This Week's Tasting Plate: Beer cheese me, bartender

On the long list of things Dairymaids love, including cheese, beer, wine, fresh baked bread and irrelevant pop culture references, 2-in-1 treats ranks very high. Cheese + wine, wine + bread, wine + pop music YouTube videos and of course, beer + cheese, especially when the beer is in the cheese.

Here in Texas, we have the Veldhuizen’s Saint Arnold bathed Redneck Cheddar, which you are mostly likely familiar with if you’ve ever been to the shop. But this week we will also have an Oregon cheese called Pondhopper that utilizes Cascade hops from a local brewery. The dried flowers of the hop plant are usually used as a beer seasoning and the curds of cheese are also soaked in a mystery Oregon beer. The result is semi-firm and alternately sweet and salty.

Other cheeses on the plate this week include White Buck, Sarvecchio Parmesan and Grandbury Gold, which altogether are an entirely other combo-treat.