Spaten Optimator (dobblebock) and Balarina aged goat gouda

Beer is a tad sweet with buttery carmel malts, black cherry, and molasses.
Cheese is hard and crumbly, has an oily parmesan aged character, is very salty, and slightly spicy.

Cheese has smoky hints that bring out roasted malts of Optimator. Goat cheese tangy nuances and salt are rinsed away by full-bodied dark Optimator. Cheese has a musky, mushroom earthiness that goes well with this malty beer. Slightly tart pungency would get along better with a hoppier Pale or Red, or perhaps a dry stout.

Lost Coast Indica with Humbolt Fog

IPA and goat?? Creamy cheese goes well with fruity beer, spicy blueness saddles up with the piney/citrus hops. The hopiness actually restrains the cheese some what, giving it a vinegary character, accentuated nutty, carmel notes, but this could be the beer, which has definite burnt sugar flavor. Thick sticky cheese is cut by astringent and well carbonated Indica, its feels just fine after a head to head match with some stanky queso.

Fruits (apples, melon, apricot, grapefruit) and cream, burnt toast with cream cheese and jam. Excellent combo, more of a contrast whereas the B-wine would be complementary (the full sail is pretty hoppy tho).

Pilsner with Cypress Grove Humbolt Fog

Hint of hops and mucho bubbly try to tether this extremely dank cheese to the ground, but it floats away into the atmosphere. Pils is supposed to contrast bloomies, but I think this cheese is too strong. Metallic flavor of beer is brought out, and its not very good. Nothing good about this one, perhaps I've been spoiled by the expensive Belgians and b-wine, but I guess you need something that strong to match this cheese.

Mirror pond with Stilton asparagus.

Floral/citrus hops cuts through stilton like butter, but after a second the cheese comes back in. Play of Fruit (beer) and Earth (Stilton).

Asparagus green vegetable dankness brings fruits right out of Beer. Asparagus and Blue is a fairly rich combo, with Big veggie/earth flavors. Beer is light, sharp, and hoppy in contrast to heavy creamy cheese.

Would be a great pairing to start a BBQ with. Imagine Asparagus wrapped in proscuitto or bacon with a blue cheese/beer dip and sourdough. Or Aspargus as a side to a blue cheese bacon burger. Portobela burger with Blue cheese, bacon, and roasted bell pepper on it.........cream of asparagus or polenta, spinach, and tomato on the side...................Pale Ale................Oh Yeah!!

Broken Rake Amber with Vincent Gouda

Cheese is sweet and salty, grainy and grassy, with light nuts and a slight aromatic tang. Amber ale matches the light nuts and grains and is a little hoppy, just as cheese is only slightly aromatic. Burnt butter taste of cheese is brought out and matched by caramelized sugar and toffee flavors in beer.

They match but its nothing to write home about, they are almost too similar. I heard a chef talking about how he liked to create conflict in dishes, utilizing contrast to create something that interests you palate. Complementary tastes are boring. I'm getting that here, although maybe its just that the beer isn't that good. The cheese is very good Gouda, one I'm not all that into. I think it would go better with a pale or perhaps a Belgian wit.

Full Sail Old Boardhead B-wine and Stilton

Stilton comes in big after swig of B-wine, knocking fruity/malt out the way. Chasing Stilton with B-wine throws a big hop blast at the earthy sour-tang cheese, calming it down a little. The creamy character of the cheese is brought out. There is tension from the contrast of sour earthy rot in the cheese with sugar/carmel malts and fruity brightness of the beer. The beer has a sweet sour contradiction going on that the cheese uses as its launch pad for a cosmic flavor collision of astronomical proportions. Highly alcohol with a elegant complexity, the B-wine pairs up quite nicely with the similar strong and complex flavor of the Stilton. Excellent, like it better than the pairing of Stilton and Duvel.

This is exactly what I needed tonight. Perfect winter evening at home, cold outside, warm inside, alone by yourself because thats the way she goes. I know that I have tried, in my way, to be free. I guess I just didn't give enough. It takes more energy than I alone have to resist the system. Cheese and beer is an incredible pleasure to explore, I get a certain elation from a good pairing that is most satisfying. Treat the old stomach right with good fermented treats, keep them intestinal flora ship shape right right.

I've never been surfing, but I miss the ocean like the childhood brother I never had.

Ommegang Hennepin and Cypress Grove Humbolt Fog aged goat

Cheese is runny bloomy goodness. Very earthy and peppery with floral root veggie character. Beer can barely stand up next to this rich cheese, but the complex Belgian yeasts do the job. Very rich creamy salty cheese is refreshed by fruity and spicy ale. Flavors meld perfectly.

Slight contrast between sour tang of cheese and sweeter beer meets to give a incredibly pungent blend. The hops seems to bring out the nuttiness of cheese, somehow the combo is more nutty than either alone. The anise character of beer carries over into the earthiness of the aged goat.

Salt and fat richness (not kidding around here, its like sucking on salt and butter) is cut by carb and citrus. Both have an over-ripe fruit character, that combines to taste something like prunes, dates, or wine poached apples and apricots. Taste nirvana reached through the path of floral sweet/sour spiciness. Put it on the menu. Imagine cheese burgers with bacon and mushrooms alongside a saison like this. bomber

Duvel and Stilton

Cheese is herbal spicy (basil, parsley, black pepper, nutmeg, some cumin/coriander) and salty, with a creamy, nutty background. Beer matches spices (coriander, B. pepper, anise), and strong yeasts brings cheese and beer into seamless contact.
Cheese has mild tartness echoed in beer. The cheese is slightly sweet as well, balancing sour of Duvel. Mild malts in beer play the role of a cracker. Beer sets the pungent yeasty tone that the big herbal cheese plays on.
The dry hoppy/anise character of Duvel is perfect with salty blue aspect of cheese. An excellent combo, nice break from the usual Blue/Barleywine. Both are intricate, strong tastes that marry well.

