NEWPORT, OR. –In a collaboration of crafts, two small Oregon companies who have earned worldwide critical acclaim – Rogue Creamery and Rogue Ales & Spirits — have released the first in a series of 2009 Bintage Cheddar and TouVelle cheeses made with a variety of hops from Rogue’s Micro Hopyard.
The first hop cheese is Rogue Farms Freedom Cheddar, a cow’s milk cheddar hand mixed with Freedom Hops from the Chatoe Rogue Micro Hopyard in Oregon’s Wigrich Appellation. Whole hop leaves are de-stemmed by hand, steeped in hot water, mixed into the curds and eventually pressed into blocks.
It is not the first time the two Rogues have collaborated — Morimoto Soba Ale Cheddar and Chocolate Stout Cheddar are available at the Rogue Creamery Cheese Shop and online store, all Rogue Ales Public Houses, as well as select gourmet retailers nationwide.
The Rogue Brewery in Newport, Oregon is located between two famous dairy appellations, Tillamook and Bandon, and for 23 years has shared its spent grain as rumen protein for dairy cows in the valley adjacent to its Micro Hopyard. Rogue remains dedicated to saving the terroir of Oregon hops & barley one acre at a time by growing, farming, malting, milling, brewing, fermenting, distilling, smithing, ocean-aging and smoking their own.
Rogue Ales & Spirits is honored to be a part of the American Cheese Renaissance.
The Rogue Creamery, an artisan cheese company, with people dedicated to service, sustainability and the art and tradition of making the world’s finest handmade cheese, has received over 70 awards for taste and quality, including multiple 1st Place Medals for their Echo Mountain, Rogue River, and Oregon Blue Cheeses at both National & International cheese competitions. Rogue Ales & Spirits was recently awarded the Platinum Medal for XS Imperial Red Ale at the World Beer Championships, as well as the Gold Medal for Chatoe Rogue Oregon Single Malt Whiskey at the 2011 International Review of Spirits.