Cheese!

 Fresh Goats Cheeseallyoak allyoak Logo kindly designed by Simon
of CAMRGB

Cheese and beer has long been a passion of mine; so thought I'd share some tips with you as to what pairings work well.

 I've been lucky enough to attend a few pairing events myself and had my eyes opened to even more possible pairings I've tried to go for different styles of both beer and cheese and its hopefully gotten other people interested in pairing beer and cheese. I've certainly had people ask me on Twitter for suggestions.

 I'm also writing a new cheese and beer pairing book featuring UK brewers and cheesemakers, follow @cheeseandbeer for more details on that!

Here are my top 10 tips

1. Beer is a much better pairing for cheese than wine could ever be. Beer has carbonation to cut through the fat and a much wider range of flavours than in wine so its possible to both contrast or complement the cheeses, sometimes both at once!

2. Wine can still work well with cheese, even beating beer on occasion, but that's perhaps that the choice of beer wasn't quite right.

3. Session beers don't often stand up to cheese, there needs to be some alcohol in there.
4.  Blue cheeses work well with dark beers, umami-tastic!

5. Often cheeses and beers from the same country/region produce the best matches.

6. The most fun to have with cheese and beer is to just experiment. Buy four or five different cheeses, a selection of beers and try a bit of each with each, find out what you like.

7. Everyone has a different palate, what might be amazing to one could be anathema to another.
8. Cheddar works well with most beers, if in doubt get the best you can afford and have a go.
9. Quality really does matter

10. If you don't like cheese there's no helping you!

Useful Links

Pairing summary arranged by beer style (there's a good style guide on ratebeer).

Feel free to suggest others!

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Abbey Dubbel
Aged Blue cheese (e.g., stilton, dorset blue vinney)
 
Abbey Tripel 
Smoked cheese, soft-rinded cheese (i.e., brie), fresh cheese
Tripel Karmeliet and Ballyoak


Abt/Quadrupel 
Cheddar or pungent blue (gorgonzola, roquefort)
Rochefort 10 + Gorgonzola

Altbier
Mild and fruity hard cheese
 
Amber Ale
Soft rinded
 
American Dark Lager
White crumbly cheese (Cheshire, Lancashire)
 
American Pale Ale
Mild Cheddar
 
American Strong Ale
Mature Cheddar
Hard Blue
 
Baltic Porter
Aged Blue
 
Barley Wine
Mature Cheddar (Keen's, Quickes, Cornish Cruncher)
Blue Cheese (Stilton, Roquefort, Regional blues)

Old Numbskull and Cornish Blue

Belgian Ale
Washed rind or white rinded cheeses
Matilda and Aardharan
Belgica and Ogleshield
 
Belgian Strong Ale
Mature Cheddar (Keen's, Quickes, Cornish Cruncher)
Hard Blue (stilton, blue vinney)
De Dolle Oerbier and Dorset Blue Vinney

Belgian White (Witbier)
Crumbly white cheese (with fruit) (white stilton, cheshire)
 
Berliner Weisse 
Fresh Goats Cheese
  
Bière de Garde
Herbed cheeses (Roule, Yarg)

Bitter
Cheddar

Black IPA
Smoked cheese
Iniquity and Smoked Cheddar
 
Bohemian Pilsener
Gouda, soft goats cheese
 
Brown Ale
Hard sheepsmilk or goats (eg Ossau Iraty) 
Brooklyn Brown and Ossau Iraty
Sam Smith's Nutbrown and Goat Gouda 
 

California CommonHard mild cheese (edam, gouda)


Classic German PilsenerGouda


Cream Ale
 
Doppelbock
 
Dortmunder/Helles
 
Dry Stout
 
Dunkel
 
Dunkelweizen
 
Dunkler Bock
 
Eisbock
Mature Cheddar
 
English Pale Ale
Medium cheddar
 
English Strong Ale
Red Leicester
Franciscan Well Bell Ringer and Sparkenhoe
 
Foreign Stout
Fruity Blue
 
Fruit Beer
White cheese
 
Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Rinded white
 
Gose
Fresh goats cheese

Gueuze 
 Fresh Goats Cheese
 Aged Goats cheese Flor de ronda

Heller Bock
Rinded White
 
Hefeweizen 
Fresh Goats Cheese
Bristol Beer Factory Hefe and Ragstone
 

Imperial Stout
Blue Cheese, cheddar
Stilton and Oak Aged Yeti
Ballyblue and Belgian Yeti
 
Imperial/Double IPA
Mature Cheddar, Funky Blue
 
Imperial/Strong Porter
Mature Cheddar, Funky Blue
Gonzo Imperial Portr and Colston Bassett

India Pale Ale (IPA) 
Cheddar
Full-flavoured blue 

Irish Ale
Mild cheddar
 
KristallweizenFresh Goats cheese


Kölsch
Young Rinded White
 
Kvass

Aged gouda

Lambic - Faro
Washed Rind
Goats Cheese
 
Lambic - Fruit 
Fresh Goats Cheese
White stilton with fruits
3 Fonteinen Scharbeeske and Le Chevrot

Lambic - Unblended 
Fresh Goats Cheese
Aged Goats cheese
Washed Rind


Low Alcohol
Mild cheddar
Young hard cheese
 
Malt Liquor
Mature Cheddar
Hard Blue
 
Mild AleAged Gouda
Sam Smiths Oatmeal and Aged Gouda  

Oktoberfest/Märzen
Fruity Blue
 
Old Ale
Mature Cheddar (Keen's, Quickes, Cornish Cruncher)
Washed rind  (Langres, milleen)
Mild hard blues (cheshire, danish) 
Old Peculier and Cheshire 
Gales Prize Old Ale and Milleens

Pale Lager
Mild Cheddar
 
Pilsener 
Unaged Gouda


Porter 
Alpine cheeses (comte, gruyere)
Cheddar
Oddell Cut Throat Porter and Amber Mist

Premium Bitter/ESB 
Red Leicester
 

Premium Lager
Medium Cheddar
 
Saison 
Washed rind cheese (Stinking Bishop, GWR, Aardharan))
White-rind cheese (brie, camembert)
Sofie and Brie
Marble Saison Special and Stinking Bishop
Brooklyn Sorachi Ace and Barncliffe Yorkshire Brie

Schwarzbier
Crumbly White
 
Scotch Ale
Cheddar
 
Scottish Ale
Cheddar
 
Smoked 
Smoked cheese
 

Sour Ale/Wild Ale 
Goats cheese, washed rind
Deschutes The Dissident and Langres
 

Specialty Grain
Depends on grain

Rye rinded white


Oats Alpine cheese


Sorghum ?


Wheat (see weizen and wit)
 
Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Soft cheese/ fresh goats
 
Stout
Blue cheese
Brewdog Riptide and Cashel Blue
 
Strong Pale Lager/Imperial Pils
Mature Cheddar
 
Sweet Stout
Milk stout: Stitchelton/ soft blue(roquefort, cashel)

Oyster stout: Cream cheese


Traditional Ale
 
Vienna
 
Weizen Bock
 
Wheat Ale
Goats cheese
 
Zwickel/Zoigl/Keller/Landbier


Useful Links:

Fiona Beckett's Matching Food and Beer
Brewdog's Beer and Food Pairing  (and cheese and beer specifically)
American Craft Beer Association cheese and beer pairing leaflet (PDF)
Garrett Oliver's Brewmaster's table (highly recommended!)
Beer Genie's Guide (PDF)
Vinken and Van Tricht Beer and Cheese (Belgian Beer and cheeses guide, see link for review)
British Cheese board pairings by Melissa Cole
Billy Brew's guide