Cheese!

 Fresh Goats Cheeseallyoak allyoak Logo kindly designed by Simon
of CAMRGB
Cheese and beer has long been a passion of mine; so thought I'd share some tips with you as to what pairings work well.

 I've been lucky enough to attend a few pairing events myself and had my eyes opened to even more possible pairings I've tried to go for different styles of both beer and cheese and its hopefully gotten other people interested in pairing beer and cheese. I've certainly had people ask me on Twitter for suggestions.

 I'm also writing a new cheese and beer pairing book featuring UK brewers and cheesemakers, follow @cheeseandbeer for more details on that!

Here are my top 10 tips

1. Beer is a much better pairing for cheese than wine could ever be. Beer has carbonation to cut through the fat and a much wider range of flavours than in wine so its possible to both contrast or complement the cheeses, sometimes both at once!
2. Wine can still work well with cheese, even beating beer on occasion, but that's perhaps that the choice of beer wasn't quite right.
3. Session beers don't often stand up to cheese, there needs to be some alcohol in there.
4.  Blue cheeses work well with dark beers, umami-tastic!
5. Often cheeses and beers from the same country/region produce the best matches.
6. The most fun to have with cheese and beer is to just experiment. Buy four or five different cheeses, a selection of beers and try a bit of each with each, find out what you like.
7. Everyone has a different palate, what might be amazing to one could be anathema to another.
8. Cheddar works well with most beers, if in doubt get the best you can afford and have a go.
9. Quality really does matter
10. If you don't like cheese there's no helping you!

Useful Links

Pairing summary arranged by beer style (there's a good style guide on ratebeer).

Feel free to suggest others!

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Abbey Dubbel
Aged Blue cheese (e.g., stilton, dorset blue vinney)
 

Abbey Tripel 
Smoked cheese, soft-rinded cheese (i.e., brie), fresh cheese
Tripel Karmeliet and Ballyoak


Abt/Quadrupel 
Cheddar or pungent blue (gorgonzola, roquefort)
Rochefort 10 + Gorgonzola

Altbier
Mild and fruity hard cheese
 

Amber Ale
Soft rinded
 

American Dark Lager
White crumbly cheese (Cheshire, Lancashire)
 

American Pale Ale
Mild Cheddar
 

American Strong Ale
Mature Cheddar
Hard Blue
 

Baltic Porter
Aged Blue
 

Barley Wine
Mature Cheddar (Keen's, Quickes, Cornish Cruncher)
Blue Cheese (Stilton, Roquefort, Regional blues)

Old Numbskull and Cornish Blue

Belgian Ale
Washed rind or white rinded cheeses
Matilda and Aardharan
Belgica and Ogleshield
 

Belgian Strong Ale
Mature Cheddar (Keen's, Quickes, Cornish Cruncher)
Hard Blue (stilton, blue vinney)
De Dolle Oerbier and Dorset Blue Vinney

Belgian White (Witbier)
Crumbly white cheese (with fruit) (white stilton, cheshire)
 

Berliner Weisse 
Fresh Goats Cheese
  
Bière de Garde
Herbed cheeses (Roule, Yarg)

Bitter
Cheddar

Black IPA
Smoked cheese
Iniquity and Smoked Cheddar
 

Bohemian Pilsener
Gouda, soft goats cheese
 

Brown Ale
Hard sheepsmilk or goats (eg Ossau Iraty
Brooklyn Brown and Ossau Iraty
Sam Smith's Nutbrown and Goat Gouda 
 

California CommonHard mild cheese (edam, gouda)


