pairing is a hit or a miss.
Our top choice, a unanimous decision, was Speakeasy’s Payback Porter. The cheese brought out an underlying smokey quality in the beer, accentuating it perfectly, and made the two something more than either could achieve alone. And that, we concluded, was what made a pairing great; when the two elements — the beer and the cheese — combined to become a third thing that was unique in and of itself.
We tasted the Humboldt Fog, a goat cheese from Cypress Grove Chevre, second. It’s a fantastic cheese; with unmistakably strong flavors. It’s creamy, with a zippy tang and sharp bite.
The beers we had for the Humboldt Fog were Aventinus Weizenbock, the Bruery’s Orchard White, Ommegang’s Hennepin, Hoegaarden, Russian River Temptation and Saison Dupont.
The Orchard White was an utter failure, the spices and floral notes really clashed with the cheese, making it too perfumy. We also tried the Pliny from the last flight and found its bitterness stomped on the cheese. Both the Payback Porter and HUB’s Black IPA did likewise, with the beer bringing out too much bitterness in the pairings that overwhelmed the cheese. In “The Brewmaster’s Table,” Garret Oliver singled out Hennepin as a beer to pair with goat cheese, but it didn’t actually work too well with the Humboldt Fog. It wasn’t terrible, but it brought out a bitterness in the beer when combined with the cheese that was less than ideal.
But most actually worked fairly well with this versatile cheese. The Velvet Merkin/Merlin (which we went back and tried; see below) worked better than I expected; the oats in the stout smoothed and rounded out the flavor combinations. And the orange peel and coriander in the Hoegaarden, a last minute impromptu addition, brought all sorts of complexity to the pairing that made it hard to choose the best choice with the goat cheese.
In addition to the new ones we added for each cheese, we also left all of the beers on the table from the previous cheese (and yes, the table filled up quickly) so we could try an even greater variety of combinations. As a result, we might never have discovered how well the Racer 5 went with the Humboldt Fog. It might not have occurred to be pair such a hoppy beer with the goat cheese, but the contrast was delicious, and we gave it an “honorable mention.”
For our third best, we picked Temptation. The two were just heavenly together, as was our second choice: Saison Dupont. Both beers are zesty, spicy and complex and served to bring out a lot of flavor components from the cheese in the process, hitting that sweet spot of being more than the sum of their parts. But the beer that did all that, but better and with far more intangibles, was the Aventinus Weizenbock from Schneider-Weisse. The beer itself has an awful lot going on, and brought out so much more in the cheese that we thought we’d died and gone to heaven. I’d swear we heard choirs of angels faintly ringing in the air.
Lastly, we tried the Maytag Blue, a classic blue cheese that crumbles easily and is very spicy and tangy. The runnier it gets, the more I like it.
In addition to the beers we’d opened before it, we also tried it with Firestone Walker’s Velvet Merkin (or Merlin for the feint of heart), Lagunitas Imperial Stout and North Coast’s Old Rasputin.
Most of the lighter styles from the previous flights weren’t up to the challenge of keeping their own against such as strong cheese as Maytag Blue, though the Racer 5 was an exception, and showed itself to be a very versatile beer to pair with a variety of cheese. Both the Velvet Merlin and the Lagunitas stout were strong enough and worked well enough for us to declare a two-way toe for third place. Personally, I thought the Lagunitas had a slight edge because it was stronger and stood up better than the softer oatmeal stout. But I was alone in that, and unable to break the deadlock.
Of the stouts, the already wonderful Old Rasputin became even better with the blue cheese, earning itself second place in our informal contest. Strength against strength, complexity upon complexity, the two were a beautiful match. There’s just something about a big, lip-smackingly good complex imperial stout, with all its roasty goodness, malty sweetness and alcoholic punch, that seeps into the veins of the tangy power of a blue cheese and can match it round after round in the boxing ring inside your mouth. But remember that was our second choice. The best was yet to come.
Hands down, and unanimously so, we liked the Russian River Temptation from the second flight as the best beer to pair with the Maytag Blue. It was simply “otherworldly.” It’s even hard to describe. We all took a sip, looked at each other furtively and knew. It was that good. Everything just worked. The combination of the two was so much more than the either individually, it was if they were made to go together.
