Unlike many a beer geek I know, I am not racist again wine snots lovers.  Actually, I have ten bottles of wine in my house right now, although, they remain full.  But why must the wine connoisseur  have all the good food associated with their beverage?  Namely, I am thinking of cheese.

Let it be known, I am a cheese lover.  Growing up, our refrigerator was always filled with cheese.  At our favorite beer store, I frequently linger in the cheese aisle after having camped out in the beer aisle.

It occurred to me one night at a fancy party I was attending in which fine wine was served with platters of expensive (an very delicious!) cheese, that the two flavors just didn’t match.  I tried…I really did, but the red wine went much better with the braised beef.  I thought about this more and more and realized that beer was a better soul mate to cheese than wine (at least in my opinion).  It occured to me while I was drinking a sour ale, that cheese is made using bacteria similar to beer (and wine), however, first it is “soured” using enzymes.  A sour beer certainly must compliment a pungent cheese!

So, while beer is my first love, and cheese a close second, I have recently begun experimenting with the two.  A few nights ago I had an aged Irish farmhouse cheddar paired with Reinart’s Flemish Wild Ale.  The taste of the two together was sublime.  Reinart’s is not for the faint of heart.  It is made with three yeast strains, one of which is a wild strain.  This wild strain is introduced into empty barrels of the beer from natural Belgian breezes.  The beer itself smells like a funky cheese.  It has a natural, wild, earthy flavor and is naturally sour.  The notes of sour cherries and wheat went perfect with the strong dense flavor of the cheese.  I would be willing to posture that the the Flemish ale was a byproduct of the introduction of trace amounts of lactobacillus (bacteria for souring) and thus has a lot in common with the cheese.  As a beer/cheese neophyte, I know I got lucky with this combination.  We all know that the complex flavors of beer will not be a universal match with every cheese.  If interested, here is a nice starter guide.

If you get a chance, try pairing these two creations…If you like cheese (and I know you love beer) you will not be disappointed.  Regardless, beer is much more parable with a variety of foods than wine, due to its typically lighter flavor, and need not be paired with a fancy cheese.  Perhaps the wine lover would say the same thing.  In fact, one of my favorite movie scenes is from the movie Sideways in which in a fit of depression, Paul Giamatti drinks his prized uber-expensive bottle of wine with a cheap, greasy fast-food meal.  Experience and setting is everything, possibly trumping pairing at times.

Any favorite beer/food pairings you fancy?  Let us know so we can give them a try!