{"id":18783,"date":"2015-03-16T15:05:11","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T19:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=18783"},"modified":"2016-03-16T10:17:17","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T14:17:17","slug":"st-paddys-day-cheese-and-beer-pairing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/st-paddys-day-cheese-and-beer-pairing\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Paddy’s Day Cheese and Beer Pairing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corned beef and cabbage. Brown bread. Beer. Oh, so much beer. These are the staples of the Americanized version of St. Patrick\u2019s Day—pardon my formality: St. Paddy\u2019s Day<\/em>. Actually, forget the first two items on that list. It’s really all about beer: the primary staple of many a St. Paddy\u2019s Day celebration. But this year, instead of the age-old beer-on-beer pairing (read: double-fisting Bud Light and Coors), treat yourself right and stop pairing beer with more beer. Take a break from shotgunning Miller High Life and up the class a little bit with some beer and cheese pairing. Enter, the cheese(man).<\/p>\n

Certified Cicerone (the official term for a beer expert, like the \u201csommelier\u201d of the wine world) Michael Agnew tells a bedtime story-esque version<\/a> of why beer and cheese pair so well together. He notes that both cheese and beer originate from (relatively) the same ingredients—grasses in this case; both turn those ingredients into sugar (maltose in barley and lactose in milk); and those sugars convert into our two favorite things in life: beer and cheese. (Don\u2019t worry, Mom, you\u2019re still our favorite, too.)<\/p>\n

Beer and cheese share many of the same taste profiles as well: nutty, earthy, grassy, tangy, sweet. And while similar tastes in both complement each other, starkly different tastes also pair well (think of a tart Gose alongside the unabashed nutty sweetness of Parmigiano-Reggiano<\/a>). In his HuffPo article<\/a>, Martin Johnson, a cheesemonger in Manhattan, also suggests that beer\u2019s carbonation cuts through fattiness and further uncovers some of the more subtle flavors present in many cheeses.<\/p>\n

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Photo Credit: Travel Channel<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

But google \u201cbeer and cheese pairings\u201d and the sheer number of results seems infinite. Articles like those from Esquire<\/cite><\/a>, AskMen<\/cite><\/a>, Serious Eats<\/cite><\/a>, and Beer Advocate<\/cite><\/a> offer tips, tricks, do\u2019s and don\u2019t\u2019s for perfect combinations of this duo, including the suggestion to pair mild with mild, intense with intense, and stinky with stinky. Some advise against reckless abandonment when it comes to pairing; others tell you to just go for it choosing booze and cheese depending solely on your mood. If a methodical approach is more your style, the chart below lists a variety of beers and the best cheeses to nosh alongside them. Want a more in-depth version? Download this one courtesy of Whole Foods Market<\/a>. A higher-tech resource is available, too. A few weeks ago, we wrote about<\/a> Cheese Cupid, a new app that lets users pair cheese with a multitude of libations.<\/p>\n

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by options? Worry not, culture<\/strong> is here to take the fear (and potentially hours worth of reading) out of the pairing process. Because we know you\u2019ve got better things to do to get ready for the holiday like dig out that beer bong or finally wash that ridiculous shirt<\/a> you wore to last year\u2019s St. Paddy\u2019s day parade, we\u2019ve listed some of our favorite beer and cheese pairings we came across during our research. You\u2019ll see some of the suggestions are more specific than others by including the brewer or producer.<\/p>\n