This Month We're Focusing on Beer and Cheese

Skip the wine and cheese party - perhaps the true soul partner for fromage isn't made from grapes … It is too short-sighted to confine pairings to wine when many types of subtle and sophisticated beers are available.

Watch the masses munching nachos at ballparks, they don't need convincing beer and cheese go together.

We should realize that beer and cheese have far more in common than wine and cheese. Beer authorities offer several theories for why their favorite beverage is superior with cheese. One theory is the two products grew up together on the farm, with the farm family making both cheese and beer. They surely would have wanted their beer to taste good with their cheese and vice versa. Furthermore, experts say both cheese and beer are based on grain, although cheese's link to grain - via the grazing animal - is a stretch. Theories aside, beer excels with cheese because of the harmonies and contrasts the beverage brings to the match.

Most cheese experts agree that there are eight different styles of cheese. Let's match a beer with each cheese type.

Fresh, Soft Cheese (Pot, Cottage, Ricotta)
American Wheat Beer - Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat / $7.99 6pk
American Lager- Skyscraper Lug Nut Lager / $11.75 6pk

Soft, Spreadable Cheese (Camembert, Brie)
Euro Lager - Warsteiner Lager / $13.75 12pk
Pilsners - Pilsner Urquell / $14.99 12pk

Semi-soft Cheese (Gouda, Havarti, Monterey Jack)
English Brown - Sam Smith's Nut Brown / $8.75 4pk
Ale - Troegs Rugged Ale / $9.49 6pk

Semi-hard Cheese (Cheddar, Swiss, Edam, Jarslberg)
ESB - Flying Fish ESB / $8.59 6pk
IPA - Magic Hat Lucky Kat IPA / $7.99 6pk

Hard Cheese (Parmigiano)
Doppelbock - Ayinger Celbrator Dopplebock / $9.75 6pk
Stout - Stone's Imperial Stout / $5.99 22oz

Blue Vein, Marbled Cheese (Roquefort, Stilton, Gorgonzola)
Porter - Arcadia Shipwreck Porter / $7.99 22oz
Barley Wine - Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot / $14.50 6pk

Goat Cheese ( Roquefort, Romano, Feta)
ESB - Red Hook ESB / $6.99 6pk
IPA - Victory Hop Devil IPA / $9.25 6pk

Stretched Curd cheese ( Mozzarella, Provolone)
Belgian White - Blue Moon White Ale / $15.49 liter
Bavarian Wheat - Hofbrau Weiss / $8.25 6pk