Beer and Goats! Obviously.

Dock St Market played host to the second meeting of Homage2Fromage, a new cheese club in Leeds. This month it was all about goats cheese and beer.

Cheese club? There is a whiff of the 70s about the term, but this new monthly gathering is anything but cheesey and outdated.

I love most cheese, but especially the many goat varieties, and after having an enforced 9 month ban it was great to hear of an evening based around eating them, and best of all, also sampling cheese with beers! Hurrah. Not the most obvious of pairings, but it really works.

The atmosphere was really relaxed and not in the least bit snooty. The 45 strong crowd was a friendly bunch and it was a great way to spend an evening. Nick and Vickie hit the mark just right by letting the food be the centre of the night. On arrival we were allowed to tuck in to the samples on offer. These demonstrated well how different goats cheese can be regarding both texture and flavour. One example was almost yoghurt like in consistency whilst another was more like a hard cheese. After we’d sampled all 5 goats cheeses, Nick and Vickie told us some general goaty facts, as well as specific information about each cheese sampled. Apparently, the Queen has a no goats cheese allowed rule on her royal rider – what a stinker!

Leigh from The Good Stuff beer blog gave us 3 delicious beers to sample with 3 cows milk cheeses. I hadn’t known what to expect from this, but it was really interesting. The beers brought out different elements in the cheeses than wine would, and made it all more refreshing and less claggy. Even with blue cheese, (bleurgh).

Homage2Fromage is an interesting new venture brought about by a love of food and the sociable, generous nature of it’s hosts Nick (The Source Leeds and Shelf Life) and Vickie. What’s better than an evening spent eating, drinking and nattering? Not much.

Find Homage2Fromage on Twitter: @Homage2Fromage