And that, in essence, was the takeaway, what the exercise taught us. Like “white wine with fish,” any kind of guidelines about what beer styles goes with what cheese is only slightly better than guesswork. There is a very specific component to each beer and each cheese that alone determines if the pairing works or not, and that seems especially true for stronger beers (in both strength and flavors) and stronger cheeses, too. It may well be that milder cheese and beer do more easily fit a framework of guidelines. But in our little experiment, it became clear that guidelines are just a starting point. You have to really get under the hood and try various beers and cheeses together. And what you find is that while one IPA may work with one cheddar, it may not work at all with another. That makes it much harder to predict what will work together, but at least trying endless combinations is not exactly a grueling, miserable task. I’ll gladly try fifty beers with one one cheese to find that perfect pairing. Because when its good, holy moley, is it ever good.
The other thing we noticed is that beers with pronounced flavors, such as very strong bittering or very sweet malt tended to accentuate those when combined with the cheese. As a gross generality, beers that were more balanced tended to work much better with whichever cheese we paired with them. That was interesting, and might require some more research.
Well, that was great fun. Now it’s time to open another bottle of Temptation and cut up some Maytag Blue. Yum. I can’t wait to hear what everybody else tried and what combinations worked best. So that’s my round one. Look for the details on round two, Session #51.5 — which will take place in two weeks on Friday, May 20 — in the round-up, which I’ll likely be posting tomorrow morning.
Thursday’s ads are for Carling Black Label, both featuring beer and cheese. The first, which appeared in Life magazine in April of 1963. Nice to see even that far back someone was putting cheese and beer together.
The second appeared in a June 1962 issue of Life, and featured a different cheese. Both are part of their series using the slogan “People like it.”
A gentle reminder that the first Friday in May is less than a week away, and that means it will be time for the next Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday. I’ll be your host for the 51st Session, and I’m making it as difficult as possible, though not on purpose, I assure you. I thought it would be fun to take things a step farther and really do something different and challenging. So check out the original announcement for the full details, but in a nutshell here’s the dealio:
That’s the easy part. Now here’s where I make things a little trickier. As soon as I can, probably Saturday morning May 7, I’ll post the round-up with a list of all the beers that every participant thought worked best with each cheese. Two weeks later, I’ll be hosting Session #51.5. Here’s how to then take part in round two:
Even with making it a tad more complicated, I think it should be great fun to really dig in and experiment and learn about how best to pair cheese and beer together. What works and what doesn’t through trial and error will always trump abstract philosophies of how to pair the two.
So spread the cheese .. er, the word. Get some cheese and some beer, and start eating and drinking the two. I hope to hear how it went next Friday, May 6, for the Great Online Beer & Cheese-Off.
* NOTE: I’ve heard that many people have had some trouble finding some or all of the recommended cheeses. Sorry about that. I really thought they’d be easier to find. But don’t stress about it, using a substitute will be just fine. Please don’t let that keep you from participating. Hopefully, all of you can find a blue cheese, an aged cheddar cheese and a goat cheese to pair with some beer for this Session. I’m looking forward to hearing about how everybody’s tastings went.
Last Sunday, the annual Toronado Belgian Beer Lunch took place, with the food again being done by Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef. The Belgian lunch — or Blunch, as I’ve taken to calling it — began promptly at 11:30 a.m. and went until nearly 5:30 p.m. Now that’s slow food, but really with twelve courses the pacing was just right. I had the pleasure of being seated at a table with Toronado owner Dave Keene, the beer chef Bruce Paton, and my favorite ne’er do well, Dave Suurballe. Here’s a recap of the meal.
Before the Blunch began.
Pre-Lunch Reception:
Handmade Toronado bread.
Beer #1: Van Steenberge Ertveld’s Wit
First Course
Belgian Sushi: Wit-flavored brioche infused with foie gras, roasted eel, Poperings Hommel Bier duck egg green aioli, pea shoots
Paired with DuPont Avril
Second Course
Charcuturie Platter: Duck rillettes braised in Russian River Consecration with a Supplication gelee, duck pistachio apricot infused with Sanctification terrine, pork/duck liver and Orval beer pâté, cornichons, heirloom radishes, house-made Goulden Carolus Noel mustard, currant & Consecration compote
Served with local The Bejkr breads
Paired with Chimay Grand Reserve 3 Liter and Duvel Triple Hop
Third Course
DuPont Avec Les Bons Voeux Poached Sole: On a bed of leek and turnip purée, topped with a lobster crawfish mussel Tripel Karmeliet waterzooi sauce
Paired with De Dolle Arabier and Moinette Blond
Fourth Course
Goat Butter Poached Sea Scallop: Smoked in Mort Subite lambic barrel staves, De Ranke Guldenburg demi glaze, celery root purée infused with Affligem Noel, fennel pollen
Paired with Petrus Aged Pale
Fifth Course
Seared Duck Breast with Sour Cherry Sauce: Sonoma County duck breasts cooked sous vide with shallots, thyme, with a dried sour cherries Hannsen Oude Kriek sauce on a bed of black barley simmer in Delirium Noel and TCHO cocoa nibs
Paired with Bocker Cuvee De Jacobins and Drie Fonteinen Oude Kriek
The Homebrew Chef, Sean Paxton.
