Food pairing
Beer with blue cheese
Intensely salty, pungent, fatty cheese — one of the hardest things to pair with anything.
Salt, fat and blue-mould pungency together, at an intensity very few beers can meet. This is one of the small number of dishes where a beer over 8% is the correct answer rather than an indulgent one.
Sweetness is what balances the salt, so barley wine and Belgian dark strong ale both work. Hop bitterness does not: it and the blue mould amplify each other into something metallic, which is the most common cheese-and-beer mistake there is.
Blue cheese narrows the field sharply, and one answer stands clear of the rest. Most beer falls down on at least one thing this dish demands. The attribute doing most of the work is salt.
What to drink
English barley wine — classic pairing
The traditional match, and it works on intensity: blue cheese is salty and aggressive enough to flatten almost anything, and a barley wine is one of the few beers with the density to answer it. The beer’s dried-fruit sweetness plays the role port does in the same pairing.
Caution: Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
Belgian dark strong ale — excellent pairing
Dark fruit sweetness against salt and pungency, with high carbonation scrubbing the fat. A lighter-bodied alternative to a barley wine that achieves much the same balance.
Caution: Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
Bière de Garde — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Tropical stout — strong
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
Oud Bruin — strong
Tartness resets the palate between mouthfuls, the way a squeeze of lemon does.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
American porter — strong
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
Czech dark lager — strong
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
Bock — strong
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
What not to drink
- Alcohol-free stout — A light beer against a heavy plate tends to disappear.
- Alcohol-free pale lager — Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
- Grodziskie — A light beer against a heavy plate tends to disappear.