As you may have gathered from a previous post or two, I love cheese. But the truth is, I love beer even more. Yeah, I know. I’m supposed to say I prefer wine because it is more sophisticated, more Italian, blah blah blah, but that would be a lie. Last week while food shopping with a friend at Emporio del Gusto in Rome’s San Paolo neighborhood, we spotted a product that combines my two favorite things: Cahill’s Irish Porter Cheddar, a firm white cheese mixed with Guinness to produce a strange marbling effect reminiscent of salame di cioccolato. Though the ideal pairing would have been a pint of Guinness, we settled on a cold Aecht Gehlenferla Rauchbier (aka “smoke beer” made with smoked malted barley). It was so good I even excused Cahill’s Irish Porter Cheddar for being vegetarian (it is made with vegetable rennet), a factor that doesn’t usually win points in my book.

Emporio del Gusto
Via Chiabrera, 58a
Tel. 06.5412480