My friend Wendy of curdygirl.com invited me out to the Junction Fromagerie for a beer and cheese tasting. It turned out to be quite a nice evening. Canadian artisan cheeses paired with McAuslan Beer. Unfortunately for the fromagerie they had a bunch of cancelations.  Which was a loss both for their business and the people who deigned to miss out on the evening. We ended up with a nice little group who quite enjoyed themselves and the evenings offerings.

We Started out with the McAuslan St-Amboise Apricot Wheat ale. Earlier I had written about this beer and felt that it didn't work for me. What I'm finding more and more with beer and food is the environment and even how the drinker is feeling has considerable influence on the character of the beer. In this case the warmer evening and sitting in the store front surrounded by artisan cheese and good food the smell of the bread alll worked really well with the Apricot Wheat ale. The Cheese we had with it was a Halloumi from The Monforte Dairy in Stratford Ontario. It's a bit similar to mozzarella in texture. The Halloumi has a high melting point and can be fried or grilled. We had it grilled with some pieces of apricot. The apricot beer with the Halloumi worked well together the pieces of apricot bringing out the refreshing flavour of the beer. What was difficult was saving a bit of the cheese to try with the other beers as we went.

The next beer was the St. Amboise Pale Ale. I  found this to be a very dry pale ale. The word elegant comes to mind. It seems like the good fit for people who may drink white wines and it's not surprising that McAuslan will be a part of the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo in the fall. The pale ale was paired with a Romelia cheese out of Salt Spring Island Cheese in Salt Spring Island British Columbia. This was served with a Bershire Pork, Ham and Green Peppercorn Terrine from Chef Marc Thuet. The Romelia and pale ale worked well together. The beer awaking the palate to the pungent flavours of the pungent cheese. I did have to warm up to the Romelia as it does have a strong flavour. Now that I`ve had some time to let my palate rest I`m finding the Romelia is a cheese I`d love to explore again and would not at all be adverse to pairing it with the St. Amboise Pale ale in the future.

A brilliant break in was our plate cleanser. A raspberry Sorbet out of Delish which is the a joining storefront to the Junction Fromagerie. Such a nice distraction.

The third course started with the St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout. The stout comes off as thick and creamy with a coffee undertone and always makes me think of chocolate. The Oatmeal Stout was paired with Pine River nine year old Cheddar out of Pine River Co-op based in Ripley Ontario. Along with the cheese we had an espresso chocolate from Delight. The cheese was amazing creamy tasting but a subtle bite. It mixed well with the Oatmeal Stout. Then the chocolate on top of that was incredible.

We sat and mixed and matched after that. I found the Pine River cheddar and the Apricot Wheat Ale worked really well together. The Stout and the Romelia not so much but worth a try. All and all it was a nice evening.A good introduction to a few new cheeses and new perspective on a few good beers.

Thank you to Tiffany from Junction Fromagerie. To Barry from Mcauslan Brewing and special thanks to Wendy from curdygirl.com

http://www.junctionfromagerie.com/mainPage.html

http://mcauslan.com/

http://curdygirl.com/