Got Culture? Samuel Adams Teams Up With Beecher's Handmade Cheese To Offer Ultimate Craft Beer & Handmade Cheese Recipes

BOSTON, Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Craft beer and artisanal cheese each have a large and loyal fan base on their own, and this holiday season two worlds will collide with Samuel Adams and Beecher's Handmade Cheese, an award-winning New York City and Seattle-based cheesemaker, who are uniting craft beer and cheese through unique do-it-yourself cheese soaks, recipes and pairings. The brewers at Samuel Adams worked closely with Beecher's founder Kurt Beecher Dammeier to infuse Beecher's Dutch Hollow Dulcet cheese with Samuel Adams Boston Lager and developed dishes and pairings that any foodie or craft beer lover can replicate, bringing the experimentation with Samuel Adams beer and Beecher's cheese to homes nationwide.

Cheese and craft beer lovers will be able to replicate Beecher's DIY Samuel Adams soaked cheese, which showcases Boston Lager's piney, citrus and herbal notes and adds complexity to a rich cheese like Dutch Hollow Dulcet, a double-cream cheese with clean, lightly tangy and creamy character. Soaking the cheese, which involves immersing it in beer and other ingredients for three days, imparts unique, complex flavors, and is an easy way to spice up holiday get-togethers. For easy holiday entertaining, Dammeier and the Samuel Adams brewers also developed a series of Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Winter Lager-infused recipes, as well as a cheese pairing guide for each brew in the Samuel Adams Winter Favorites Variety Pack, which is just hitting shelves for the holiday season and currently available nationwide.

Jennifer Glanville, Samuel Adams Brewer and Director of Brewery Programs shares her thoughts on craft beer and cheese:
"Craft beer is a versatile companion for artisanal cheese, whether it's infused into the cheese, added to a cheese-based recipe, or paired with it as an appetizer. There are thousands of flavor compounds from the hops, malt and yeast used in Samuel Adams Boston Lager which provide a variety of flavors when combined with different types of cheese. Boston Lager creates a wonderful marriage of flavor when featured in recipes or infused into cheese, enhancing the richness of the cheese with its subtle Noble hop character and beautiful piney, citrus and herbal notes. Our Winter Favorites brews also pair wonderfully with Beecher's delicious offerings. These pairings and cheese creations will easily elevate entertaining to another level this holiday season."

What Kurt Beecher Dammeier, Beecher's Founder has to say about the similarities between brewing and cheesemaking:
"Brewing and cheesemaking are both ancient arts and I think of them as cousins of the culinary world. They are both derived from our earliest attempts to preserve food and drink, and they require high levels of skill, precision and the best ingredients possible to create a quality product. Today's brewers and cheesemakers are aided by advanced machinery, but at the heart of their endeavors they are utilizing the same techniques that have been practiced for thousands of years. Craft beer and artisanal cheese is a natural and delicious combination."

How to create your own Samuel Adams Boston Lager-soaked cheese:
Kurt Beecher Dammeier has crafted recipes for four different varieties of Samuel Adams Boston Lager-soaked cheese.  These "washes" not only add complex flavor to the cheese but are also visually appealing and range from deep purple to pink. These recipes are perfect for holiday entertaining or casual get-togethers with friends.

For each soaked-cheese, boil 32 ounces of Samuel Adams Boston Lager and respective sweetener (honey or maple syrup) to a simmer for five minutes, add the remaining ingredients, and cool the mixture before adding in Beecher's Dutch Hollow Dulcet cheese to soak for three days, stored in a refrigerator. For more information and complete recipes, visit www.samueladams.com.

• Variety #1: Boston Lager (32 oz.), Blueberry Juice (16 oz.), Vanilla Extract (.5 tbsp.), Almond Extract (.5 tbsp.), Honey (1 tbsp.)
• Variety #2: Boston Lager (32 oz.), Pomegranate Juice (16 oz.), Honey (1 tbsp.), Ground Hazelnuts (1.5 tbsp.)
• Variety #3: Boston Lager (32 oz.), Cranberry Juice (16 oz.), Honey (1 tbsp.), Ground Pecans (2 tbsp.)
• Variety #4: Boston Lager (32 oz.), Apple Cider (16 oz.), Maple Syrup (6 oz.), Whole Black Peppercorns (.5 tsp.), Rendered Bacon Bits (.5 cup)

For easy and impressive holiday entertaining, Samuel Adams Winter Favorites Beers and Beecher's Cheese Pairing Notes:

