Beer, cheese and pretzels

There has been a cheesemonger in Menai Bridge for at least 1.5 years! And I had never been. Of course I intended to go as soon as I heard about them, but you know how it goes; I never thought of it when I was actually in the neighbourhood. But one day the perfect opportunity presented itself.

Martin had been in Germany, and brought back a generous amount of great German beer. He had done the same thing the year before; we had had a lovely beer drinking session at his place around the start of the new term. And I think he might want to make it a tradition. And we are certainly not complaining!

If you drink beer you probably also need some nibbles. And then I had a brainwave; I could go to the cheese shop! I'm sure they have stuff you can pair well with German beer. So on an October Thursday, I for the first time set foot in & Caws. (You guessed it; Caws is Welsh for cheese.) I was a bit shocked by the size of the cheese counter; no Dutch cheese shop would have one that small. But it is not all about quantity. I only needed a few pieces! And they most certainly did have varieties that looked like they would do the job rather well. I came away with a piece of Alp Blossom, Valdeon Picos de Europa and Comté. And the next day I would find out whether that was a good choice!

The actual beer drinking evening started with a bit of chaos; Siobhan texted shortly beforehand that her car wouldn't start. Now what? But luckily Tom could drop her off. She could just stay the night, and have Martin bringing back the next day. Sorted!

With that brief panic out of the way we could just enjoy the evening. The beer was great, Martin had baked excellent pretzels, the cheese was lovely (both the ones that I had brought and the ones Susan had brought), Dean was all dressed for Oktoberfest. The company, obviously, was excellent. So a good night! And I wouldn't mind if we do that again next year. And I fully intend to go back to the cheese shop…

Martin’s pretzels and beer