Food pairing
Beer with mozzarella
A fresh milky cheese with almost no sharpness, valued for texture more than flavour.
Fresh mozzarella is valued for texture more than flavour: milky, soft, faintly sweet and almost entirely without sharpness. There is very little for a beer to react to, which makes burying it the main risk.
Something light and clean with enough acidity to lift the milkiness works well, and anything roasted, bitter or strong will simply take the cheese's place. As with most mild cheese, what it is served with — tomato, basil, oil, cured meat — has more say than the cheese itself.
Mozzarella rules a lot of beer out, but several beers do the job it needs equally well. Pick between them on preference — the reasons matter more than the order. The attribute doing most of the work is fat.
What to drink
Gueuze — outstanding
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Berliner Weisse — outstanding
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Australian sparkling ale — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Grisette — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Grodziskie — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Saison — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Belgian single — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Cold IPA — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
What not to drink
- British strong ale — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Old ale — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Doppelbock — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.