Mmmm… beer cheese
The Giant Co. has teamed up with a local brewery and creamery for the second time to introduce an exclusive store brand beer cheese that is fully and uniquely sourced from Pennsylvania dairy farms.
The new Perpetual Beer Cheese was developed with Caputo Brothers Creamery, Spring Grove, Pa., and Tröegs Independent Brewing, Hershey, Pa. It is described by the Carlisle, Pa.-based grocer as a sweet and creamy beer cheese that carries over citrus notes from adding Citra hops to the cheese, a key component for Tröegs best selling beer, Perpetual IPA.
Caputo adds in the hops by having cheesemakers run warm milk through sacks of whole-flower Citra hops before pressing it into form, and then the cheese bathes in a brine of saltwater and Perpetual IPA. While aging in the Caputo cave, the cheese also gets a daily misting of the beer, accentuating the beer’s arom into the rind and giving off a golden hue to the cheese.
“Perpetual is the best-selling IPA in Pennsylvania and is a favorite of many beer drinkers,” says John Trogner, brewmaster and founding brother, Tröegs. “What the team at Caputo did with this cheese is just amazing. It is unapologetically a beer cheese and biting into it and tasting the unmistakable citrus notes of Perpetual makes us as brewers really happy. Local dairies, local beer, local good says it all.”
Last year, Giant teamed with the same experts to create a beer cheese they called Troegenator Beer Cheese. This new exclusive offering will be found at all 186 Giant, Martin’s and Giant Heirloom Market locations, as well as through Giant Direct and Martin’s Direct online.
Working with Caputo this year is especially nice, as the coronavirus pandemic has been very difficult on dairy farmers, forcing them to dump excess milk that hasn’t been going to places it normally does like schools and restaurants.
“The GIANT Company is passionate when it comes to sourcing locally grown and produced products and we’re incredibly proud of our ongoing Caputo Brothers and Tröegs collaboration and the positive impact it is having on our local agriculture industry,” said John Ruane, chief merchandising officer, Giant. “Our customers loved the first variety we launched last year, and we’re thrilled to introduce this latest flavor that does good in driving more business for our local small food companies and to our dairy farmers.”