October 24, 2014
Cheese and beer: perfect together, says Jason Sobocinski ’01
By Liz F. Kay
Jason Sobocinski ’01 says beer, not wine, is a natural accompaniment for cheese.
“You’ll never see cows eating fermented grapes,” he says. However, a dairy farmer picks up the spent grain left at the end of the brewing process at Black Hogg Brewing Company, and the cows love them.
“It’s part of the process. It’s nice and cyclical,” Sobocinski says. “You removed all the sugars from the grain and feed them to dairy cows, because there’s plenty of protein left in them.” And the cows produce plenty of milk as a result — the better to make more cheese.
Beer complements cheese in other ways as well. Beer is effervescent, and most wine is not, aside from sparking varieties.
“When you take a bite of cheese, you coat your mouth with fat,” Sobocinski says. After a mouthful of cheese, wine slides right down your throat, so “you lose a lot of the nuance of the wine.”
With beer, on the other hand, the “suds break up the fat and really meld with the cheese that’s in your mouth so you get a true pairing in a lot of ways.
On the plate, clockwise from top left:
- Comte: a nutty, buttery French cow’s milk cheese with a sweet finish
- Bleu des Basque: a French bleu cheese made with sheep’s milk
- Sel Sur Cher: a crumbly French goat cheese that is covered with ash, with a fresh, lightly tangy flavor that gets stronger with age
- Melville: a tangy, sweet Connecticut cheese that is made with either cow’s or goat’s milk and has a pillowy texture, like a fresh mozzarella
- Black Hog Brewing Co S.W.A.G.: a seasonal summer wheat ale brewed with grapefruit peel and herbs grown on the brewery’s roof that add layers of flavor.
- Pradera Gouda: a sweet, salty gouda made from cow’s milk, noted for caramel or butterscotch flavor and the crunchy crystals that form within it during the aging process
