This past Thursday night was pretty exciting for me, since I headed to my first beer & cheese pairing with the TapHunter Crew at the Karl Strauss in downtown San Diego… in fact now that I think of it, it was my first beer & anything pairing. So, I was excited to say the least, especially with the five pairings being called “Monster Beer & Cheese Night.”

We started off the night with Red Trolley Ale that won gold at this year’s GABF.  This was paired with “Midnight Moon” an aged goat cheese from Cypress Grove. Now after learning the tried & true tasting method (beer, cheese, beer) I was pleasantly surprised with the results. The two complimented each other perfectly and really was a great way to start off the pairings. Reading about pairs can never fully prepare you for actually experiencing them. I definitely recommend trying this pairing.

Next in our sample flight, was “Fullsuit” a winter seasonal, Belgian Brown Ale. This beer had a very light body with a very nice spicy taste. The Beaufort cheese was suppose to bring out the “oaky” flavors of the beer. I felt it just mellowed the spiciness of the beer and didn’t have a huge overall impact on the taste.

The third beer in our pairing was very interesting, a Belgian Trippel that’s described as having “tons of banana and bubblegum flavors” and they were not kidding. As your taste buds are splashed with the beer you’re immediately hit with the flavor of what appears to be bubblegum, which quickly changes to a distinctive banana flavor that then fades away. The cheese, a 12 month aged Italian cheese, enhances the fruit flavors incredibly making this a very memorable pairing.

Next up was the Imperial Amber Lager paired with aged Dutch Balarina cheese. I had some reservations with this at first, but those went away with the first sip. I’m more of a hoppy ale guy but this was surprisingly flavorful lager. I think I was alone in my pairing experience, but I swear there was a drastic change in the flavor and intensity of both the lager and cheese. So much so that I felt it in my nostrils, a tingling burning sensation. Now this may have just be me, but I liked the overall effect of this pairing.

Being a hop loving guy, this is what I was waiting for the entire pairing, the Big Barrel Double IPA. I tried this in a bottle earlier in the week and was thoroughly impressed. I love the smell of this beer: hoppy, citrusy, slight pine smell. If I could bottle this scent I might just carry it around with my all day. This was paired with a blue cheese, my first experience with eating blue cheese straight. Now while I loved both the beer & cheese here, I feel I didn’t get the effect that was intended as all I noticed was an added creamy texture to the Big Barrel from the blue cheese. None the less it was enjoyable.

I must say that for my first beer & cheese pairing I loved it, and couldn’t have been more happy to be experiencing it with my fellow TapHunters.