Pairings Archives | Cheese Buzz

The beer. Probably the most liked drink of men around the world but at the same time, the most hated one by women. Just because what it can do to men. They can get quite drunk from it. Apart from the feeling a couple of pints of beer can give you, there’s much more to this tasty beverage, and it’s rise to fame since the old days. Beer has been around for a long time. Some state that first beer produced states back to 5th millennium BC. Yea, you heard well. 5th millennium before Christ. So you can pretty much say that beer is ancient. And ever since then, it has been used in various forms to quench the thirst of people around the world. Many years have passed since then, and now we have a never-ending palette of available beer. Light, dark, high or low on alcohol, crafted or not, aged and so on. The list can go on forever, and there is so much variety in the beer industry nowadays that you can’t say you couldn’t find a perfect beer for you. With so many beer companies and small producers of this lovely beverage, the general taste of beer has changed a lot. But, one thing which hasn’t changed ever since then is how good beer goes with specific products. Now we all know that beer goes well with everything that has a potato base such as fries or chips. Beer also goes hand in hand with sausages or any kind of meat. But, we all know that the one product that hijacks the spotlight when it comes to beer mix is definitely - cheese. Beer & Cheese If you never tried to mix beer and cheese we kind of feel sorry for you. You’re missing a lot, and this article needs to wait if that’s the case. Get some cheese, try it out in combination with beer and get back here. On the other hand, if you’re familiar with the perfect mix of beer and cheese, then you’re in the right place. Let’s talk some more about this holy partnership. First of all, how the heck did people start mixing these two products? It’s easy. Since cheese goes basically with everything,, and so does the beer - 1+1 equals two and there you go. People tried out different combinations and voila! The perfect one arrived. Beer is excellent by itself. But, cheese adds so much to the fact that it’s almost like you drink a whole other beverage. But you need to pick your product smart. For example, if you mix neutral cheese with a strong dark beer high in alcohol, you won’t feel the combination very well. You won’t taste cheese at all. Beer will take the primate of the taste, and it’s going to feel like drinking a beer alone. So, you need to play smart. Not every cheese can go with every beer and vice versa. If you want to pull the most out of this holy combination, you need to know what you are doing. Therefore, we’ll list some of the best combinations out there that will make a rhapsody in your mouth and make your mind blow up. After you taste some of them, you won't be able to imagine drinking beer alone ever again (or eating cheese alone). Pilsner and Soft-Ripened Goat Cheese Pilsner is the beer that tastes like beer, and it also happens to be one of the most popular types of lager. It’s crisp and clean, with just a whisper of happiness, and when it comes to flavor, it’s not the most aggressive. That makes it a perfect pairing beverage and therefore, we’ll pair it with simple, goat cheese. It has a specific taste to it but it isn’t as strong as some on this list. They comply with each other so well that sometimes I can’t even believe why you don’t get a pack of this cheese with every pint of Pilsner. Anyways, if you’re a rookie when it comes to beer drinking but mixing it with cheese as well, this is a perfect combination for you. It will serve as a high entry point to the world of classic mixes. But if you’re an experienced beer and cheese lover, you can go back to the roots whenever you like to. After all, you were a rookie at one point in time, right? Imperial Stout and a Creamy Blue It's kind of an expert pick, but still, you don't need to be an expert to try it out. Since Imperial Stout is firm, it needs something to hold it down. And, is there possibly a better pick than a creamy blue cheese? And when it comes to picking the best blue cheese, you should look for the ones with bigger mold pockets. It’s a clear sign that the cheese is old enough and that it will be able to carry the strong taste of Imperial Stout. But why do they go well so good? The thing is that French blue, which has a super creamy texture, will turn the stout and the cheese into something which resembles a milkshake. Now, don’t get us wrong. You’ll still taste that sweet and robust beer. But not to the same degree as before, which may sound better than you think. This type of cheese and beer compliment each other so well that it would be a great disappointment if we aren’t using them as a mix. Porter and Gauda Porter is another type of beer that goes well with certain kinds of cheeses. If you have never heard of it, it’s something like a long lost cousin of the stout mentioned above. It’s much weaker, though, with less alcohol percentage, and it’s way more straightforward when it comes to the taste. All of this means that you won’t need a sharp cheese to pair it with. Gauda is perfect for this duo as it’s strong enough to remain noticed but weak enough at the same time not to take over the taste of the mix. It’s something like a perfect couple - the ones you read in fairytales or see in the movies. Fruity IPA and Cheddar Now we move on to the fruity stuff. It might sound a bit weird, but beers that have some sort of fruit added to them are becoming a massive hit amongst beer lovers of the word. And we're glad the situation is as such, because the prominent notes of mango, blueberries, pineapple, and passionfruit that you'll find in most of today's IPAs pair perfectly with one of the most popular cheeses around the world - cheddar. Cheddar has a buttery texture that sort of coats your mouth when you eat it. It’s strong enough, and it has some slight tanginess to it. It's excellent as the taste of basically any fruit goes on well with this kind of product. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what type of fruity IPA you pick. The one thing you need to keep in mind is that you should always pick cheddar with it because if you make a mistake and pick, let’s say gouda, the mix will fail. You can easily recognize cheddar by its strong orange color. One might wonder how come it's orange and made out of milk which is white? Well, that's a story for another article. Sour Ale and Burrata There probably isn’t a better demonstration of how two such different products work well together as Sour Ale and Buratta. Every beer has some kind of acid in it. In some of them, that acidity is sharp, and for the others, it isn’t. Sour Ale has a high acidity feeling. So, what is the best way to neutralize it? Add some fat to it. And Burrata is perfect for this equation. It has a high-fat percentage, which compliments well with this kind of beer. It’s so good that it makes the beer feel a bit sweet, and that’s a taste everyone should try once in their life. This combination brings the best out of the two. Conclusion So, after reading this article, hopefully, now you know what’s the best way to mix beer and cheese. If you have never thought about it, we hope you learned something new. The thing is that when it comes to mixing different products (it doesn't have to be beer and cheese), you need to experiment and try out new things. We can tell you what we think is the best combination of the two out there, but it all comes to a personal decision. Something that works for us maybe won't work for you. And that's okay. People have different tastes, and it takes time and experimentation to find the perfect pairing. Heck, you might try a custom combination of your own! Some local beer and cheese that we never heard of. Maybe that combination can find its place in some other article. Yours is just to try it out.