Classic German PilsenerGouda


Cream Ale
 

Doppelbock
 

Dortmunder/Helles
 

Dry Stout
 

Dunkel
 

Dunkelweizen
 

Dunkler Bock
 

Eisbock
Mature Cheddar
 

English Pale Ale
Medium cheddar
 

English Strong Ale
Red Leicester
Franciscan Well Bell Ringer and Sparkenhoe
 

Foreign Stout
Fruity Blue
 

Fruit Beer
White cheese
 

Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Rinded white
 

Gose
Fresh goats cheese

Gueuze 
 Fresh Goats Cheese
 Aged Goats cheese Flor de ronda

Heller Bock
Rinded White
 

Hefeweizen 
Fresh Goats Cheese
Bristol Beer Factory Hefe and Ragstone
 

Imperial Stout
Blue Cheese, cheddar
Stilton and Oak Aged Yeti
Ballyblue and Belgian Yeti
 

Imperial/Double IPA
Mature Cheddar, Funky Blue
 

Imperial/Strong Porter
Mature Cheddar, Funky Blue
Gonzo Imperial Portr and Colston Bassett

India Pale Ale (IPA) 
Cheddar
Full-flavoured blue 

Irish Ale
Mild cheddar
 

KristallweizenFresh Goats cheese


Kölsch
Young Rinded White
 

Kvass

Aged gouda

Lambic - Faro
Washed Rind
Goats Cheese
 

Lambic - Fruit 
Fresh Goats Cheese
White stilton with fruits
3 Fonteinen Scharbeeske and Le Chevrot

Lambic - Unblended 
Fresh Goats Cheese
Aged Goats cheese
Washed Rind


Low Alcohol
Mild cheddar
Young hard cheese
 

Malt Liquor
Mature Cheddar
Hard Blue
 

Mild AleAged Gouda
Sam Smiths Oatmeal and Aged Gouda  

Oktoberfest/Märzen

Fruity Blue
 

Old Ale
Mature Cheddar (Keen's, Quickes, Cornish Cruncher)
Washed rind  (Langres, milleen)
Mild hard blues (cheshire, danish) 
Old Peculier and Cheshire 
Gales Prize Old Ale and Milleens

Pale Lager

Mild Cheddar
 

Pilsener 
Unaged Gouda


Porter 
Alpine cheeses (comte, gruyere)
Cheddar
Oddell Cut Throat Porter and Amber Mist

Premium Bitter/ESB 
Red Leicester
 

Premium Lager

Medium Cheddar
 

Saison 
Washed rind cheese (Stinking Bishop, GWR, Aardharan))
White-rind cheese (brie, camembert)
Sofie and Brie
Marble Saison Special and Stinking Bishop
Brooklyn Sorachi Ace and Barncliffe Yorkshire Brie

Schwarzbier

Crumbly White
 

Scotch Ale

Cheddar
 

Scottish Ale

Cheddar
 

Smoked 
Smoked cheese
 

Sour Ale/Wild Ale 
Goats cheese, washed rind
Deschutes The Dissident and Langres
 

Specialty Grain

Depends on grain

Rye rinded white


Oats Alpine cheese


Sorghum ?


Wheat (see weizen and wit)
 

Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Soft cheese/ fresh goats
 

Stout
Blue cheese
Brewdog Riptide and Cashel Blue
 

Strong Pale Lager/Imperial Pils

Mature Cheddar
 

Sweet Stout
Milk stout:
Stitchelton/ soft blue(roquefort, cashel)

Oyster stout:
Cream cheese


Traditional Ale
 

Vienna
 

Weizen Bock
 

Wheat Ale

Goats cheese
 

Zwickel/Zoigl/Keller/Landbier



Useful Links:

Fiona Beckett's Matching Food and Beer
Brewdog's Beer and Food Pairing  (and cheese and beer specifically)
American Craft Beer Association cheese and beer pairing leaflet (PDF)
Garrett Oliver's Brewmaster's table (highly recommended!)
Beer Genie's Guide (PDF)
Vinken and Van Tricht Beer and Cheese (Belgian Beer and cheeses guide, see link for review)
British Cheese board pairings by Melissa Cole
Billy Brew's guide

2 comments:

  1. That was a useful tips, thanks for sharing it. I'll try this with my friends on weekends, but still depends with the cheese to use for it. Sargento is 100 % real and natural cheese. Check it out ! Thanks.

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  2. This is a new and good read to me...thanks for sharing :)

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