1. Pilsner and Kerrygold reserve aged cheddar - Cheese is moderately sharp at first but mellows out. Reminiscent of Parmesan. Bitterness of cheese matched in pilsner. Graininess of beer is highlighted. skunkiness of beer sits well next to aged (2 years) stank of cheese. A delicate fruitiness is the final result, something I don't really get out of either alone. It is apple, this would be good with apples as well. As I have already noted, pilsner goes with apples and brie like chardonnay. It would work with a more aggressive aged cheese such as this as well. A good complementary pairing, flavor of one sticks around inside the other. You can really taste the cheese after having your palate cleansed by the pilsner, but I guess that is its obvious role, big carb to lift oils, hops to refresh. 8/10
2. Paulaner Salvator double bock with reserve aged cheddar - bigger, maltier beer gives a contrasting sweetness to the semi-tart cheese. Malts go nicely with creamy aged flavor. Not as well balanced as the Pilsner was, the beer washes the cheese taste away. You get that good sweet malt and cream combo, kinda like a milkshake. decent, but not great 6/10

Odell's Easy Street wheat beer with Gran Maestre Manchego

Beer is fruity and well balanced. Manchego is creamy, with some fruit and spice, and a distinct aged flavor. Fruitiness of beer is accentuated. Aged flavor of cheese is brought to the front after a swig of wheat beer. Cheese is mildly salty and stands in contrast to the mild bite of hops in the mainly sweet beer. Overall impression is very good, a satisfying taste of cream and fruit, like peaches and cream. 7/10

paulaner oktoberfest marzen with Morbier

Morbier has a yeasty aroma of raw cashews or peanuts, leafy vegetables, and starchy potato.
Paulaner Okto has a similar yeasty vegetable character.

Salty raw nut flavor contrasts with sweet carmel malts. Vegetable character of cheese is blunted, with the creamy butter brought to the front along with a hint of smoke. The raw nut taste that dominates stays on tongue even after beer is drank, the toasty malt matches but does not overpower delicate bitter earthiness. A subtly sweet malty beer contrasted with a subtly nutty/leafy cheese. A lighter combination fitting for the fall season.
5/10

mirror pond pale ale with mulligatawny

Citric and piney hops matches curry spiciness and lemon. Apples and allspice complement fruity spice of pale ale, and together you get the flavor of carmel apples. Grassy herbal pale melds with the parsley in the soup. Some contrast between the sweetness of apples and bitter hops. Nice combo.

Apple, Brie, and Prosciutto on Ciabatta with Pilsner

This is an amazing sandwich. You spread brie on one half of the ciabatta and put prosciutto on it. The other half has thinly sliced apple on it. You bake/broil it to your liking, enough to release oils from prosciutto and bring out apple flavors.

Sweet and fruity apple clashes with salty smoky meat and creamy brie. Dry skunkiness of pils cuts thru the richness with a no nonsense hops palate cleanse. Oils of smoky prosciutto stand up after the pils refresh. The lightness of the delicate pils treats the subtle brie nicely, highlighting the creamy richness. Carb lifts fatty oils off tongue, readying mouth for another bite. Grainy straw + yeast flavor of pils matches yeast and grain of bread. Sour green apples and brie go with pils as it would with a chardonnay.

2 below (ESB) and lamb, Rosemary, pear, and bell pepper skewers

I got this recipe from the book Best of American Beer and Food. The lamb was marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, cinnamon, rosemary and garlic. The pan drippings were combined with a half cup of beer, butter, and Brown sugar to make a sauce. It went nicely with gruyere mashed potatoes.

Bitterness of beer offsets sweetness of pears and cuts thru oily lamb. Malty richness complements heavy beer/sugar sauce. Slight pineyness of 2 below matches rosemary. High alcohol and roasted malts stand up to rich seared meat. An amazing combination, I also tried it with the Alaskan winter but found New Belgium's seasonal went better.

The Gruyere mashed potatoes from the same book are amazing, and go well with a stout. I also made them with Remembrance (rosemary goat gouda) and found it worked well with the piney winter ale.

Some initial notes on beer and cheese

Beer and cheese go together better than wine and cheese. Beer and bread are very similar, both use yeast and grains, and both are products of agricultural, symbols of civilization. Beer and pizza is an obvious one that even non-foodies get intuitively.

1. Obsidian Stout and Kaltbach Gruyere - Chocolate/coffee stout contrasts with creamy cheese, the coffee and cream effect. Slightly acidic earthy stout balanced by subtly tart, tangy, and fruity gruyere. Big roasted malts hold up next to aged cheese stank with peppery floralness. Decent hop bitter matches sharpness of aged cheese
2. Samuel Smith Nut Brown with Goat Gouda - Sweetness of Brown mellows bit of goat gouda. Salty, beef broth flavor of gouda balanced by nutty earthiness of Brown. Strong tangy flavor of Gouda rounded out by roasted malts. Slight hop bitter accentuates strong buttery gouda, bringing it back to earth.
3. Obsidian Stout and Remembrance (Goat Gouda with Rosemary) - Cheese is creamy with mild aged flavor, the piney rosemary dominates. Stout is overpowered by pine, but does bring the creaminess out. The Dryness of the stout stands in contrast to tangy aged flavor.
4. Alaskan Winter (old ale) and Remembrance - Much better match than stout, Spruce piney flavor of Alaskan winter goes hand in hand with rosemary. Sweet malts cut thru semi-tartness of goat gouda. Mild hops clears palate for creamy aged earthiness. Nuttyness of beer is accentuated after eating cheese. Alaskan winter has a cherry tang that stands up well next to earthy creamy cheese.