Detail from the label of a bottle of Caracole's Nostradamus

You might remember our experiments with beer and cheese pairing from a few weeks ago. Well, we’re by no means done yet.

For our fourth experiment, we took the cheeses we used with the Brooklyn Local and tried them with Brooklyn lager, Brakspear Oxford Gold and Nostradamus, a dark sweet 9%-er from Brasserie Caracole.

The Wensleydale is an absolutely gorgeous cheese, but hard to match.  It brought out an unpleasant iron flavour in both the Brooklyn lager and the Nostradamus — quite bizarre.  It was OK with the Brakspear, but flattened the flavour a little.

The camembert was the best match for the light-but-lovely Brakspear.  (Incidentally, the Beer Nut reviewed it here. trying it with bleu d’auvergne.) The cheese gave the beer a nice malt boost.  It brought out the oranginess of the Brooklyn lager and made the Nostradamus taste even more of raisins.

It would have been poetic if the Oxford blue had gone with the Oxford gold but, unfortunately, it made the beer less interesting.  It killed the hops in the Brooklyn and made the Nostradamus sweeter and less complex.  This is another fabulous cheese that is annoyingly hard to pair.

We thought that the Stinking Bishop would be a challenge for these beers.  Brooklyn lager stood up surprisingly well, the cheese making the flavours more rounded and smoother without killing the hops.  It didn’t completely kill the Oxford Gold either.  However, the standout match was with the Nostradamus — it brought out cherry and chocolate flavours in the beer that the others did not.

So, conclusions to date: blue cheeses and Wensleydale are proving tough to match.  Stinking Bishop (and perhaps other hardcore rind-washed cheeses) go surprisingly well with a lot of beers, but particularly strong Belgian (or Belgian-style) beer.

Any suggestions for what to try next? We’ve got Harvey’s Imperial Stout with blue cheese on the list for starters.

Delirium, over at “De Cervezas y otras cosas”, has set a very interesting topic for this month’s “round” (the Session for Spanish-speaking beer-bloggers). It was so thought-provoking that we thought we’d post it in English as well.

The challenge was to come up with a “virtual” tasting session aimed at people who are not beer lovers. We had to pick between five and eight beers that we would put forward, avoiding obscure microbreweries, and explain why we’d selected them.

We like to beervangelise from time to time, so it’s a question we’ve thought about a lot in the past. After much pondering, we finally came up with some definite proposals, which we put forward here.

When deciding what to include, we wanted to present a wide range of styles, so that the beer novice would be suitably impressed by the variety available. At the same time, the beers have to be accessible – so no Rauchbier or Flanders Reds… Also, in keeping with the spirit of the question, we’ve not specified any cask ale in this list, given its limited availability outside the UK.

This list is not “our favourite beers”, although we’d happily drink all of them.

Hoegaarden, 5%

Many claim that this recipe has been dumbed down. We still think it’s a fine drink, refreshing and spicy. It’s on this list because we’ve successfully tried it on people who don’t really drink beer at all, and it’s generally gone down well because of its unusual flavour. Of course, other wits would do the same job — one of our favourites is St Bernardus Wit — but Hoegaarden is much more widely available, so better suits the specifications of this challenge.

Brooklyn Lager, 5.2%

We’ve posted of our love of this before. This is one to give the “premium-lager” lovers to blow their minds. Ale fans will also find plenty to appreciate with its full malt flavour and tangible hops. It’s just a beautiful, well-crafted beer.

St Austell, “Proper Job” IPA, 5.5%

Lots of people think that British ale has to be brown and flat. This beer is for them. It’s a lovely pale brew that sparkles in the glass, and has a wonderful hop aroma and flavour, without being overly bitter. The reason why we’ve selected this in particular from the many great British pale ales is that it seems to work really well in bottles. We might select Meantime IPA instead, as this seems to be exported more, but it’s a lot more “extreme” and difficult to digest.

Schneider Weisse 5.4%

We wanted to include a German Weissbier because it’s such an interesting and distinct style, and this is our favourite. It’s not as sickly as many of the others, and the banana flavour is there without being overpowering. We’ve found that a nice Weissbier often goes down well with lager-lovers – it’s cold and fizzy, after all.

Fuller’s London Porter, 5.4%

This is for the Guinness lovers, to show them what dark beer should be about. It’s a splendid mix of chocolate, fruits, coffee-roastiness and liquorice. It works pretty well in bottles, but is wonderful on cask. In terms of richness and complexity, it beats many Belgian beers with twice the strength. Our decision to include this is possibly influenced by the fact that this is Boak’s favourite beer.

Triple Karmeliet, 8.4%

We would have this one in reserve, to finish off the evening. It has the seductive sweetness and comfort of Leffe, but has more depth of flavour and is, frankly, a bit more credible. It’s not the most complex Belgian beer, but it’s very consistent, and is a great introduction to strong Belgian beers. Pour with a big head and take large gulps to appreciate the rounded, fruity flavours.

Runners-up

We thought a lot about including a fruit beer. We decided not to in the end, much as we like them, as we were assuming that the point of this exercise was to introduce a newcomer to good beer. We’ve given non-beer drinkers Fruli before, and they enjoy it, but that doesn’t mean that they suddenly “convert” to liking beer.

We had a similar debate with chocolate beers. The problem here is that the chocolate beers we like are on the subtle side. We once gave a non-beer-drinker some Meantime Chocolate to try, and they couldn’t taste the chocolate at all. “Urgh – it tastes like beer!” they said.

If you’ve read this far,you may be interested in reading about some real tastings – Tandleman introduced a number of GBBF visitors to bottle-conditioned beers (although he didn’t choose them), and Wilson at Brewvana organised a tasting session for women, with very interesting results.