Sixth Course
Medium Rare Short Ribs: Cooked sous vide for 48 hours in Rochefort 8, caramelized shallots and thyme, served on a bed of Flemish-style mashed potatoes, with a fig, date Petrus Oud Bruin gravy
Paired with Echt Kriekenbier and Rochefort 10
Seventh Course
Crepenette: Westmalle Dubbel infused Spring Sonoma lamb, mixed with creamed leeks, wrapped in caul fat topped with a sirop de Liége (pears, date simmered in a Chimay Red ale syrup) and Belgian endive salad
Paired with Rodenbach Grand Cru 2008 keg
Eighth Course
Foie Gras: Lobes of foie gras poached in Boon Kriek, made into truffles and coated in Cantillon Rosé De Gambrinus gelee, garnished with hibiscus sea salt
Paired with Malheur Brut Reserve 2006
Ninth Course
French Lentil Salad: Lentils simmered in Fantôme Saison, curry-scented green cauliflower, ‘wit’ candied cashews, mâche greens and toasted hemp seeds tossed in a Straus yogurt bergamot orange Lindemans Gueuze Cuvée René dressing
Paired with Oud Beersal Oude Geueze Vieille
Tenth Course
Assorted Belgian Cheeses: Grevenbroecker, Wavreumont, “St. Maure,” Charmoix, Meikaas, and Kriek Washed Fromage served with pomegranate Supplication honey, the Bejkr Biologlque bread, hazelnut fig crackers, dried fruit, honey blood orange peel candied pistachios
Cheese Plate #2
Paired with Liefmans Cuvee Brut and Orval, along with the bread and crackers.
Eleventh Course
Crêpe: Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait beer curd, Hanssens Oudbeitje rhubarb jam, Westmalle Tripel chamomile syrup wrapped in a Sara Buckwheat Ale crepe
Paired with De Struise T’sjeeses
Twelfth Course
Chocolate Pot de Crème Deconstructed Pie: Speculoos cookie crust, Belgian dark chocolate infused custard, Chantilly cream
Paired with De Struise Pannepot 2007, Scaldis Noel 1998 Magnums and De Struise Black Albert 2009, beers 18 through 20.
Okay, well that didn’t suck. Another spectacular meal. Thanks Sean and Dave.
A gentle reminder that there are exactly three weeks until the next Session a.k.a. The Great Online Beer & Cheese-Off. Now would be a perfect time to pick up three cheeses for the tasting, try them, and start thinking about what beers might work best with them. Here are the cheeses to be on the lookout for:
Maytag Blue or another blue cheese.
Widmer Cellars one-year old aged cheddar or another one-year aged cheddar cheese.
Humboldt Fog from Cypress Grove Chevre or another goat cheese.
It’s easier to participate then my long-winded explanation. Just eat cheese, drink beer and write about it. On Friday, May 6.
Our 51st Session is the third of our run at nostalgia, albeit a mere four years worth of it. Stan Hieronymus first proposed the Session four years ago, and was the first host, too, followed by Alan (from A Good Beer Blog) and then I hosted the third outing.
So here I am venturing into Area 51, and while I tried to keep things simple, I just couldn’t help myself and have made the topic one that will require a little work, but I think the challenge will be worth it and great fun in the end. It involves two of my favorite things: beer and cheese. Before I spring the particulars on you, first a little background about where the idea came from.
I’ve been to many cheese and beer tastings, whether part of a structured dinner or a separate dedicated cheese event. In almost every case, whoever put on the tasting chose the beer and the cheese. If you’ve done likewise, I’m assuming you’ve had the same experience. Some pairings work, others don’t. Whichever way it goes, you usually only get one shot at it, that is just one cheese paired with one beer.
