How to Pair Cheese and Beer

How to Pair Cheese and Beer Divya Gugnani: Wine and cheese get all the headlines. But many cheese lovers think beer is better. I'm Divya Gugnani here at Mario’s Cheese Shop in Greenwich Village, New York a true cheese lover paradise so let's go behind the burner and meet the expert to learn why beer and cheese is better. So I'm here with beer expert and Brewmaster Garrett Oliver from Brooklyn, Berea. Garrett I have had wine and cheese many, many times but I've not had beer and cheese so tell me, what is the first thing I need to think about? Garrett Oliver: Well, the first thing you need to realize is you’ve been missing out because the actual true pairing for cheese is actually beer. Beer comes from essentially the same place where the cheese comes from. I mean you have grass which is barley and it gets made into this various wonder milks and they are made to cheese. Grapes I'm afraid they have nothing to do with grass. Divya Gugnani: Do they have the common home which makes the natural extension for great pairing? Garrett Oliver: Absolutely. And this really provides the basis of the harmonies that you're going to get between the beer and the cheese. Divya Gugnani: So what's different about pairing wine and cheese, and pairing beer and cheese? Garrett Oliver: Well the big difference is that with wine, you’re looking at mostly contrast. You have grape and fruit flavors versus salt versus acidity and the other flavors that you have in cheese. Beer has a much wider range of flavors. It can be roasted, it can be caramelized. You're going to use those flavors to work with the cheese plus the secret weapon—carbonation. Divya Gugnani: I know. I can say that carbonation of the beer actually keeps your palate very rationed. Garrett Oliver: Exactly. Divya Gugnani: What is the experience on the flavors of the cheese? Garrett Oliver: Scrubbing in bubbles. Divya Gugnani: It is like scrubbing bubbles. Garrett Oliver: Scrubbing bubbles they lifts all the fat off your palate and allows all the flavors to come back tasting fresh. So you're really going to engage the cheese in a completely different way than wine does, which is why when we do wine versus beer with cheese, I win. Divya Gugnani: So, let's taste some beer and cheese. Garrett Oliver: Well, let's start at the beginning. Here we have a wonderful beer from Maine called Allagash White. This is made partly from melted barley and partly from raw wheat. But the special thing about it is that, it is spiced with purasal, orange peel and coriander. Now, this is really traditional. Just as with wine you get the beer around the glass and white wine glasses are great and you smell it. Divya Gugnani: Why are we drinking out of a wine glass? Garrett Oliver: Because these are glasses that are actually made for tasting. And it has a bowl to it so you can really—yeah, you got to be able to snot. Divya Gugnani: So taste your beer in wine glass, another great tip from Garrett Oliver because it’s a great way to taste. Garrett Oliver: And never over chill. See if you have mass market beer, you can chill it down because there’s no actual flavor to that much to taste. But when you have something that’s really got nice flavors, give it a few degrees warmer and let it open up. Divya Gugnani: So what's an ideal temperature? Garrett Oliver: I would say 45 degrees Fahrenheit. It is an average best temperature for real beer. Divya Gugnani: That’s great. And so, are you thinking at all about the color? So what cheese are we going to have with this? Garrett Oliver: The coloring not as much. What I’m - about is what kind of milk is it? Is it a bright fresh flavor? How is this beer going to give this cheese? And what I'm looking at first is a goat cheese. So here we have our La Coupolen and you're looking at the classic crumbly texture. It’s got a little bit of age on it, nice bloomy rind and what this cheese about acidity, brightness. You know, what you get from goat cheese of course salt always part of that and look at how this little citrus character here engages the citrus character on the cheese. So you have to eat. Divya Gugnani: Eat the little bite; I pull the whole thing in my mouth. The goat cheese is fantastic. It’s so creamy. It’s just my palate is just melting. Garrett Oliver: And now taste it with the beer and see where these two things go together. Now, look at the— Divya Gugnani: The citrus nodes from the beer. Garrett Oliver: You're going to taste quality of this cheese the way it coats your tongue. A lot of wines would bounce off. Divya Gugnani: So this