The Beer
The simple fact that Hennepin Belgian Farmhouse Saison is made in America amazes me. As a beer junkie for some time now, I am used to great beers emanating from this side of the pond. On occasion, however, I am still stunned by how well the brewers in America have reproduced the classic styles of beers available in Germany, England and lately, even Belgium.

When I was setting up this pairing, I intended to use Saison Dupont from Belgium. This is the benchmark Saison, and has been my go-to Saison for two decades. But I have enjoyed several Belgian style beers from America lately and decided to see what I could find from the States as well. I chose Hennepin from Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown, New York and tried it side-by-side with my standby. While the Belgian was more tart and a bit more complex, the New York version held its own and actually paired better with the cheese and add-ons I wanted to showcase. I must say here that the Ommegang Brewery, though started by an American couple, has since been sold to one of the large Belgian Breweries, Moortgats, makers of Duvel – but they continue to produce the same excellent, unique brews for which they became known.

Saison just means “season” and refers, depending on whom you ask, to either spring and the end of the brewing season or summer, the season in which the beers are typically consumed. Traditionally, these beers were made at the end of the spring and had a bit higher alcohol and more hops and other adjuncts to preserve them over the summer, when it was too hot to brew. Noted for their complex, almost wine-like flavors, these beers are always bottle-conditioned and employ the champagne-style cork and cage closure. They are sometimes aged in oak barrels before bottle conditioning, often picking up the famous brettanomyces yeasts (brett) that give even more wine-like flavors. Certainly not a beer for beginners, but it is worth the effort and expense to acquire both the beer and the appreciation thereof.

This pair can stand up to anything you want to throw at it. I picked a strong salame from the Columbus Salame Company’s Artisan line called Finocchiona that is made with sherry wine, fresh garlic and fennel seeds. If you are familiar with the ubiquitous ‘Chubs” for which this salame company is most famous, let me prepare you for a surprise. The Artisan line is awesome! Yeah, it still has nitrites and nitrates, but hey, we are all going to go sometime, I want to be as well preserved as possible, right? For the sweet side, we went with one of my new must-haves for cheese, 34° Passion Fruit Paste from Australia. This flavor states it is “great on fresh cheese”, but I disagree. It is great on ALL cheese! You can use any bread or cracker you want with this group; we had a terrific baguette from Raymond’s Bakery in nearby Cazadero.

Why it Works
The stripped-down version of this pair, Pont l’Evêque and Hennepin without the extras, is fine on its own. The earthy, slightly salty cheese is perfectly counterbalanced by the herbaceous, yet wine-like tartness of the Saison. There are certainly hops in the mix, but they take a backseat to the yeasty, sour apple character of this fine Belgian style farmhouse ale. Add in the rich mouthfeel of the handmade charcuterie with its fennel-garlic finish and the overwhelming tropical fruit sweetness of the passion fruit paste, and it’s hard to stop eating.

Read about Mark Todd.

Created for Barbara Adams Beyond Wonderful by
Mark "The Cheese Dude" Todd.