The Beer & Cheese Tasting Club Is Growing!

So a couple of months ago, a few beer geeks from Beer Advocate got together and decided it would be fun to start a little Beer & Cheese tasting club, if you will, so that the SF community can get in touch with other beer lovers and foodies and share in good beer and good cheese. Yes, please! There is usually a selected style of beer and a type or style of cheese to go with it (which sometimes turns into a free-for-all cheese party because sometimes you just don't know what type of cheese will bring out the various notes in a beer) and it is generally hosted monthly. It's really fun because 1) there will always be new people to meet since everyone spreads the word and invites friends and 2) there will always be new beers and cheeses to try because that is the ultimate beauty of a pot luck! Admission: One beer and one cheese. Come one, come all with a desire to learn, a desire to share and a desire to be amongst friends.

On August 31, Jason and I hosted the very first installment of the Beer & Cheese Tasting Club. Everybody brought hoppy beers (mostly IPAs and Imperial IPAs), which were paired with sharp cheeses such as extra sharp cheddars and aged goudas. The second gathering found the group tasting Oktoberfest beers (unfortunately, we missed this gathering due to our road trip to Seattle).

This past weekend, we went to the 3rd one (beautifully captured by Jesse from beerandnosh), which was hosted twice in a row by the ever gracious Tim. The theme was focused on dark beers in honor of Halloween. Porters, stouts and specialty beers (including Dogfish Head's Theobroma, which is brewed with honey, ancho chilies, annatto and Askinosie cocoa nibs!) were shared from acclaimed breweries such as Three Floyds (and the ever coveted Dark Lord), Dogfish Head, Southern Tier and Troegs. The cheese array was dazzling...but the best pairings of the afternoon involved big imperial stouts and funky blue cheeses. My favorite cheese was the Montagnolo, which is a Bavarian triple cream soft-ripened cheese (imagine a triple cream brie making sweet cheesy love to a delicate blue cheese and this little baby was born). It was outstanding!

If any of you dear readers are in the San Francisco area and interested in attending a gathering, feel free to get in touch with me on here and I will keep you posted!