Quite a pair

Saturday night Jamaica and Nelson had one of the best parties I've been to in a long, long time. It was a beer and cheese pairing party and everyone who went - we ended up at about 14 - brought a beer and cheese pairing that they thought would work well. We then went through each pairing at a time as a group and the person who brought it explained what it was, why they thought it would work well as a pairing, and then they offered a toast. Then each person would rate the pairing on a number of criteria and describe it in 1-3 words.

Eric and I brought two pairings between us: Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA and a raw-milk Comte, and Miller Lite and Easy Cheese. Had we known it was going to be competitive we might have made different choices, but they were both received very positively - in fact, the Easy Cheese was a big hit, and it really lit up the Miller Lite, too. And after the official tasting there was the obligatory squirting of the Easy Cheese directly into Justin's mouth which I can only imagine was more disgusting for him than it was for us.

The pairings were mostly wonderful and it was really fun to hear the thoughtful and often bizarre descriptions the group came up with (they were read anonymously after each pairing). I think my favorite of the evening was the description of the vegan Jalapeno Almond Cheese* with a Belgian raspberry beer: "monk f*ing a Mexican."

We didn't win the contest. We didn't even make it into the top three. (Justin, recovered from the Easy Cheese, won the top prize - a vintage large Dunkin Donuts thermos - with a chocolate porter and taleggio.) But it was still a fun evening and I might even admit to learning something about how to pair beer with food. I hope to do it again soon.


*this is San Francisco, so of course there was a vegan at the party and she brought vegan cheese for her pairing