Regional Treasures & Pairing Deluxe: Beer and Cheese from the Kufstein District
Cheers to brilliant beer and cheese combinations!
Regional connections are a must when pairing beer and cheese. For this reason , certified cheese sommelier Harald Weidacher and certified beer sommelier Victoria Strallhofer from Culinary Craft Tours explore the regional offerings in the Tyrolean districts in the following blog series and present outstanding combinations. With more than 30 breweries of various sizes and over 100 different cheese producers (including dairy processors, direct marketers, and alpine pastures), numerous possibilities for captivating and surprising pairings open up.
For the third edition of this series we go to the Kufstein district .
If you're a craft beer enthusiast looking to get your money's worth in Tyrol, you can't miss the diverse and, above all, creative beer styles from the Bierol brewery.
Located in the picturesque village of Schwoich in a side valley between Kufstein and Wörgl, owners Christoph and Lisa and their dedicated team brew pale ales, saison beers, stouts, wheat beers and everything in between.
Since the takeover of the former “Stöfflbräu” pub brewery in 2014, a lot has happened:
The conversion of the former dining room into the “Bierol Tap Room” began, and the culinary map of Tyrol began to change dramatically.
The sophisticated beer flight menus and delicious bar food were so popular that the Gault & Millaut award was not long in coming.
Among the most recent awards is the “Best Beer Restaurant in Tyrol” award.
Regionality is also very important here:
The fields surrounding the farm are used to grow the farm's own brewing barley and hops, and produce from the farm's own vegetable garden is transformed into special brews such as Pumpkin Ale.
This regional identity is evident not least in the naming of the various beer styles. Here, the Lower Inn Valley dialect is skillfully incorporated into wordplay and presented in a high-quality, and above all, unexpected, way. 
Beer styles in the tasting:
Brewed with: Water, Barley Malt, Oats, Wheat, Hops, Yeast, Coffee, Vanilla
Taste: Roasted aroma, with coffee, chocolate and vanilla notes
Alcohol: 6.8%
Brewed with: Water, barley malt, oats, wheat, hops, yeast
Tastes: Fresh, fruity (exotic fruits such as mango, passion fruit and pineapple) and hoppy
Alcohol: 5.6%
Brewed with: Water, barley malt, oats, hops, yeast
Tastes: Balanced, hoppy, drinkable
Alcohol: 4.7%
Brewed with: Water, barley malt, wheat, whey, hops, yeast, lemon zest, orange zest, coriander
Taste: naturally cloudy, refreshing, with a fine citrus note, reminiscent of Belgian beers
Alcohol: 4.4%
Fun fact: This very special beer was created in cooperation with the Milchbuben from Hopfgarten and won the 1st Tyrolean Food Innovation Award 2023 .
Brewed with: Water, barley malt, hops, yeast, bitter orange, ginger, coriander, cinnamon, juniper, clove, long pepper, pumpkin
Tastes: of herbs and spices, of citrus fruits and rather dry
Alcohol: 5.4%
SCHWOICHER HELLES (cellar beer)
Brewed with: Water, barley malt, hops, yeast
Tastes: finely balanced, drinkable
Alcohol: 4.9%
Brewed with: Water, barley malt, wheat, smoked beech malt, hops, yeast, rhubarb
Taste: light, with a hint of smoky aroma, fruity, rather dry
Alcohol: 3.6%
Brewed with: Original, strong grain, spices and rather dry
Tastes: Water, barley malt, spelt, rye, wheat, oats, hops, yeast
Alcohol: 5.5%
To select the cheeses, we worked with the Plangger cheese dairy in Sebi near Niederndorf in the Kufstein district, where the subsequent tasting also took place.
The cheese dairy was founded in 1971 by Herbert Plangger and initially grew quite quickly to include other cooperatives.
Since 2015, the cheese dairy has been under the management of the next generation, with Reinhard Brunner.
The heart of the cheese dairy is the impressive rock cellar, in which the regional treasures of mountain cheese and semi-hard cheese are stored and matured at a height of several meters.
The rock cellar is 160 meters long, 10 meters wide, and 8 meters high, houses a total of 25 different types of cheese, and can be visited at any time above the shop.
This family-run business is guided by the principles of unconditional quality and environmental awareness. The cheese is made using 60% organic hay milk and 40% hay milk, and the cheese is then crafted and refined according to traditional recipes.
The cheese factory works with 100 local farmers, who supply it with 10 million liters of milk annually for production. This amount produces 1,000 tons of delicious cheese.
The Plangger cheese dairy specializes in a purely natural product without colorings or artificial flavors.
The cheese factory has been working with farmers for decades with three pillars for cultivating their fields:
1) Microflora and effective microorganisms
2) Biolith rock sand for earthworms
3) Special biochar
Supporting farmers and raising awareness of regional food are at the top of Plangger's philosophy.
Senior boss Martina Brunner:
“In the past, every village had a dairy, a bakery and a butcher.
It would be important for people to learn to appreciate pure, natural products again and for food to regain its value. Milk prices should also be reasonable to ensure farmers' survival. And I think it's enormously important that Tyrol, and indeed Austria, is able to feed itself.
