#barely buzzed

[revenge-ofthe-dreamers]

wish a pint of rum got me drunk like it used to

[fromagemouse]

Holiday Cheesy Gift Guide 2014 - Cheese Baskets, Boxes, and Cheese of the Month

Holiday Cheesy Gift Guide 2014 – Cheese Baskets, Boxes, and Cheese of the Month

Affineur grande: Photo courtesy of Artisanal Cheese

With Christmas fast approaching and Chanukah coming to a close it’s time to get serious about those gift-giving decisions. Fortunately, our friendly cheesemakers, cheese shops, and cheese websites can help play Chanukah Charlie and Santa by offering up some awesome swanky baskets, boxes and Cheese-Of-The-Month-Clubs to ship out to our loved ones.

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[miketrout]

i'm drinking alone in my room while listening to tswift does this make me an alcoholic 

[hejkatie]

I'm having local cheese for a midnight snack. It's called "Barely Buzzed," a white cheddar with espresso covered rind. 

(All thanks to fromthelindentrees) *_*

[thebirchbar]

All American Pairing Menu

[cheesenotes]

Utah may not be the first state on your cheese radar — partly due to a climate that is more challenging for dairy than the rolling green hills of Vermont or the flat prairie stretches of Wisconsin — but one company has done a lot to put the Beehive State on the map in the last decade; Beehive Cheese Company, in Uintah, Utah, near Weber Canyon. Founded in 2005 by brothers-in-law Tim Welsh and Pat Ford, neither of them came from a dairy or culinary background (they came from IT and Real Restate), but both harbored a desire to escape from their respective careers and pursue the life of cheesemaking. They built their creamery from the ground up, with assistance from the Western Dairy Center at Utah State, and partnered with Wadeland South Dairy down the road for their Jersey cow milk supply. Since then, they have built a name for themselves, garnering awards at multiple ACS conferences and becoming a cheesemonger favorite. I was surprised to realize recently that I'd never reviewed any Beehive cheeses on Cheese Notes, but felt it was time to remedy it. 

Their flagship cheese, pictured above, is the Barely Buzzed. I'm not normally a fan of cheeses that are coated — or filled — with unusual ingredients (I'll pass on the rose-petal coated chevre with jalapeno and garlic in it, thanks), but this is one of the welcome exceptions. San Francisco cheese legend Gordon Edgar made perhaps the most memorable comment about the Buzzed when he described it as "Finally, a cheese with stuff in it that doesn’t suck!" — a quote that Beehive decided needed it's own T-shirt. In the case of the Buzzed, the rind coating is lavender-blended coffee grounds, sourced from Colorado Legacy Fine Coffee, in Grand Junction, Co. This sounds highly unusual, granted, but it works surprisingly well. The cheese itself is a cheddar-style, made from pasteurized cow's milk and microbial (vegetarian) rennet. A blend of variously sourced coffee beans are roasted and ground, mixed with lavender, and rubbed onto the outside of the wheels, which are then put up to age a minimum of 6-8 months.

The rind on the cheese is a deep chocolatey color with rusty highlights, and you're guaranteed to get a good scattering of loose grounds on all of your surfaces as you handle and cut the wheel. The paste underneath is a pale buttercup color, smooth and dense, with a mellow sharpness, nutty, buttery and savory with subtle grassy notes. The inch or so under the rind is where the flavors get really interesting, with the flavors of the cheddar mingling with the coffee, bittersweet chocolate, caramel, smokey and fruity notes and just a hint of the floral lavender infusing it. The first time I tasted it I feared that the coffee rub would lend an acrid overtone to the flavor (used coffee grounds aren't exactly prized for their flavor after all) but this was totally absent. 

Beehive has since branched out into some other interesting rind rubs, including the TeaHive, coated with Earl Grey Tea and Bergamot Oil; and the SeaHive, rubbed with Sea Salt and Honey. I've also previously posted  about Jess Perrie, "Cheese Chemist" at Beehive and the 2013 winner of the Daphne Zepos Teaching Award at this year's ACS Conference in Madison, WI. 

(random fact of the day: The beehive became the official Utah state emblem on March 4, 1959, as a symbol of industry and pioneer virtue. The beehive was the emblem for the provisional State of Deseret from 1848 and was maintained on the seal of the State of Utah when Utah became a state in 1896.)

[thebirchbar]

2|22|13 Dark Fest Revisited!

Grado Plato Chocarrubica with Thomasville Tomme

A big “Welcome Back” to Chocarrubica on the draft list this week! This is a delicious light bodied oatmeal stout that is brewed with carob and cocoa. The Thomasville Tomme’s creaminess and slight tangy flavors unite with this beer to give you a Boston Cream doughnut.

Stillwater Folklore with Barely Buzzed

Stillwater’s Folklore was originally brewed to celebrate Max’s Taphouse in MD’s 25th Anniversary and Stillwater’s first! A slightly different recipe than before this is a full-bodied stout with hints of dark chocolate and graham cracker. The Barely Buzzed combines with these flavors to give you a hand brewed espresso drink, with hints of lavender.

Dieu du Ciel Pionnière with Bellavitano Raspberry 

This is one of the most complex American Black Ale/ Black IPA’s I have ever tasted. Initially, the hop aroma fascinates the nose and reels you in. What is that other smell? Blueberries? Blackberries? No, it is currants, jammy and sweet. The perfect pairing would obviously have to be the Bellavitano Raspberry, to create your grandma’s mixed berry pie straight from the oven.

[thebirchtastingnotes]

43 Hours of Dark Friday Pairing Menu! Hubcap Grill Norfolk will be out tonight too!