Cheese and beer.
Wine is not the only thing that matches cheese perfectly. Lots of gourmets combine cheese with beer. As in the case of Bacchic beverages, it is important to combine cheese types with an appropriate alcohol. Serve expressive, strong beers with cheeses with clear, full taste "with character". Lighter cheeses should be combined with more delicate beers, otherwise the taste of the beverage may dominate the features of cheese.
INFALLIBLE COMBINATIONS:
Hard cheeses with expressive beers
Cheddar, Bursztyn or greyerzer will harmonise well with ale beers such as McEwen’s India Pale Ale or Belgian Golden Strong Ale. A good choice should also be traditional American beer brewed using technology which combines top and bottom fermenting yeast (e.g. Anchor Steam).
Mozzarella with wheat beer
Both – mozzarella, and cheese feature a light and fresh taste. Therefore, the following are worth a try: German beers - Erdinger, Faustus, Paulaner; Belgian ones: Hoegaarden Witbier, Stendonk Brabants Witbier and Brugs Tarwebier; Ukrainian Obolon; or Polish beers: Ciechan or Frater.
Blue cheeses with dark beers
Sharp, piquant taste of these cheeses matches strong beers, porters and stouts well.
Gouda with low hop beer
Quite a sharp, nutty flavour of matured cheese is well offset by mild beers such as English Brown Ale and Amber Ale.
Brie and other soft cheeses with mould growth
They need beers with full, mature flavour. Lagers will be appropriate, e.g. Beck’s, Carlsberg, Heineken, Lech Premium, Stella Artois, Zywiec. Soft cheeses combine well with fruit so it might be interesting to put them together with fruity, dry beer, e.g. the Belgian cherry beer called Kriek.
