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:

1. Pick up three cheeses*:
   1. Maytag Blue, or another blue cheese.
   2. Widmer Cellars 1-yr old aged cheddar, or another aged cheddar.
   3. Humboldt Fog, or another goat cheese.
2. Pick a few beers you think will pair well with each cheese.
3. Drink them with the cheese.
4. Write up your results and post them on or before Friday, May 6.
5. Leave a comment here, the announcement, or my Session post, or send me an e-mail so I can find your Session post.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

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:

1. Pick a few beers from the round-up list, as few or as many as you wish.
2. Have another session where you drink those new beers with the same cheeses.
3. Write up your results and post them on or before Friday, May 20.
4. Leave a comment on the round-up post, or my new 51.5 Session post, or send me an e-mail so I can find your new Session post.
5. That’s it, you did it. Now wasn’t that easy?

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.