But finding that divine pairing always made the effort worthwhile because when it works, boy does it ever. A perfect pairing of cheese and beer is practically spiritual. At least to me, but as I say; I love cheese.
So I was thrilled when someone figured out another way to sample cheese and beer. During the first SF Beer Week three years ago, Vic Kralj — who owns The Bistro in Hayward — hosted a different kind of cheese and beer event: the “cheese-off.” What Vic did was pick five cheeses and then invited five breweries to play along. Each brewery took the five cheeses and paired each with one of their beers.
So then on the night of the event, attendees got a plate of each cheese, in turn, along with the five beers (one chosen by each of the five breweries). You then tried each beer with the cheese and then picked the pairing you thought worked best. That continued through each of the five cheeses. Then they tallied up the votes — just for fun — to see which beer was the most popular with each cheese. The Bistro hosted a cheese-off two years, and you can read the write-up for the 2009 Cheese-Off and the 2010 Cheese-Off to get a better idea of how it worked.
That brings us back to Session #51, and the topic of cheese and beer. Below are three cheeses. I chose ones that I believe are available throughout the U.S. and quite possibly beyond our shores. And they all sell via mail order, too. So pick up some of each, or if you can’t find those specific cheeses, choose similar ones. Pick a beer to pair with each one and post your results on the first Friday in May.
There are at least a few approaches you could take:
This is one my favorite blues, and not just because it’s owned by the Maytag family, who until recently owned Anchor Brewery. The Maytag Dairy Farm was founded in Iowa by Fritz Maytag’s father in 1941, making it one of the first artisanal cheese companies in America. One of my favorite ways to use Maytag Blue is to crumble some on top of a bowl of chili, something I tried at an Anchor event where both were being served. It’s a terrific combination.
To get you started, Stephen Beaumont and Brian Morin, in their “beerbistro cookbook,” suggest barley wine or even imperial stout for blue cheese. In the “Brewmaster’s Table,” author Garret Oliver doesn’t mention blue cheese, but does suggest Barley Wines with Stilton, which is a specific type of blue cheese.
I wanted to make sure I included at least one Wisconsin cheese — I am a cheesehead, after all — and Widmer’s Cheese Cellars makes some great golden orange cheddars. Even the one-year old aged cheddar is very full-flavored. Widmer’s website described it as having “rich, nutty flavor [that] becomes increasingly sharp with age. Smooth, firm texture becomes more granular and crumbly with age.”
For milder cheddars, Beaumont and Morin suggest brown ales or pale ales, and for older, sharper cheddars, IPAs or strong abbey ales. Likewise, in the “Brewmaster’s Table,” Oliver suggests India Pale Ales with cheddar cheese.
Humboldt Fog is a goat cheese from Cypress Grove Chevre in California. It’s described on their website as a “soft, surface ripened cheese. The texture is creamy and luscious with a subtle tangy flavor. Each handcrafted wheel features a ribbon of edible vegetable ash along its center and a coating of ash under its exterior to give it a distinctive, cake-like appearance.”
In the Brewmaster’s Table, Oliver suggests “a spicy Belgian beer with residual sweetness,” and specifically Ommegang’s Hennepin. Beaumont and Morin recommend Belgian-style wheat beer or doppelbocks for goat cheese generally.
You can also find some general information about cheese at Artisanal Cheese, the American Cheese Society and the California Artisan Cheese Guild. And there’s some more pairing tips available from Lucy Saunders, the beer cook, Taste of Home and Artisanal Cheese
So that’s the three cheeses. To participate in the May Session, pick them (or similar ones) up and pair them with whatever beer you feel will best enhance the two, using whatever method you want. Then on May 6th, post your results. Let everybody know what you think are the best beers to pair with these three cheeses.
So that’s the regular Session. But wait … there’s more.
Okay, I know not everyone will want to go for this, but if you’re with me so far here’s the idea for part two. As soon as I can after the May 6th Session, I’ll post the round-up with a list of all the beers that everyone suggested to pair with each of the cheeses. Then over the subsequent two weeks, 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.
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 each make our best recommendations for pairing a beer with these three cheeses, and then we try as many of the suggestions as we can, and discover which is the best one. I’ll then do a second round-up and try to report the findings of the group as a whole to the beers and the three cheeses together.
