Cheese & Beer - Far & Near (Update) @ Derailleur Tap Room

From Matt, The Palate Jack:

Cheese & Beer – Far & Near

The Derailleur Tap Room at the Bricktop

First Friday March 4, 2011

6:00 pm start time, lasting about 90 minutes.

Cost: $45 per person, tickets on sale now at the Derailleur Tap Room! This event is expected to sell out quickly.

Cheese and Beer – Far and Near is a guided tasting designed to astound Nebraskans with exciting flavor combinations. Five substantial portions of cheese with snifters of fine beer will be provided. The fascinating origins of traditional cow, goat, and sheep milk products will be described for cheeses from Nebraska, Massachusetts, England and France. Special ales and lagers from sought-after breweries in the US, Belgium, and Norway will be expertly matched to the cheeses and interesting facts of each beer’s production, ingredients, aromas, and flavors will be given.
The courses are listed here with some fun hints!

1. French-styled abbey cheese, pasteurized cow's milk, lightly washed rind, served with an abbey quadrupel from Belgium.

Hint - Scourmont & Watou


2. Artisanal chèvre log, blue mold exterior, paired with a Belgian witbier.

Hint - Chabichou and Leuven


3. Rustic Spanish cheese, raw ewe's milk, quite surprising with a Belgo-IPA and side condiment.

Hint - more interesting than Manchego, from the Midi-Pyrénées, with just your average Norwegian-Belgian-English fusion ale.


4. 'Swissy' farmstead cheese, raw cow's milk, with a malty, nutty doppelbock.

Hint - A Nebraska original not found in any textbook, paired with a Nebraska original not found in any bottle shop.


5. English farmstead cheddar, raw cow's milk, dances with a resinous American double IPA.

Hint - An authentic truckle in every respect, with a Pennsylvania hop bomb deserving respect.


The event will be guided by two hosts. Jason McLaughlin is the Derailleur Tap Room’s beer manager. He is a National-ranked beer judge, president of the Lincoln Lagers homebrew club, and avid beer trader, exchanging beers with like-minded beer aficionados from around the world.

Co-hosting is food/beverage writer Matt Stinchfield, also of Lincoln. In addition to being Nebraska’s only Certified Cicerone™, the beer world’s equivalent to a wine sommelier, he is a self-proclaimed “cheese maniac.” Special guests from Branched Oak Farm and the Saucy Cook will be on hand to describe their operations and cheese offerings.