I've obviously done many posts about various beers, and various cheeses. But I think this is the first one that's a combination of the two. Thinking about it, I'm kind of surprised it's taken so long. I mean, I've done weird alcoholic combos like "hard" iced teas, "hard" popsicles, and even "hard" candies, but not cheese. Anyway, today's cheese is the Challenger IPA from the English Somerdale company.
Given England's extensive history, I halfway expected the maker of this cheese to have been around for over a century, or possibly several centuries. But no--Somerdale International has only been active since 1990. It was founded by two men--Stephon Jones and Ernie Waldron. Its current headquarters are in the town of Wellington, in Somerset. They sell cheese that are from various farms, although all are either in the U.K. or Ireland. They make or distribute quite a few kinds of cheddar, a blue cheese, white Stilton, and several sorts of Wensleydale cheeses. They even make a 1776 aged cheddar, to celebrate the United States' 250th anniversary. Which seems a tad odd, since America achieved their independence by fighting the English. But, it has been a long while, and they're clearly over it. And, one of Somerdale's best customer bases is the U.S., so maybe that's part of it. The Challenger IPA cheese isn't even the only one that includes some booze in it, as there are two Claddagh Irish Cheddars with some--one with an Irish porter, and the other with Irish whiskey. I was further surprised to see a section on the official company website titled "Modern Slavery Transparency Statement." This statement is nicely progressive--Somerdale is against forced labor (or as they spell it, labour), and child labor/labour, and human trafficking in general. All good stuff, obviously, but it made me cynically wonder, how many foods and drinks have I bought that do support (or at least turn a bling eye to) human slavery and trafficking? It's more than a little unsettling.
Challenger IPA: It had an off white/pale yellow color. I had some plain at first. It had a crumbly texture, and tasted a bit sour, maybe a tad bitter like an IPA. But this last bit wasn't that strong, or completely evident. If you'd given this to me and not mentioned it was an IPA-infused cheese, I don't know if I would have determined or detected that. Still, it was tasty. I also had some on crackers, and the taste was pretty much the same. Or once again, very good. So, overall I didn't really recognize the IPA beer in this, but it was nevertheless a more than respectable cheese. Not shockingly, to any of my previous readers, I would highly recommend this, even if the beer taste isn't necessarily there.
I don't believe I've discussed this before, but if I did, forgive the repetition. Eating this cheese made me ponder--can foods with alcohol in them affect the consumer? Or, more bluntly, can eating a cooked dish with booze in it affect someone, or even make them intoxicated? I've heard that alcohol in food is cooked off, and evaporates, meaning it shouldn't really affect the consumer. However, that's not entirely true. Alcohol that is cooked does dissipate, and evaporate, but it's a bit slow, and certain cooking methods or the time spent cooking, can produce very different results. For example, if booze is added to a boiling liquid briefly it may maintain 85% of its potency. Alcohol added to food and flambeed may be 75% retained. If baked for about fifteen minutes, about 40% of the alcohol will remain. Increased this baking time to 60 minutes and the amount of alcohol left drops to about 25%, and after 120 minutes or so it decreases to about 5-10%. Now, this remaining amount probably won't mean much--even if you have some briefly baked dish, for example, 85% of an amount of alcohol equivalent to about a shot of liquor, or a glass of wine, or about 12 ounces of beer probably won't affect a normal person. Especially if this dish was eaten by more than one person. So, for most folks eating something made with alcohol probably won't be a big deal, but it you're a teetotaler, or are pregnant, or are a recovering alcoholic if might be significant, and a problem. If you're a member of these groups you should be very strict--it might not just be harmless flavoring.
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