is a match made in heaven, this is the path Garrett. Garrett Oliver: Great. I'm going to pass you. It’s good to pass. I hate fail. Fail is bad. Divya Gugnani: And so you were talking about the color a little bit. Garrett Oliver: Well here, you have a little bit more color obviously rather a lot more color and this are from caramelized malts. These malts have been— some of them have been roasted like coffee beans, some of them turned into caramel. Now, you can certainly engage lots of different flavors with that. But with the cheese like this, if you look at the color, the color actually does tell you something. This is a cheese that’s starting to age. It’s trying to take on some colors; a little bit brown or little bit richer, richer yellow and this will tend to have nutty flavors that you're going to be picked up on by the caramel flavors in this beer. So you can see the color that you have here, it really ties directly into the nutty caramelization that you have in the cheese. And so these two dive one into the other and you see the way the harmony that’s comes together like this. With the wine, you could have a nice pairing but the pairing would be about contrast. It is fruit versus nuttiness rather than nuttiness and caramelization come together. Divya Gugnani: This is all about harmony. So beer and cheese harmonies, bonding flavors is complementary. Garrett Oliver: These two almost seem like they were made to go with each other. Divya Gugnani: I can attest to that. Garrett Oliver: The beer is the beer version of the cheese. And then finally when you want to go big, it’s time for barley one style of beer. And this is a— Divya Gugnani: I'm ready to go big. Garrett Oliver: You're ready to go big? Well, okay here we go, big foot in fact. Now I noticed on the cap, it tells me 2005. This is actually a type of beer that is meant to be able to age and so it’s quite strong at about 10%. Yes, it is the afternoon but that’s okay. Divya Gugnani: I can drink this beer anytime. This is actually my favorite of the three. Garrett Oliver: And it smells almost like sherry, it has all these nutty flavors, all these caramelized flavors. Divya Gugnani: It has a huge amount of body and like flavor and its just very robust. Garrett Oliver: And it has power. Divya Gugnani: It does, it does. This is a man’s beer. I like this one. Garrett Oliver: And so you need a man’s cheese to go with a man’s beer. Divya Gugnani: Okay. Garrett Oliver: And real cream which is blue cheese, it’s got ump to it. And I think you can do—there you go. It’s not just a man’s cheese anymore. So now, check out how big that is, it has the stilton type of quality that blue— tons of salt and this does not have a lot residual sweetness— and see, this is the real trick, you can do sweetness and harmony and contrast at the same time. Divya Gugnani: This has got a tremendous amount of saltiness but it’s kind of a refined saltiness. Garrett Oliver: Indeed. Divya Gugnani: Like they kind of encompass your palate but it’s creamy at the same time. Garrett Oliver: Even way in the background of the fudge. Divya Gugnani: And the beer is— Garrett Oliver: Is used. Divya Gugnani: It’s bold. Garrett Oliver: It’s bold. We’re talking about explosion of flavor here. I'm not sure this one could even contain this much flavor. Divya Gugnani: That is true. So tell us about some traditional pairings of beer and cheese and kind of how it has been done over the generations. Garrett Oliver: Well of course, you know, beer and cheese together it has been the peasant’s lunch if you like. They call it the Plaman’s lunch in England, its some ham, some really good cheese and some beer. So that was—these are both things that come out off the farm. You know, the same person whose doing the farming would be also making the cheese, making the beer, making the bread and they were all part of the farm house life style so all these things really go together. Divya Gugnani: So it has to be the first time. Garrett Oliver: Exactly, you know and very busy person. But during the winter months, when the farmer can’t really be out in the fields, he’ll be brewing. And he couldn’t really be brewing during the summer in the old days before refrigeration, so it all kind of work together year around. Divya Gugnani: That’s great. Well cheers! Thank you so much for having us. Garrett Oliver: Hey, great to see you. Female: For Q&A, photos and more, visit behindtheburner.com. Garrett Oliver: Stay tuned to Behind the Burner when we give you the tips, tricks and techniques that are lighting the culinary world on fire.