I would like people to support small businesses more again.”
Together with Martina Brunner, Harald Weidacher and Victoria Strallhofer were able to taste the selected beer styles with the selected cheeses in the impressive ambience of the tasting room with a view of the rock cellar.
The exciting results of the tasting with a hint of the best pairings can be found here:
Plangger's organic basket cheese with pepper
Soft cheese, white mold, matured for approx. 4 weeks, min. 45% FIT, mushroom aroma, light peppery spiciness, creamy & buttery, with even holes
Optimal pairing:
Sunnseiterl: Beer and cheese create a beautiful, balanced interplay; the respective flavors do not interfere with each other and complement each other, creating a combination that is enjoyable with every sip!
Plangger's organic basket cheese with flowers and herbs
Soft cheese with a rind made from herbs and spices, white mould, matured for approximately 4 weeks, min. 45% FIT, lactic acid and mushroom aroma, ripe and very creamy core
Optimal pairing:
Koida Coffee: Admittedly, we didn't see this combination coming either—which proves that you should always try everything, because a surprise can lurk around every corner. The Baltic Porter "Koida Coffee," with its higher alcohol content and intense coffee, chocolate, and vanilla aromas, along with a subtle hint of carbonation, demonstrates the flavor potential of dark beers. The basket cheese with flowers and herbs shouldn't really make sense together, but they do, surprisingly. The creaminess of the cheese plays wonderfully with the roasted aromas in the beer, and the herbal and spicy notes of the rind reappear on the finish.
Clear conclusion: You absolutely have to try it, otherwise you won’t believe it!
Fun Fact: Harald Weidacher's favorite combo of the day
Plangger's Organic Tilsiter with Flower Spice
Semi-hard cheese with herbs and flowers, matured for approx. 3-4 months, 45% FIT, creamy and nutty with a nice melt
Optimal pairing:
The Padawan: The mouthfeel of beer and cheese goes very well together here, and initially the aromas of exotic fruits in the beer play with the earthy quality of the cheese.
The beautiful, pronounced hop body in the finish of the beer combines with the creaminess and nuttiness of the cheese and rounds off the tasting experience with a light bitterness.
Plangger's organic Urfels cheese
Semi-hard cheese, 45% FIT, matured for at least 7 months, rind refined with herbal extracts and rock salt, fine melt, salty-sweet aromas
Optimal pairing:
KU Brew Whey Beer: This combination creates a surprisingly balanced interplay of different flavor components and acidity profiles, and is definitely our favorite beer with this cheese. The flavors from the herbal extracts and rock salt combine with the coriander and orange notes in the beer to create a party in the mouth.
Plangger's Organic Pepper Witch
Semi-hard cheese, min. 45% FIT, matured for at least 4-5 months, rind with beetroot, creamy and nutty, with a slight peppery spiciness
Fun fact: The Pepper Witch actually existed! However, she's more commonly known to locals as the "Seetal Witch." This is Katharina Buchauer, who lived alone with three goats in a small house in the Seetal valley at the beginning of the 20th century. She was particularly notable for wearing countless layers of clothing. This unfortunately proved fatal in her old age: while lighting a fire on the open hearth, her clothes caught fire, and the Seetal Witch burned to death.
Optimal pairing:
The Grain: very harmonious, both players don't get in each other's way – each works individually, but together they're much more enjoyable. The Cereal Saison refreshes with a pleasant hint of carbonation that wonderfully balances and flatters the slight peppery spiciness of the cheese.
Fun Fact: Victoria Strallhofer's favorite combo of the day
Plangger's organic mountain cheese
Matured for 6 months in a rock cellar, 45% FIT
Spicy mountain cheese made from organic hay milk, full-bodied aroma, velvety finish, beautiful closed dough, taste lingers long on the palate, reminiscent of brown butter
Optimal pairing:
Schwoicher Helles: In Schwoicher Helles, the mountain cheese finds a wonderfully harmonious partner. Thanks to the herbal hops used in the beer, the spiciness of the cheese creates an elegant pairing that no tasting should be without.
The clear conclusion of this tasting:
You should definitely try everything available at your local grocery store. And don't be afraid of unusual pairings! You'll always be pleasantly surprised.
And so we are already looking forward to our next stop with the wonderful topic “Cheese and Beer from the Regions of Tyrol”.
Short portraits:
Victoria Strallhofer is a certified beer sommelier and the founder of Culinary Craft Tours. On her tours and workshops, she introduces people to the diverse range of Tyrolean culinary products.
Your favorite beer style: Zwickl, preferably from Tyrol
Next projects: Expansion of tours within the various regions of Tyrol and networking of all small and medium-sized businesses via a hiking network
Harald Weidacher is a qualified cheese sommelier and teaches at the tourism schools at the Wilder Kaiser in St. Johann in Tirol, course director for cheese sommelier training at the University of Agriculture and Environment Ober St. Veit Vienna,
His favorite cheese: Spicy, intense and if possible from Austria
Next projects: further tastings with Victoria (“Beer and Cheese”), cheese training for the consumer / end user, publicising our wonderful Austrian cheese specialties
