Chimay Blue with Teleme

So the Teleme has been in the fridge for eleven day and its starting to ripen and smells delicious. Like the dankest yogurt ever! Chimay is a near perfect Belgian strong ale and the cheese was described in the previous entry.

Chimay Blue
Aromas of spice (nutmeg, clove, anise) carmelized brown sugar fruits (raisin, orange, plum, banana) and a blue cheese like yeastyness. The nose is deep and alluring, strong and inviting. Some carmelly malt is present as well, but the floral spicy yeast dominates. Flavor is like the best apple cider you ever had. A woody malt start flows slowly into a rich fruity mid with carmelly finish. A delicate and incredilbe transition of flavors, like really good scotch. The spices noted in the nose intermingle with rich dark fruit malts and elegant belgian yeast in a most pleasant balancing act. You taste alchohol but its only one character in a complex mingle. Palate is equally complex and marked by smooth and definite transitions. Mild tang and tingle build to sour character while the mouth becomes increasingly silkly. After goin thro a dry phase there is a sweet whisper of a finish, slightly sticky mouth, like you just ate a nectarine.

A bite of Teleme is washed away with a swig of Chimay and pure bliss washes the body. Sour cheese matches perfectly the sour character and mouthwatering palate of chimay blue. The Spice come through momentarily but the cheese returns. Both the cheese and the beer display a delicate evolution of flavor and palate effects, and they get along real well together. The pungent potency of Chimay is smoothed out by this high fat, creamy cheese. The beer clears the palate asking for more cheese, which melts in the mouth.

Beer chased by cheese accentuates sour cream/yogurt charcter of cheese. It can't tell you enough how well this complimentary matching is working for me, its zesty yeasty beer and sour tangy cheese.

Lagunitas Imperial Red ale with Tomales Bay Teleme

Im back in this Mah and its on like Donkey Kong Biznatch. Coming soon, Beer and chocolate/desert pairings!!

Yeah so this Teleme stuff is mild and very soft, a little more gooey than Brie. The flavor is faintly sour (think sour cream) with a tangy palate and a light floral/grassy character along side some pronounced nuttiness. It is light and finishes yeasty, it gives just a whisper of taste and then is gone. Good stuff, very different. Would be great with apples, sourdough and walnuts/almonds.

Based on feta and introduced by greek immigrants to america, this cheese was adopted by Italians and made into its current incarnation. Supposedly it can ripen more than the form I got it in, it is explained as having a pink rind with molds and yeasts.

The beer has a Metallic hop nose with sweet malts. Wet blanket, drying grass. Apricots and pumpkin. Big scotch flavor up front with carmel toasted malts. Pine/floral hops builds to crescendo leading to a sweeter fruity finish. Well crafted red ale, although I'm a bigger fan of lucky #13. http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/lagunitas-imperial-red/44450/69911/


Mild mannered cheese stands up surprisingly well to large hoppy goliath. It works on a complementary level, sour cheese with bitter hoppy ale. The beer pretty well washes the intricacies of the cheese away, but there is a creamyness remaining, evidence of high fat content which coats the tongue. Beer chased with cheese brings out sourness and mozzarella creamyness. A decent pairing but the Teleme demands a more sublte partner, Saison or pilsner perhaps.