Loop Store Anniversary and New Pairing

Come and join us this coming Friday, October 23 as we celebrate the second anniversary of our Loop location. Of course there will be lovely cheeses to nibble and we'll be pouring tastes of the Domaine Saint-Vincent from New Mexico. The celebration starts at 4pm and ends when the cheese tray and bubbly samples are gone.

We've got a new pairing this week also. Our featured cheese is the Stichelton from Nottinghamshire, England-hand selected for us from the fabulous affineurs at Neal's Yard Dairy. This 100% handmade, non-pasteurized blue cheese has a creamy butteriness to it with just the right amount of blue spiciness.

For libation, Jan suggests you pour yourself a glass of the Two Brothers Coffee Bean Porter "Red Eye". This is a dark, robust and powerful beer well balanced with rich chocolate and coffee notes. A perfect companion for the slightly fudgy consistency and spicy flavor profile of Stichelton.

Weekly Pairing & Saturday Events

This coming Saturday we've got two great events going on. At our Broadway store from 1-3pm we have a special event with Mike and Carol Gingrich of Uplands Cheese Company in Dodgeville, WI.

Then, later that same night we have our Oktoberfest Tasting from 6:30-8pm at the Lake St. store featuring local beers and cheeses. If you saw our bit on "1st look" you know that beer and cheese are very good friends indeed.

Speaking of local beer, Avalon Spiced Ale is one half of our new pairing. From Two Brothers Brewing Company in Warrenville, IL. The spices and apple flavor contribute to the aroma, but upon sipping don't overwhelm the smooth flavors of the beer. This is sure to be a fall and winter favorite!

For cheese we're pairing the Brie de Meaux from France, one of the most well-known cheese in the world. This might look like a mild and demure cheese, but that's far from the truth. This cheese is earthy with mushroom and onion qualities to it making it one of the bigger cheeses in the bloomy rind part of our cheese case. A cheese like this does very well with the tart, spiced nature of the Avalon.