How to pair beer and cheese

WINE and cheese - like peanut butter and jelly, avocado and toast - it’s long been considered an ultimate pairing. But not anymore.

Brown ale works well with the strong flavours of blue cheese.

Wine and cheese – like peanut butter and jelly, and avocado and toast – it’s long been considered one of the ultimate pairings.

But not anymore.

As our love of craft beer booms and breweries pop up across the state quicker than weeds in spring, beer is fast muscling in on wine’s territory. Not only seen as an equally well-suited match to fromage, but in many cases, an even better one.

“It might seem silly to say, but they just work together,” says Brisbane beer expert Matt Kirkegaard.

“Whether it’s a cheesy pizza with a pilsner, or a bold blue cheese with a scotch ale, the flavours just work well.”

Kirkegaard runs beer and cheese matching nights through his business BeerMatt and says beer is often a far superior accompaniment to cheese than wine.

“The often strong flavours of cheese can sometimes overpower wine, while beer tends to be a little more robust to find a match,” he says.

“Also, with its hoppy bitterness and carbonation, beer cuts through and cleanses the palate so the fattiness of cheese doesn’t become too palate coating.”

In fact, Kirkegaard says there are surprisingly few beer and cheese matches that don’t work.

“There are often a number of great matches for each beer and for each cheese, and very few bad ones, ” he says.

“Don’t be afraid to experiment and don’t think that any suggestions are ‘rules’ – we’ll leave rules to wine.”

He says part of the fun of finding the perfect beer and cheese union is experimentation and encourages everyone to try new combinations as you never know what will work.

However, if you’re not even sure where to start, here are Kirkegaard’s top tips for marrying the two.

PALE ALE

What cheeses work:

American-style pale ales tend to work really well with a mild cheddar or the semi-soft Spanish sheep’s milk cheese manchego. The fruity hop notes and balanced bitterness of the beer brings out the characters of the cheeses.

Recommendations:

Revel Brewing’s Oxford Pale Ale or Green Beacon’s 3 Bolt Pale Ale with the Maffra cloth-aged cheddar, which has sweet upfront notes and complex after tones with a buttery texture.

INDIAN PALE ALE

What cheeses work:

IPAs are the bigger, bolder sibling to the pale ale and so can stand a bit more flavour. A matured cheddar or a good blue is a great accompaniment.

Recommendations:

Newstead Two to the Valley IPA with Cropwell Bishop Blue Stilton, which has a rich, tangy flavour and soft texture or Modus Operandi Sonic Prayer IPA, made with American, New Zealand and Australian hops, with Cabot’s American cheddar.

Beer expert Matt Kirkegaard shares his tips for the best matches for beer and cheese.

PALE LAGER

What cheeses work:

Lighter lagers work well with less intense cheeses such as the semi-hard, slightly sweet and nutty gouda or a semi-hard goat’s cheese.

Recommendations:

Crown Lager with the goat and ewe’s milk cheese Meli Melo from the Pyrenees in France, which has a smooth and creamy texture and slightly nutty and sweet flavour.

PILSNER

What cheeses work:

Pilsners step up the bitterness and malt body a little more than most pale lagers and so can
take some more flavour, so a good cheddar works well.

Recommendations:

Slipstream Brewing Company’s German-style Yerongpils pilsner or the Balter Pilsner with Cornish Kern from Lynher Dairies Cheese Company in England. Both are Queensland-made beers and work well with this hard cheese resembling Dutch and French/Swiss cheeses.

WHEAT BEER

What cheeses work:

Wheat beers are low in bitterness with yeast-driven flavours so work with complex cheeses such as the smooth and creamy brie or milder goat’s cheeses.

Recommendations:

Burleigh Brewing Co’s hefeweizen-style HEF, which won the best German Style Wheat Beer at the 2012 World Beer Cup, with Woombye Triple Cream Brie from the Sunshine Coast.

SOUR BEER

What cheeses work:

“Sour” covers a wide variety of beer styles with a huge range of flavour profiles. I would tend to use Flanders Red and Brown ales for cheese as the malt profile can soften the acidic bite and pair beautifully with a bold blue.

Recommendations:

Verhaeghe’s Duchesse de Bourgogne red-brown ale from Belgium with the intense Papillon Roquefort from France.

Beer is muscling in on wine when it comes to ideal matches for cheese. Picture. Nicole Cleary

SAISON

What cheeses work:

The fruity and spicy seasonal pale ales known
as saison are some of the most versatile beers
for food matching and can take a range of matches, especially with a washed or white mould and a blue.

Recommendations:

The Victorian-made, Belgian-style Bridge Road Brewers’ Chevalier Saison, which offers citrus character and grassy hop flavours, teamed with the double-cream, soft, mild and buttery D’Affinois – similar to brie. Or the Victoria-brewed La Sirene Saison, which has a dry, crisp finish and wild fruit aromas, with the award-winning, mild and creamy Tarago River Cheese Co Gippsland Shadows of Blue blue cheese.

BROWN ALE

What cheeses work:

The malt profile of a good brown ale brings out the nutty bite of many cheese styles, making it an extremely versatile beer.

It pairs well with everything from a young comte or aged gouda to mild cheddars, manchego and even blue cheeses.

Recommendations:

The New England Brewing Co Brown Ale with its chocolate, caramel and coffee notes teamed with Comte Marcel Petite from France, which has a nutty texture and caramel sweetness.

PORTER

What cheeses work:

The dark chocolate and coffee flavours of a porter can take some sharpness, so a bold and tangy cheddar works well.

Recommendations:

The Brisbane-brewed Green Beacon Penny Porter with Ashgrove Smoked Cheddar, which is naturally smoked using Tasmanian hardwoods to create a mild flavour.

STOUT

What cheeses work:

Beer styles seem to pair with cheeses that evolve nearby and a classic beer and cheese match is the English stout and stilton. This is a classic for a reason – it works.

Recommendations:

The Nail Brewing stout with Cropwell Bishop Blue Stilton, which is a semi-soft blue-veined, cow’s milk cheese with a strong and
tangy flavour and firm, smooth texture
made in England.

Originally published as How to pair beer and cheese