Spread the cheese .. er, the word. 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. If you agree, let’s get the word out and get people on board to do some beer and cheese pairing.
To participate, post a comment here with a link to your blog post for Session #51. To keep going with Session #51.5, post your link on or after May 20 to the round-up which should be up on May 7.
Seems like it’s a food sort of day. There was an interesting press release from the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade (or NASFT) — the folks that put on the various Fancy Food Shows — entitled Specialty Food Industry Shows Renewed Strength. It’s a teaser for the actual report, The State of the Specialty Food Industry 2011, “an annual report from the NASFT prepared in conjunction with market researchers Mintel International and SPINS. The report tracks sales of specialty food through supermarkets, natural food stores and specialty food retailers, and includes research from interviews with food retailers, distributors, brokers and others involved in the supply chain.” The actual report will be presented April 13 in a “webinar” and for a mere $90 clams you can listen in, too. But the press release does reveal some of what to expect:
Consumers are spending on specialty food again after a period of holding back. Sales of specialty food and beverages rose 7.7 percent in 2010, topping $70 billion, according to new research released by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade.
“The rebound is impressive,” says Ron Tanner, Vice President, Communications and Education for the NASFT. “As consumers feel more confident about the economy, they are coming back to specialty foods.” In 2009, sales rose by a more tepid 4.5 percent.
Cheese continues to dominate spending for this segment of the food industry, with $3.23 billion in sales in 2010. Rounding out the top five categories are meats, chips and snacks, bread and baked goods and condiments. Functional beverages are the fastest growing specialty food category, followed by yogurt and kefir.
Last year specialty food makers focused on their existing items, with new product introductions about even with 2009. Launches of premium private-label products, such as store brand cookies and sauces, declined to 455 in 2010 from 518 in 2009, demonstrating a return to branded products.
It’s interesting to see artisanal cheese continue to hum along, the 500-lb. gorilla of the specialty food world. I attended a cheese conference a few years ago with a panel that discussed the parallels between craft beer and American craft cheese. At that point, the experts on the panel claimed that our artisanal cheese industry was roughly 15 years behind where craft beer was at that point. But based on this, it would appear that cheese is indeed keeping pace and even catching up. Given how good the two are together — is there anything better the perfect beer and food pairing? — that’s very good news indeed.
Here are some more highlights from the report:
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a brewer,
Who sat down beside her
And took all her whey away.
That’s how the Mother Goose nursery rhyme might have gone if the folks at Belvoir Brewery in England’s Old Dalby. Leicestershire area had been around when she wrote that one. What Belvoir has done is taken the blue Stilton cheese and made a beer with it. They infused Stilton whey by mixing 25% whey with 75% fresh wort and then fermented it normally, producing a 4.2% a.b.v. chestnut-colored beer. Happily, the beer itself is not blue, just the name.
According to a BBC article:
Nigel White, secretary of the Stilton Cheesemakers Association, said: “People often think of Stilton as a cheese just for Christmas and forget how versatile it is.
“Traditionally the whey from cheese making would have been fed to pigs. We wondered if it could be used for other purposes and Belvoir Brewery has now made a new beer.”
Belvoir’s website says they’re currently out of the Stilton beer, but that new beer should be available shortly. I know cheese and beer together as a pairing is miraculously good, but premixed together? I’m game, certainly and most reports claim that it’s better than it sounds, with “delicate” flavors and “a smooth, creamy texture.”
A short BBC video also reveals there are no plans to brew a cheddar beer or a Wensleydale beer, which is a shame to my Monty Python-loving ears and brought their hilarious cheese shop skit rushing back. I guess cheddar’s just not popular ’round those parts.
Customer (John Cleese): You…do *have* some cheese, don’t you?
Owner (Michael Palin): (brightly) Of course, sir. It’s a cheese shop, sir. We’ve got–
Customer: No no… don’t tell me. I’m keen to guess.
Owner: Fair enough.
Customer: Uuuuuh, Wensleydale.
Owner: Yes?
Customer: Ah, well, I’ll have some of that!
Owner: Oh! I thought you were talking to me, sir. Mister Wensleydale, that’s my name.
And a little later in the skit:
Customer: (pause) Aah, how about Cheddar?
Owner: Well, we don’t get much call for it around here, sir.
Customer: Not much ca– it’s the single most popular cheese in the world!
Owner: Not ’round here, sir.
But see it for yourself: