The Joy of Cheese at d.b.a. Brooklyn
Posted by bellastraniera - 14/12/09 at 06:12 pm Wine isn’t the only thing that pairs well with cheese: Beer is a great match too, especially if there’s plenty of it, as there was at the Joy of Cheese tasting at d.b.a. Brooklyn on a recent night. Cheese expert Martin Johnson and d.b.a. owner Ray Deter joined forces to present seven rounds of beer and cheese, with a special focus on holiday brews.
Standouts among the cheeses were two English selections, a Spenwood and a clothbound Montgomery cheddar, and the Gubbeen washed rind cheese from Ireland. The Spenwood, available at Whole Foods Fromagerie (Bowery), Dean & Deluca and Artisanal, is a delicate, small batch sheep’s milk cheese that met its match in the Dupont Avec Les Bon Voeux Belgian farmhouse-style ale, originally made for the workers who would help bring in the harvest.
Montgomery cheddar, one of the oldest extant cheddars, tasted like “a big mouthful of lawn,” as Martin put it. The intense but not-too-sharp cheddar flavor is derived from the cows’ highly acidic milk. For this cheese made in Somerset, England, unlike with many American dairy farms, the cows are fed their natural diet. It’s available at the Bedford Cheese Shop, Whole Foods Fromagerie (Bowery) and Dean & Deluca and was paired with Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale – though my favorite of the American holiday beers was the Anchor Steam Christmas ale, which has a cult following of sorts.
To finish out the tasting, we tried a fabulous washed-rind cheese from County Cork, the Gubbeen, available at Bedford Cheese Shop. This stinky, semi-soft cheese had a little bit of barnyard at the start and a sweetness at the finish. Ray Deter paired it with Brooklyn’s Black Chocolate Stout, which gets its color and flavor from barley roasted until it’s dark brown.
All the beers are available at d.b.a. in Williamsburg. If you missed this pairing, there will be more Joy of Cheese tastings in January (check back on the Joy of Cheese site for dates), and there’s a free beer tasting every Monday at d.b.a. Brooklyn. Cheers!
d.b.a.
113 N. 7th Street between Berry and Wyeth Streets
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718-218-6006
drinkgoodstuff.com
Bedford Cheese Shop
229 Bedford Avenue at N. 4th Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
718-599-7588
bedfordcheeseshop.com
Whole Foods Fromagerie
95 East Houston Street at the Bowery
New York, NY
212-420-1320
wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/bowery/fromagerie.php
Dean & Deluca
560 Broadway at Prince Street
New York, NY
(212) 226-6800
deandeluca.com
Artisanal
2 Park Avenue at 32nd Street
New York, NY
212-725-8585
artisanalbistro.com
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bellastraniera
a.k.a. Marcy Swingle - obsessed with food and fashion.
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