So! Friday night! I know exactly what Friday night off calls for – Brasserie de la Senne ‘Bruxellensis’ going head to head with a Fleurie Beaujolais – both paired with offerings from the excellent Bristol Cheesemonger.
So, to begin!
First we have a wonderfully rich, creamy and slightly earthily sweet Jersey semi-soft cows cheese – Ogalshield – with a washed rind that I would suggest be avoided (sorry). The cheese itself is deep buttercup yellow and silky smooth. It has a slight tangy acidity and a surprising funk which, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed, is an absolutely impeccable match to the funky, silage reminiscent Brettanomyces Bruxellensis fermented Bruxellensis. The wine here really doesn’t stand a chance – the sweet cloying butter of the cheese brings out the worst in the bitter tannins and the whole event sticks to the roof of my mouth like curdled peanut butter. Sorry wine!
Second we have my absolute all time favourite – Sharpham Brie, made in Devon from tasty tasty clover fed cows milk. Its at it’s absolute best – ripe to the point of being liquid with a stickily honeyed texture and a mushroom like umami rind. It’s fucking delicious. Bring it on! The rich ripe fruitiness of the wine smashes this baby back and smooths it along with a well rounded embrace of juicy red fruit and subtle spice just seasoning the cheese. Perfect. The beer, delicious as it is, overpowers the soft cheese and something in the powdery rind brings forward a not very pleasant hop bitterness and slight astringency all too evident in the now bubbling carbonation of the beer. Definitely wine for winner here now! Seriously though this cheese has to be the best brie on the British market. Just saying.
Third and final we have the famous Cropwell Bishop Stilton, Garrett Oliver’s famous barleywine pairing cheese, which, absolute slut that it is, actually tastes delicious with both the wine and the beer although I have to say, flaunts it’s creaminess unashamedly with the highly effervescent beer whilst bringing it’s strong earthy funk more to the forefront with the juicy wine. Who wins? You decide!
As for me, I was feeling pretty man flu’y at the beginning of all this and I have to say I feel pretty bossman right now. Here’s to reckoning that beer/wine/cheese are simultaneously the best remedy for unwelcome illness.
Bottoms Up!
Jo x
Jo's Beer Blog 