This was not what I was expecting at all. I was looking for a raspberry cheesecake thing, all milky creaminess and sweet fruit. What I got was an uncompromising, head twisting, mouth puckering match – Tangfastics for grown-ups.
William Heaps is a fresh lactic cow’s milk cheese with lots of acidity, London Sour is SOUR. All the sugar from the raspberries must have fermented, yet it’s only 2.9 % ABV making it eminently drinkable. How do they do that? I don’t usually hold with matching acidity with acidity, yet this really works for me.
Normally, I’d put a fresh young cheese like William (we’re on first name terms now) at the beginning of a tasting but as Evin, guv'nor of The Kernel suggested, you could have this half way through to cleanse your palate and your mind. In fact he describes the sourness of the beer as ‘perfectly clean and cleansing.’ This pairing will definitely feature in my Spring cheese and beer tastings.
Fun Facts:
William Heaps made by Blackwoods Cheese Company in Brockley, is one of a series of cheeses named after convicts who were transported to Australia for stealing cheese.
London Sour Raspberry is The Kernel’s interpretation of a Berliner Weisse. The raspberries were added to the beer for two months ‘to let them peacefully undergo a second fermentation.’
For more about William Heaps and his brother cheeses click here.
For more about Kernel Brewery and their beers click here.