The Beer

by Ryne Schofstal

Firestone Walker's Reserve Porter

Firestone Walker Brewing Company

Paso Robles, CA

5.8% ABV

Firestone Walker got its start in 1996 in a space borrowed from the Firestone Vineyard. The owners Adam Firestone and David Walker moved into a space of their own after purchasing SLO Brewing Co in Paso Robles in 2001. This brewery is unique because of a special fermentation process they use. Firestone Walker has resurrected a barrel fermentation process originally known as the Burton Union system. In this system, the beer spends its first fermentation process in medium to heavy toasted American oak barrels. This method imparts nutty, vanilla notes into the beer from the toasted oak. See link below for pictures of the process and a full length description:

http://www.firestonebeer.com/brewery/firestone-union.php

On to the beer: The reserve porter combines flavors of dark chocolate, coffee, caramel and hops into a chocolate brown package. The aroma sings of cocoa and coffee. Nutty whiskey and coffee grounds come to mind as you smell. The palate echoes the nose with cold brewed coffee, bittersweet chocolate and zippy hops. The beer is brewed with some oat giving it a lighter body than most porters. There are also some very lovely dried dark fruit flavors such as prune and figs. The beauty will sing with Challerhocker!

The Cheese

by Adrienne Stone

Challerhocker

Raw Cow Milk

Toggenburg, Switzerland

This cheese is made and aged in the Appenzeller-style. Appenzeller is a smaller categorical umbrella of the Alpine family, originating in Switzerland. The style gets its name (like so many old world cheeses) from the region where it originates: the Appenzell region in the Northeast of Switzerland. The making of this cheese has been historically documented for over 700 years, and is typified by a washing in a blend of wine and herbal spices, all recipes kept secret, of course.

On to this particular manifestation of the style! Challerhocker literally means “sits in a cellar” and is thusly named for its 10 month tenure in the aging rooms of Kaserei Tufertschwil (ask Colin to pronounce it for you: he’s mastered the pronunciation of where Hafod is from so this should be candy). Head cheesemaker Walter Rass washes the rinds with a blend of local herbs and his own wine. The larger curd size makes this cheese exceptionally moist (think Prairie Breeze) for its large format, and the aging and beautiful raw milk lend lush flavors of balanced fruit and warm toasted almonds & hazelnuts, with a clean, crisp salty finish. Texturally it is a satisfying blend of creamy dense paste highlighted with crunchy crystalline bits.

The Pairing

with Guest Cheese monger and holiday elf Geordan Stenson:

The cheese and Porter pair well together. The hazelnut and macadamia nut notes in the cheese glide easily into the root beer/caramely flavors in the beer. The buttery texture of the cheese needs a little more acidity from the Porter to completely cut through the fat and leave the tongue singing. But this is a good pairing for January. Nutty, and a not overtly creamy cheese do well with a Porter during the cold months and this is no exception.Thanks for reading, happy pairing!

Ryne, Cesar, Adrienne and Geordan