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December’s Curdbox turns your cheeseboard into a dessert tray, and I couldn’t be happier to pair it with a trio of barrel aged stouts and barleywine from Nashville’s Bearded Iris Brewing Company.
Roquefort is a strikingly beautiful blue cheese made in France from raw sheep’s milk. Topping it with a fat dollop of goat’s milk caramel was an altogether new, funky-sweet experience. I paired this with One Man Band, an English barleywine aged 24 months in 20-year Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrels. The beer's dark fruit and caramel notes played perfectly with this bite.
Organic Champlain Triple Cream makes you wonder why we bother with single and double cream cheeses, with a deliciously rich, ooey-gooey goodness. I topped this with sun dried cherries and Rat-A-Tat, an imperial blend of 3 stouts aged 9-24 months in 20 year Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and 13-year Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye barrels. Dark chocolate dessert notes and elegant barrel character add a welcome boozy depth to the pairing.
Roomano Pradera is an aged Dutch Gouda with nutty, semi-sweet flavor. I paired this with Bobby Sue’s Raining Chocolate nuts and Fine Print, a lavish imperial stout aged 20 months in Van Winkle Family Reserve 13-year rye barrels, then conditioned on toasted coconut, Salvadoran coffee beans, vanilla bean, and milk sugar. This complex stout builds a tower of flavor power providing an array of decadent complements to a nutty dessert cheese.
