{"id":95,"date":"2010-10-19T21:11:01","date_gmt":"2010-10-19T21:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=95"},"modified":"2010-10-25T05:20:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-25T05:20:00","slug":"monster-strauss-mash-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2010\/10\/19\/monster-strauss-mash-ups\/","title":{"rendered":"Monster Strauss Mash-Ups"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever heard of musical artist Girl Talk or listened to the vocals of one track overlaying the instrumental version of another (aka mash-up), you\u2019ll know that sometimes two very different things go well together.\u00a0 Karl Strauss<\/a> Downtown offered us not a symphony of music, but one of flavors \u2013 cue Monster Beer and Cheese Night.\u00a0 Beer<\/em> and cheese, you ask?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that wine\u2019s territory? Well, it appears cheese wanted to see other people and found beer, its new soul mate, in the process.<\/p>\n

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Monster Beer and Cheese Night Tasting Guide<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

The friendly hostess led us to a table covered with \u201cKARL\u201d pins and \u201cSan Diego Beer Week\u201d stickers, strewn like confetti.\u00a0 I felt like a kid who had arrived at a friend\u2019s birthday party, eagerly awaiting the goody bag I was promised.\u00a0 But instead of cheap erasers, toys and candy, this was a plate of meticulously chosen cheeses to go with a taster flight of select Strauss brews.\u00a0 Within seconds of getting settled and saying my hellos, a smiling waitress brought it over.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of karlstrauss.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First up \u2013 2010 Great American Beer Festival and 2010 World Beer Cup Gold Medal Winner Red Trolley Ale<\/a>.\u00a0 The Irish-style Red Ale was astutely paired with a Midnight Moon goat milk.\u00a0 The sweet cheese perfectly complemented the toffee and slightly fruity flavor of the beer.\u00a0 This was a winner, one that could be easily imitated for an at-home beer and cheese pairing.<\/p>\n

Next was Karl Strauss\u2019 Winter Seasonal: the Fullsuit Belgian Brown Ale<\/a>, paired with French Beaufort cow milk.\u00a0 By itself, the aroma of vanilla in the beer teetered on the edge of becoming overly dominant.\u00a0 The Beaufort brought the vanilla back to earth while intensifying the nutty, oaky spice that makes this beer a fantastic example of the style.\u00a0 This was an interesting, satisfying pairing to the say the least.<\/p>\n

Third on the list was the pairing of Karl Strauss\u2019 Trippel with Italian Piave Vecchio.\u00a0 This pairing was all about the fruit that can be found in beer and cheese.\u00a0 At first sip, all present simultaneously shouted, \u201cBubblegum!\u201d Banana was a close second in the flavor profile.\u00a0 The cheese by itself had some fruit flavors, but it was really the beer that pushed those to the forefront.\u00a0 A striking pairing \u2013 one that really stretches the boundaries of how beer and cheese can work together.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve passed the half-way point, going strong.\u00a0 Jeff Hammett, West Coaster and San Diego Beer Blog<\/a> writer, was enjoying the festivities with his wife.\u00a0 Melani & Jeff \u201cFlash\u201d Gordon, as well as interns Kyle & Mike of TapHunter <\/a>were there, too, ostensibly making sure the tap lists were up to date.\u00a0 Jena Francis, Karl Strauss VP of Marketing came to make sure we were all enjoying ourselves as well as the pairings \u2013 and we were.<\/p>\n

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Karl Strauss Imperial Amber Lager: A massive amount of Centennial hops give this more robust version of Karl\u2019s favorite beer an aggressive floral and pine-like hop character, over a backdrop of caramel and toasted malts. Specs: 7.5% ABV, 22 SRM, 62 IBU. Only available on tap in October. For November: Wheat Wine and Reef Break Red! Photo and description courtesy of karlstrauss.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was time for Karl Strauss\u2019 Imperial Amber Lager<\/a>, paired with Balarina goat milk from Holland.\u00a0 I had never tasted a cheese like this in my life \u2013 \u201chints of browned butter and caramel\u201d was an understatement.\u00a0 With the beer, sweet caramel and butter literally coated the palate, the richness subdued slightly by the hops.\u00a0 If you never thought caramel and cheese could go together, think again.\u00a0 An attention-grabbing pairing \u2013 if you love caramel, this is the one for you.<\/p>\n

Last, but not least, was the one I was dreading.\u00a0 I won\u2019t lie: I despise blue cheese.\u00a0 When I saw that their Big Barrel Double IPA<\/a> was paired with Stilton, the English \u201cKing of Blues,\u201d I visibly cringed.\u00a0 Since Karl Strauss had done such a great job expanding horizons thus far, I figured I should try to do the same. I was not disappointed.\u00a0 Being a big hophead, I first took a big swig of the New Zealand Nelson Sauvin-hopped IIPA before consuming the smallest of crumbs.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve ever had Alpine\u2019s<\/a> Nelson, you\u2019ll recognize the trademark citrusy, tropical flavor and aroma that comes from these hops.\u00a0 The tasting description nailed it on the head: \u201cThe beer transforms this cheese from earthy\/musty to fruity and tropical.\u201d\u00a0 Although still not my favorite of the lot, blue cheese became, I dare to say, tolerable. Big Barrel gave me a big surprise.<\/p>\n

The Monster Beer and Cheese Night was a huge success and indicative of things to come. Karl Strauss, a San Diego institution, proved that they continue to be innovators in the craft beer community.\u00a0 Many thanks to Melody from Karl Strauss<\/a> & San Diego Beer Week<\/a> for the invite and the hospitality.\u00a0 If you\u2019re interested in doing a beer and cheese pairing, use this as an example, or try to make your own.\u00a0 It\u2019s more fun and offers greater possibilities than wine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever heard of musical artist Girl Talk or listened to the vocals of one track overlaying the instrumental version of another (aka mash-up), you\u2019ll know that sometimes two very different things go well together.\u00a0 Karl Strauss Downtown offered us not a symphony of music, but one of flavors \u2013 cue Monster Beer and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[104,58,103,98,100,102,99,101,41,87],"class_list":{"0":"post-95","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"tag-downtown","8":"tag-jeff-hammett","9":"tag-karl-strauss-big-barrel-double-ipa","10":"tag-karl-strauss-brewing-company","11":"tag-karl-strauss-fullsuit-belgian-brown-ale","12":"tag-karl-strauss-imperial-amber-lager","13":"tag-karl-strauss-red-trolley-ale","14":"tag-karl-strauss-trippel","15":"tag-san-diego-beer-week-2010","16":"tag-taphunter","17":"entry","18":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-1x","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}