What would you choose?

Delirium ha organizado esta Ronda, en la que tenemos que proponer una cata de cervezas virtual.

“Suponed que lo que queréis es dar a conocer esta bebida a gente que por lo general no es bebedora habitual de cerveza….tiene que haber un mínimo de 5 y un máximo de 8 cervezas…Mejor no escoger cervezas elaboradas tan sólo en una microcervecería, accesibles tan sólo a unos pocos”

Como nos gusta beer-vangelizar de vez en cuando, hemos hablado mucho de este tema. Después de mucha consideración, optamos por la siguiente seis cervezas.

Queríamos presentar un surtido de estilos, para demonstrar al novato la variedad que existe en el mundo de cerveza. Al mismo tiempo, las cervezas tienen que ser fáciles de tomar, así que no hemos incluido cervezas agrias or la famosa Rauchbier… Además, decidimos proponer sólo cervezas de botella, teniendo en cuenta la disponibilidad limitada de “real ale” fuera del Reíno Unido.

Esta lista no representa nuestras cervezas favoritas, pero tomaríamos todas con ganas.

Hoegaarden, 5%

Mucha gente dice que esta cerveza hoy no es como era, que tiene menos complejidad ahora que antes. Sin embargo, creemos que es una bebida muy saborosa y refrescante. La hemos incluído porque, en nuestra experiéncia, a las bebidores inhabituales de cerveza les interesa y les gusta, por su sabor distinta y raro. Por supuesto, podríamos substituir otras wits – una de nuestras favoritas es la de St Bernardus – pero Hoegaarden es mucho más fácil encontrar.

Brooklyn Lager, 5.2%

Ya hemos escribimos sobre esto. Ésta es la cerveza para los bebidores de lagers aburridas. A los amantes de ale también les gustará el sabor lleno de malta y del lúpulo fresco y aromático. Es simplemente una cerveza magnífica.

St Austell, “Proper Job” IPA, 5.5%

Muchas personas piensan que una ale británica tiene que ser tostada y sin gas. Esta selección es para ellas. Es una cerveza rubia que brilla en la copa. Tiene un aroma y sabor muy “lúpuloso” y floral, pero no es demasiado amarga. Hemos escogido esta cerveza desde otras ejemplos buenos porque está riquísimo en la botella — mejor que en el barril, en nuestra opinión.

Quiza elijamos Meantime IPA en lugar de eso, porque creemos que se la exporta más, pero es más “extrema” y difícil de digerir.

Schneider Weisse 5.4%

Queríamos incluir una Weissbier porque es un estilo tan interesante y distinto. Schneider Weisse es nuestra favorita – no es tan empalagosa como la mayoría de las otras, y el sabor de plátano no es tan sofocante. Hemos descubrido que a muchos amantes de lager les entusiasma una Weissbier, porque es fría y espumosa.

Fuller’s London Porter, 5.4%

Ésta es la cerveza para los bebidores de Guinness para demonstrar la potential de las cervezas negras. Es una mezcla estupenda de chocolate, frutas, café tostado y regaliz. Sabe muy bien en la botella, pero es una maravilla en barril. Si hablamos sobre complejidad, riqueza y intensidad de sabor, ésta tiene más que muchas cervezas belgas con dos veces más alcohol. La cerveza favorita de Boak.

Triple Karmeliet, 8.4%

Guardaríamos esta cerveza para el fin de la cata. Tiene la dulzura tentadora y la comodidad de Leffe, pero tiene más profundidad de sabor – ¡ y tiene más credibilidad! Hemos probado cervezas más complejas, pero es una buena iniciación al mundo de cervezas fuertes de Bélgica.

Otras consideraciones

Nos preguntamos si debemos incluir una cerveza de fruta. Al final decidimos que no, aunque nos gustan, porque nuestro objectivo de la cata es promocionar buena cerveza. No es decir que las cervezas de frutas no son buenas – pero son muy diferentes, y normalmente no saben a cerveza. Una persona pueden disfrutar de Fruli y al mismo tiempo odio la cerveza “normal”.

La cerveza de chocolate fue otra opción. El problema es que los ejemplos que nos gustan son demasiado sutiles para esta cata. Por ejemplo, dimos a una amiga una Meantime Chocolate, y ella no podía distinguir el sabor de chocolate entre los otros. “¡Urgh! ¡Sabe a cerveza!

Si has leido hasta este punto, quiza te interesarán otras catas – Tandleman presentó al asistentes a GBBF a una selección de bottle-conditioned beers (aunque no las elijó personalmente), y Wilson de Brewvana organizó una cata para mujeres, con resultos interesantes.

Fabulous. Another boring lager being (re)marketed. I didn’t really notice it go away, although I suppose now I think about it, you see more Becks around than Bud. And quite a lot of Budvar — we Brits love an underdog, although of course Budvar isn’t quite the underdog it purports to be, as Evan Rail pointed out.

Anyway, this got me thinking about something I’ve been pondering for a while. Why doesn’t the Brooklyn brewery try a marketing campaign in London to push its wonderful lager? It would appeal on two levels. Firstly, to the discerning beer drinker who would be delighted to see it in the fridge in amongst a sea of other indistinguishable “world” lagers.

Secondly, it would surely appeal to the type of sucker who drinks any lager as long as it’s in a bottle and comes from another country. This is a big market, at least in London, given the number of identical ranges in central London pubs — Peroni, San Miguel, Corona, Brahma etc.

If good marketing can polish turds like Bud, Magners and all those bland eurolagers, imagine the effect it could have on something that’s a genuinely great product? In fact, the Magners adverts aren’t even good. We mugs really will buy anything.

Boak