Beer and cheese make the perfect pairing. We all love the romance of enjoying a little wine with our cheese, but what if I told you that beer can actually make a better pairing partner? Here are 9 of my favorite beer and cheese pairings to get you started.
Mess around with these guys, then get kinky with some experimental matchmaking on your own. Sbrinz paired with oatmeal milk stout. Beer and cheese pairings are all about balancing the flavor intensity. Remember: taste the cheese first, then the beer, then try them together. Wheat ales have plenty of effervescence, which slices through this dense, cakey cheese like a knife. Sour beers have a ton of funky acidity, which you want to balance out with lots of fat. Avoid tangy cheeses like feta, and go for those indulgent, voluptuous cheeses that always leave your lips feeling slick with butterfat.
Try it with a double-cream brie Mt. Tam, Burrata, or marscarpone. For those times when you just need something simple and satisfying, pick up your favorite cheap beer, grab some Ritz crackers, and open a tub of creamy cheese spread.
Enjoy yourself with abandon, and remember, this, too, is a sexy way to indulge. American Pale ales make for easy drinking, so couple them with something equally low maintenance. The slight sweetness from the malts gets along really nicely with that tangy cheddar flavor. The barny flavors in earthy clothbound cheddar mellow the bitter hops in the IPA and tease out the fruity bits.
Aged alpine-style cheeses have complex, lasting flavors that can range from nutty to floral to grassy and beyond. Farmhouse ales all have a funky, earthy flavor that can hang with all those intricacies and bring a dry crispness to refresh the palate. The yeasty, banana bread flavors in these robust ales calm the stank in washed rind cheeses. Belgians are also bold enough to stand up to the rich, custard textures.
