Volume 1: Beers

You know the old saying, “It’s 5 o’ clock somewhere!” Well we’ve compiled a stellar list of cheese and beer pairings that hit the mark every time.  So if you like cheese, you like beer and you’re over 21, keep reading to see our top beer selections to wash down with your favorite cheeses.  Cheers!

Cherubic Young Gouda & Pilsner: We like this combo because both the cheese and the beer have comparable flavors.  As a general rule, you want to find pairings that do not overpower each other.  Otherwise you are going to lose either the cheese or the drink to the pairing.  In this instance, both are light, refreshing and subtle.  The carbonation in a Pilsner also helps contrast the fatty profile of the cheese.

St. Mary's Grass-fed Gouda & Schwarzbier:  Schwarzbiers are dark Lagers.  They are a great choice because they’re made using roasted malts and barley.  This adds a bit more of a roasted, smoky flavor to the beer.  What’s more, flavors of dark Lagers tend to be a little bitter with a slight sweetness.  When paired with the fatty St. Mary's, the beer becomes richer in texture and the sweetness in the beer is pulled to the forefront of your taste buds because of the sweetness in the grass-fed milk.  The roasted malts help bring out the caramel flavors that linger on the finish of the cheese. 

Jeffs’ Select Gouda & American Pale Ale: Jeffs’ Select is a great choice to pair with an American Pale Ale.  That’s because APAs use more citrus and piney hops when compared to the English variety.  While you’ll often find APAs paired with farmhouse Cheddars, the switch to Gouda is a pleasant surprise.  When paired with the piney hops, you can really focus on the dank, earthy flavor from the natural rind. 

Fini Sharp Cheddar & Bock Beer:   Because Fini is a sharp, aged Cheddar that has a malty, sweet finish, pairing it with a Bock beer is an easy win.  A Bock beer is a bottom-fermented Lager that ages longer than your typical Lagers.  It has a smooth mouthfeel that tends to be a bit less carbonated.  It also has strong malty, sweet flavors (remember our rule about similar flavors playing nice together?)  This combo creates a rich, fatty sensation on your tongue and the malt in the beer brings out the sweetness of the Cheddar, which helps to balance out its initial sharpness. If you like something sweeter, you can intensify this pairing by using a Doppelbock. 

Felix Blue Cheese & Coffee Stout: Coffee and Blue cheese is a treasured pairing among mongers.  When you use a coffee Stout, you can turn that pairing up a notch. The roasted coffee flavor as well as the roasted malts and/or barley used to make the beer helps to bring out the earthiness in the rind of the Felix.  At the same time, the smooth, rich mouthfeel of the Stout helps to create an even richer texture on the Blue cheese.  If you want to intensify this pairing even further, you can use a BBA Coffee Stout to add a Bourbon flavor to the pairing. 

AmaBlu Blue Cheese & Porter: Porter beers are basically the younger sibling to a Stout.  Not as strong as its older sibling, this beer nonetheless still exhibits many of its characteristics.  A Porter is made with dark malted barley, hops and top-fermenting ale yeasts.  They are dark medium-bodied beers that perfectly balance bitter and sweet.  When paired with AmaBlu, the Porter will highlight the sweetness in the Blue and at the same time add a bit of bitterness to the cheese, helping to dampen its fruity flavor.

AmaGorg Gorgonzola & Fruit Sour Beer: Sour beers can be intense, and so can Blue cheese.  One way to think of pairing beers and cheese is to factor in intensity.  You want a complimentary intensity so you do not lose the flavors in either of the items being paired.  Sour beers and Gorgonzola fall on similar ends of the spectrum of intensity.  Picking a fruited sour will help balance out the tart flavor of the beer by adding a bit of sweetness.  This fruitiness helps to pull the sweet, fruit flavors out of the AmaGorg.

St. Pete's Select Blue Cheese & Barleywine: Barleywines are tough beers to pair because they are so intense in both flavor and alcohol by volume (ABV).  Traditionally, a Barleywine is thick with high alcohol and fruit flavors.  Think raisins and prunes.  You need a big cheese to stand up to this big beer, and that’s where St. Pete’s Select delivers.  This cheese will be able to hold its own between the strong flavors of fruit, caramel and alcohol.  The texture of the beer creates a rich mouthfeel and the dark fruit flavor will help cut the sharpness in the Blue.  This is definitely a warmer pairing that should be sipped and savored slowly. 

Stay tuned for our next installment, which will focus on the ultimate pairings for cheeses and wines!