Steve Jones new Cheese Club (with Beer & Cider pairings)
Southeast Portland's Cheese Bar is launching a monthly cheese club with optional beer, cider or wine pairings.
Oregon's top cheesemonger Steve Jones has done a lot to advance the conversation on beer and food pairings, on cheese and beer specifically. Having opened his own cheese retail shop called Steve's Cheese in northwest Portland in 2006, Jones moved shop and reopened as Cheese Bar in 2010. Jones also opened the Cheese Annex at The Commons Brewery and Chizu downtown (both now defunct). This week Cheese Bar announced they are launching a monthly cheese club with an option to add his famous beer and cider pairings.
Each month Cheese Bar will select three of their current favorite cheeses and cut, and wrap a 1/3rd of a pound of each. At least one of the three will be an exclusive early preview cheese of something coming soon to the shop selection. Each month of cheeses will have a theme; it could be a geographic region, a style of cheese or even a season. The amount of cheese and the rotating selection is perfect for parties and groups, as well as an opportunity to experience cheeses that you may not otherwise get a chance to try.
Cheese Club Memberships are sold on a quarterly 3-month basis, so you can sign up for 3, 6, 9 or 12 month subscriptions. Pickups for the cheese club will happen at Cheese Bar (6031 SE Belmont Street Portland, OR 97215) every first Tuesday of the month and the shop will keep your box for a week. If you do not pick up your box by the following Sunday, they will actually refund the cost and restock the cheese for just a 20% restocking fee. You can also suspend your membership for one month as long as you give a weeks notice.
This is where the beverage portion comes into the cheese club. Each month, the cheesemongers at Cheese Bar will choose a beer, wine or cider that pairs with that months selections. Cheese Bar already has a nicely curated selection of beers and Steve Jones wrote the book on pairing them with cheese. This is a great opportunity to dive into cheese pairings and Jones has thoughtfully written pairing notes on each.
The beverage option is an additional $60 per quarter, but it also comes with a copy of the book Cheese Beer Wine Cider: A Field Guide to 75 Perfect Pairings if you commit to a year.
The cheese club memberships start at $35 per month with a three month commitment. The longer you sign up for, the better the price. Three month memberships to the Cheese Club are $105 ($35 per month), a six month commitment is $200 (saves $10), 9 months for $295 (save $25), or 12 months for $360 (save $60.)
Either stop in to Cheese Bar or call them at 503-222-6014 to sign up for the Cheese Club.