Did you know there is a National Cheese Toast Day, and it is celebrated every September 15? That’s the day set aside to honor this humble food made from the pressed curds of milk.
Know who’s known for cheese?
Winchester.
As the Birthplace of Beer Cheese, Winchester definitely has a leg up on this food holiday. Talk about giving a culinary classic a zing. Beer cheese makes everything better, as the folks along the Beer Cheese Trail will tell you.
“Most of the world’s problems could probably be solved with either beer or cheese but combining them both creates an unstoppable happy resolve to any problem,” quipped Chad Walker, owner of the Engine House Pub and Pizza Parlour.
We have the founder of the Sizzler restaurant chain to thank for Cheese Toast. Del Johnson created the toasted treat back in 1958. It was an instant hit for its gooey comfort-food goodness and gastronomical versatility. Toasted cheese can star on the appetizer tray, as a soup’s dunk mate and in place of an entrée as the main course. And when the cheese in question is beer cheese, it elevates any food occasion even more.
For instance, Beech Springs Farm Market and Gaunce’s Deli & Café both sell their own special-recipe beer cheese. Grab a container to take home, toast some bread and generously spread on the beer cheese. National Cheese Toast Day never tasted so good.
You don’t have to limit the celebration to toast alone. Download a Cheese Log and hit the Beer Cheese Trail and its 14 unique stops. That’s 14 opportunities to sample this satisfying sensation.
Treat your tastebuds to such cheesy delights as the Steak and Beer Cheese Omelet from Pilot View Mini Mart, Beer Cheese Nachos from DJ’s Steakhouse, Shrimp and Beer Cheese Grits from Loma’s at the Opera House and Beer Cheese Soup & Beer Cheese Burger from Hall’s on the River.
At the Waterfront Grill, cheese toast gets the full upgrade by being prepared on a salt block and transformed into the Grilled Beer Cheese Melt. Munch on that as you consider this: Two hundred forty-six years ago, in this very location, Daniel Boone’s daughter Jemima was kidnapped, along with two of her besties. (Don’t worry: They were rescued three days later.)
At the Engine House, Walker has mashed together two Kentucky piquant powerhouses: the restaurant’s own Rough and Ready Beer Cheese, named after the fire brigade that once called Winchester’s original fire station home, and the Hot Brown, that oh-so cheesy sensation spiked with crisp bacon and juicy tomatoes. Talk about next-level cheese toast! This is it.
“If there’s ever been a trail that should make someone’s bucket list, the Beer Cheese Trail is it,” said Walker. “No other trail boasts both beer and cheese in one delicious bite. And no other trail can be fine-tuned to accommodate your perfec