Julia Rogers loves beer.
In her latest newsletter, the cheese and wine expert declares beer is a better partner for cheese than wine. This from a lady who spent the last five years earning an internationally recognized Diploma in Wines and Spirits from Wine & Spirit Education Trust in England, the world’s leading provider of wine education.
Julia says beer is best because it works with cheese on four levels:
- Physiological – It serves as a counterpoint to salt in cheese and “scrubs” fat and protein off the tongue;
- Sensory – The primary tastes and aromatic features of beer and cheese are highly compatible;
- Intellectual and spiritual – Beer and cheese are among the primal foods of the human race. Enjoying them returns us to ancient roots.
Put simply, pairing beer with cheese makes for a stellar match. In her newsletter, Julia goes on to suggest 10 pairings. The one that caught my eye—seeing how I like my beer dark and my cheese strong—was Trois Mousquetaires Imperial Baltic Porter and Ciel de Charlevoix, both from La Belle Province. (Another reason to look forward to June and a planned excursion to Montreal and Warwick.)
You can read Wedge, Julia’s free newsletter, in its entirety, check out back issues and subscribe at her site, CheeseCulture.ca, where there’s a whole section of beer and cheese tasting notes.
On June 17, Julia will pair with brewmaster Sam Corbeil to present a tasting class entitled Patio Season Beer, Wine and Cheese at Leslieville Cheese Market in Toronto. She also has something planned on heritage beer and cheese at Black Creek Pioneer Village with details still being worked out.
—Georgs Kolesnikovs
Georgs Kolesnikovs, who has been known to enjoy a dark ale or three, is Cheese-Head-in-Chief at CheeseLover.ca.
