Beer and cheese are two kindred spirits waiting to make a perfect duet. The main thing is to find “the same” combination of tastes. And it’s not as hard to do as it seems. Even easier than with wine. Let’s talk about what kind of cheese to serve with beer.
Beer and cheese: the basic rules for combining flavors
When choosing a cheese snack for a foamy one, the main rule is to observe the perfect harmony of tastes. And here, everything is simple – beer and cheese should have the same aroma intensity. For example, gentle, not too rich snacks are suitable for a light drink. And beer with an intense bouquet is better to combine with precisely the same cheeses – tart, salty, aged.
But do not forget that the chief judge deciding what cheese to serve with beer is you, not eminent tasters! The combination of tastes is not so much a science as an art. Someone will like the same coordinated intensity of aromas and give contrasts to another.
Therefore, here you can safely experiment, trying to combine foamy with those cheeses that, at first glance, do not fit this variety at all.
For serving cheese use wood charcuterie board – your appetizers will look very impressive!
How to choose cheese for beer
Styles of foamy, as well as varieties of cheese, a great combination. Even drinks from the same category often have severe differences in bouquets. This means that cheese, which last time went well, for example, with a light lager, at the next party may not seem so tasty in combination with a drink from another brand.
But still, let’s try to summarize the recommendations of experts. How to choose an appetizer for cheese beer? We will focus on a specific type of foam.
Pale lagers
This category includes many bottom-fermented beers – Pilsner, Munchener Hell, American and European lagers, Helles Bock. Hop and malt notes are well traced in drinks, with a slight bitterness at the finish.
Try pairing pale lagers with lighter cream cheeses like Brie or American Muenster. These snacks will gently contrast with the beer’s slight bitterness, giving it a whole new facet of taste. Mozzarella or unaged cheddar can also be served with lagers. Even a cheese spread will do, which can be filled with crackers or biscuits, breadsticks, toasted toast.
Dark lagers
These include Munchner Dunkel, Schwarzbier, Dunkel Bock and others. Each style is unique. But all dark lagers have a vibrant malty taste with fruity nuances and moderate sweetness in the finish.
Beer with non-trivial aromas, which include dark lagers, try to combine with gouda, parmesan, or Munster. Any Swiss cheese with a slightly nutty flavor can work here. Such an appetizer will complement the fruit motifs in dark beer in the best way.
Stouts and Porters
All dark stouts and porters have a common feature – bright notes of hops, malt, and fruits play in their bouquet, sometimes subtle nuances of spices and chocolate show themselves. The cheese you serve with the foam is desirable to be the same “complex.”
Try pairing your favorite stout or porter with Gorgonzola or Stilton. It is believed that blue cheeses and dark solid beer are the perfect combinations. A rich bouquet of stout and porter balances the salty taste of the appetizer.
Wheat beer
Refreshing wheat beers boast light citrus and spicy notes in the bouquet, moderate acidity at the finish. All in all, a very mild beer. And cheeses should be just as “unobtrusive.”
Mozzarella, ricotta, provolone, and goat cheese are perfectly combined with wheat varieties of foam. Or try to play on the contrast of tastes – as an appetizer, use a richer aged cheddar, Emmental or Gruyère.
Pale ales
There are many beers in this category, such as IPA, Bitter, Golden Ale, and Pale Ale. Drinks are brewed using top fermentation technology. Hop notes are heard in the beer taste; a pleasant tart bitterness and sourness appears at the finish.
Almost all pale ales pair well with blue cheeses, which have a powerful aroma. Gourmets are sure – here it is, a complete harmony of tastes. Gorgonzola, Fourmes d’Amber, Dorblu, Stilton, Saint-Agur, etc. can be chosen as an appetizer for beer. This beer is also often combined with aged spicy cheddar.
Prefer taste contrasts? Then try serving pale ale with tender feta. This cheese can be used, for example, to make toasted toast – it turns out to be a good snack for beer.
Brown ales
These include the famous and beloved many Scottish Beers, British Mild, Brown Ale, Old Ale, Barley Wine. There is no strong bitterness in the beer, and due to the presence of dark malts in the composition, a pleasant sweetness appears in the drinks.
Serve brown ale with a reblochon, muenster or poise. These cheeses have a restrained but multifaceted taste, just like the foam. To enhance the aromatic contrast, brown ale can be served with blue cheese. It will be exceptionally well combined with Barleywine.
Lambic
This is a Belgian beer produced by spontaneous fermentation. The technology is quite complex. And the taste of the beer itself is also very versatile. Many even distinguish the taste of cheese and mold in the bouquet of individual lambics. No wonder – the uncontrolled wort fermentation process does its job. Here the cheese appetizer is more relevant than ever. Among the varieties of lambic, there are Gueuze, Oude Gueuze, Faro, Mars, Kriek (with fruit).
A versatile option that will suit almost every lambic is blue cheese. There are plenty of options – Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Stilton. Aged sharp cheddar will also work.
And try combining fruit screams with gouda or parmesan, for example.
Basic rules for serving cheese with beer
Why not turn beer tasting into an exciting experience? So for the evening, we buy several types of cheese at once. It can even be those varieties that “compete” with the drink’s taste – and suddenly, they will appeal to those gathered at the table.
The best option is to serve a whole plate of cheese with beer. It is recommended to combine at least 3-5 types of cheeses on it. To help them, they usually use flat plates or thick wooden boards of dark shades – then an exciting color contrast between dishes and dishes is obtained. Each cheese should have its knife or fork to prevent the flavors of the snack from mixing. This is especially true for soft and blue varieties.
Cheese alone as an accompaniment to foamy is too dull. Decorate the cheese board so that other snacks are present here. When it comes to beer, it’s usually crackers, biscuits, or chips (look at the example). But it is pretty acceptable to supplement cheeses with pears or grapes – following the example of serving wine.