Goats Collide
On Friday night I was waiting for my fish at Mac’s in Roseville and headed over to the near-by Cellars. One of the beers I picked up was Victory St. Victorious Doppelbock. Doppelbocks are particularly strong bocks with extra malty flavors and plenty of alcoholic strength. I found Victory’s beer to be quite drinkable with the expected notes of caramel and nuttiness but on the strong end of hoppy for the style. Not IPA hoppy mind you, but with plenty of hops to accentuate the crisp lager finish. The beer also had a noticeable bit of alcohol, perhaps revealed by the relatively light body.
It turns out tonight that I was having a dinner of cheese, so I had the chance to try the beer with some cheeses: a Chimay washed-rind, an Ossau-Oraty and a Palhais. The Chimay cheese was on the softish side of semi-soft. Like most washed-rind cheese it smelled awful. The taste was much better: tasting slightly salty, with hints mushroom and a restrained bitterness, perhaps from being washed with Chimay wort.
I expected the Ossau Oraty, sort of like a young Parmesan, with a slightly granular texture and a subtly nuttiness, to go well with the rich maltiness of the of the doppelbock. The two did taste good together, but I was surprised to find that, in fact, the Palhais, a salty and slightly aged goat cheese contrasted the beer nicely and was the best pairing of the three. The Palhais was firmer than most goat cheese and in contrast to the sour tang of many, this cheese tended toward a strong saltiness not unlike a Feta.
The contrast of the salty goat cheese with the caramelly, rich dopplebock was sharp and pleasing. Bock means Billy Goat in German, so in this meeting of the goats(beer and cheese), both won by competing and contrasting with each other.
April 2, 2007 at 9:00 am
I offer a concurrence and a correction: both brief.
First, as an employee for the City of Roseville, I feel compelled to point out that Mac’s Fish & Chips - being on the south side of Larpenteur Avenue - is in our fair Capitol City rather than its neighbor, Roseville.
And second, while my appreciation of tasty beers is considerably less well informed than our TCBG blogger, I whole-heartedly agree that Victory’s St. Victorious is indeed a tasty beer.
Finally, relative to point number 2 above, I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to find an appropriate word for the following situation: if a “connoisseur” is one who (by definition) knows or understands the subtleties of something - a beer connoisseur, in this case - I’m looking for a similarly authoritative-sounding French word meaning “enjoyer”. Although I can’t claim to be a connoisseur of beers, I’d like to be able to impress people by saying that I am a _____ (French-word-for-”enjoyer”) of beers. The best I’ve come up with so far is “jouisseur”, which I might have clumsily fabricated beginning with “jouir” (to enjoy) –> je jouis (I enjoy) and then applying the “-seur” suffix. “Goûter” (to taste/to sample/to enjoy) seems like a very good root, but I haven’t the slightest idea of how to craft the desired word. (Incidentally, “aficionado” is too aggressive. Go figure: it’s Spanish!) Any thoughts?
April 8, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I thought a little bit about your naming predicament on my way home from Easter dinner today. I was passing the state fair grounds on Snelling (legitimately in St. Paul, I think).
Is it too simplistic to call yourself a beer lover? Or, do you then have to distinguish yourself from you “big brother beer” drinking brethren?
How about beer snob? This defines yourself as a step above the above football beer types, without assert much in the way of knowledge.