The Piney River Brewing tent at Ozarks Beerfest with none other than Joleen and Brian slinging the beer samples!
Over the weekend we poured beer at Ozarks Beerfest in Springfield. We’ve been attending/pouring beer at this fest for a long time, and while beerfests are a love/hate relationship with breweries, we usually participate in this fest because the main sponsor is Price Cutter, which is one of the places in SW Missouri where you can easily find Piney River beer. Price Cutter supports us; we support this event which in turn benefits Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Ozarks.
The weather was pretty terrible on Saturday, but a good number of people came out to sample beer. The DJ was entertaining (Brian did a lot of signing along), and for a crummy weather day in the Ozarks, the beerfest was a good place to spend a few hours. As part of this year’s event, Piney River was asked to do a “pairing” event. The event was very open ended, and I asked if we could pair our beers with cheese. We ended up having about 50 people in the room (it was supposed to be limited to 30), but the samples were big, so we were able to accommodate everyone.
The cheese pairing were done with the help of Google, so not extremely scientific or vetted in advance. I knew the beer I wanted to sample, and I was trying to sample a variety of beers. I searched for the cheeses that paired the best with beers (according to the internet). I provided a cheese list to Ozarks Beerfest people which they provided to Price Cutter who worked with their cheese vendor to do samples for the event.
The pairing event was actually pretty fun. People were jazzed to talk to Brian and I, and they asked a lot of questions. Brian and I did our little dog and pony show talking about the brewery, and with each pairing we told a little about the Piney River beer–a story behind it and technical info about the beer itself. The beers and the cheeses were the definite stars of the show! I loved the way the pairing turned out, and after the fact, I thought I should share these pairings here. The cool thing is that all of these cheeses are readily accessible at Price Cutter, so you can pick them up and do your own beer/cheese pairing at home.
Side note: Beer & cheese are great partners in general, but taking specific styles of beer and putting them with specific styles of cheese can create really fun flavor explosions. I thought the Missouri Waltz and Marin French Camembert pairing were crazy good due to the fruit in Missouri Waltz and the funkiness of the camembert, and I probably would not have enjoyed the camembert as much without the addition of fruit.
Side note 2: Lactose intolerant folks can eat/enjoy goat and sheep milk cheeses and/or aged cow’s milk cheeses like the 2-year gouda.
Even if you can’t get your hands on all of these Piney River beers, try to find a similar beer style to pair with the cheese and prepare to be wowed!
BEER: SEMO Southeast Missouri Rice Lager
CHEESE: Cypress Grove Herbs de Humbolt – Goat’s milk cheese. This chevre is seasoned with herbs de provence (thyme, basil, rosemary, tarragon, savory, bay, marjoram & oregano), bright, tart, tangy, earthy cheese flavors.
BEER: Black Walnut Wheat
CHEESE: Reypenare VSOP 2-Year Gouda – Cow’s milk cheese. Dutch gouda aged for two-years, sheds 25% of weight for denser/drier texture and the development of crunchy crystals in the cheese for an increasingly intence flavor of roasted nuts, butterscotch & bourbon
BEER: Missouri Waltz with Raspberries
CHEESE: Marin French Camembert –Classic French style Camembert cheese. Cow’s milk cheese. Complex with earthy aromas of mushroom, a creamy paste is enrobed in a velvety bloomy rind. This soft cheese uses a different blend of cultures from Marin’s brie-style cheeses.
BEER: Low Water Bridge IPA
CHEESE: Ponce de Leon Manchego—Manchega Sheep’s Milk Cheese. This cheese is aged in a wax rind and is mild and creamy with a sweet, candied undertone The texture is firm but not dry. Manghega sheep are native to the La Mancha region of Spain, famous for their milk producing Manchego cheese.
BEER: Old Tom Porter
CHEESE: Rogue Creamery Oregon Blue–Cow’s milk cheese. Oregon Blue is Rogue Creamery’s classic blue cheese, first created in 1954. It was the first cave-aged, Roquefort-style blue cheese made on the West Coast. The cheese is fruity with moderate “blue” flavor and a hint of honey. Rich, creamy texture with a savory/sweet finish.
Bonus! The extremely nice cheese vendor with Price Cutter hooked us up with a package of each cheese from our pairing. We had a celebratory bottle of champagne and handmade sausages from friends that attended our 14th Aleiversary party, so we had a lovely post beerfest, cold Sunday afternoon in the Ozarks charcuterie board of our own the next day.
At home cheese board and more!
