IT’S A POINT OF CONFUSION for many Houstonians that while Houston Dairymaids sells and distributes cheese, it is not a farm and does not make cheese. Things are about to get more confusing: This Monday, owner Lindsey Schechter sent restaurants including Brasserie 19, Pass & Provisions and Fielding’s Local a new cheese, which she helped mastermind. “We’ve been so excited about this,” she says.
Jasper Hill Farm (its aging facility is known as the Cellars at Jasper Hill) in Greensboro, Vermont, had sent Schechter other cheeses with rinds washed with beers made by brewers in other states. One such fromage is Jasper Hill’s Willoughby, washed with Vermont brewer the Alchemist’s Petit Mutant. It’s significant that the cheese wasn’t made with one of the Alchemist’s popular-on-the-black-market, hoppy brews like Heady Topper or Focal Banger. “Hoppy and bitterness just bring out bitterness,” when washing cheese rinds, Schechter explains.
Partnering with Saint Arnold was a no-brainer. “Brock [Wagner, the brewery’s founder] is a huge cheese lover,” Schechter says. It was just a matter of picking the right beer. Mateo Kehler of Jasper Hill communicated that berry flavors work especially well with cheese. Luckily, Saint Arnold was just about to release Raspberry AF.
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