• Samuel Adams Boston Lager + Beecher's Flagship 
  • On its own, Flagship showcases a tangy sharpness, which becomes softer and mellower when paired with Boston Lager. Caramel malt flavor from Boston Lager goes well with similar caramel flavors in the cheese. Hints of nut and brown butter are also apparent on the palate.
• Samuel Adams Winter Lager + Beecher's Flagsheep
  • Winter Lager enhances the flavor of Flagsheep. The cheese's round, butterscotch notes and dry texture go well with the winter spices in the beer.
• Samuel Adams White Christmas + Beecher's Flagship Reserve
  • This pairing is an explosion of flavor, with Flagship Reserve bringing the crisp flavor and winter spices of White Christmas to the forefront. The beer and cheese are complementary, coming together to provide beautiful citrus flavors.
• Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig Ale + Beecher's No Woman
  • The spicy, savory flavor of No Woman really pops when paired with Old Fezziwig Ale. The jerk spices in No Woman linger on the palate.

Winter Lager Beecher's No Woman Cheese Fondue

Ingredients:
1 cup Samuel Adams Winter Lager
8 ounces Beecher's No Woman cheese, shredded
8 ounces Beecher's Dutch Hollow Dulcet cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey

Method:
In a heavy saucepan or fondue pot, bring the beer to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce the heat to medium-low so the beer is gently simmering.

Combine the shredded cheeses with the cornstarch. With the heat on low, add cheese mixture, Dijon mustard and honey to the beer all at once, whisking continuously until the cheese is smooth. Season with salt to taste and serve immediately.

Learn more:

• For Samuel Adams recipes and pairing suggestions visit www.samueladams.com
• For additional information and to locate a Samuel Adams retailer visit www.samueladams.com 
• For more information on Beecher's Handmade Cheese visit: http://www.beecherscheese.com/

Samuel Adams, Boston Lager, and Old Fezziwig are registered trademarks of The Boston Beer Company.

ABOUT THE BOSTON BEER COMPANY:
The Boston Beer Company began in 1984 with a generations-old family recipe that Founder and Brewer Jim Koch uncovered in his father's attic. Inspired and unafraid to challenge conventional thinking about beer, Jim brought the recipe to life in his kitchen.  Pleased with the results of his work, Jim decided to sample his beer with bars in Boston in the hopes that drinkers would appreciate the complex, full-flavored beer he brewed fresh in America.  That beer was aptly named Samuel Adams Boston Lager, in recognition of one of our nation's great founding fathers, a man of independent mind and spirit.  Little did Jim know at the time, Samuel Adams Boston Lager would soon become a catalyst of the American craft beer revolution.

Today, The Boston Beer Company brews more than 60 styles of beer.  It relentlessly pursues the development of new styles and the perfection of classic beers by searching the world for the finest ingredients.  Using the traditional four vessel brewing process, the Company often takes extra steps like dry-hopping, barrel-aging and a secondary fermentation known as krausening. The Company has also pioneered another revolution, the 'extreme beer' movement, where it seeks to challenge drinker's perceptions of what beer can be. The Boston Beer Company has been committed to elevating the image of American craft beer by entering festivals and competitions around the globe, and is one of world's most awarded breweries at international beer competitions. As an independent company, brewing quality beer remains its single focus. Although Samuel Adams beer is America's largest-selling craft beer, it accounts for only one percent of the U.S. beer market.  The Boston Beer Company will continue its independently-minded quest to brew great beer and to advocate for the growth of craft beer across America. For more information, please visit www.samueladams.com.

ABOUT BEECHER'S HANDMADE CHEESE:
Founded in 2003, Beecher's Handmade Cheese is an urban cheesemaker operating out of Seattle's Pike Place Market and New York City's Flatiron District. Visitors to Beecher's glass-walled cheesemaking kitchens witness first hand the crafting of their signature favorite, Flagship cheese, as well as many of the other award-winning cheeses Beecher's has to offer. By starting with fresh, pure milk from local farms, and applying the traditional methods used by cheesemakers for thousands of years, Beecher's cheeses are free of artificial ingredients making them just as delicious as the milk they are made from. 

Everything produced by Beecher's, from the handcrafted cheeses to the delicious side dishes and crackers, is free of all artificial preservatives, coloring and flavor enhancers.  Beecher's is part of the Sugar Mountain family of businesses whose mission is to "Change the Way America Eats." To that end, one percent of all sales is donated to the Beecher's Pure Food Kids Foundation (www.purefoodkids.org), founded by Beecher's in 2004, empowering kids to make healthy food choices for life.

Beecher's products are available through its website, cafes and New York City restaurant (The Cellar), and at retailers nationwide. For more information, visit www.beecherscheese.com.

Samuel Adams, Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Old Fezziwig are registered trademarks of The Boston Beer Company.

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SOURCE The Boston Beer Company

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