Our friends in the London office are super excited for British Cheese Week, so we'll turn it over to them for a celebratory blog (plus they included an American beer in all of the fun...). We haven’t met a cheese we didn’t like (well, not totally sold on Brunost – Norwegian Brown Cheese, but otherwise…) and a lot of our favorite recipes involve cheese. Based on last week’s twitter vote over a Mozzarella and Halloumi recipe (halloumi won, you can give it a go here), you guys are all pretty big cheese fans too. Which brings us to an important question. What should we be drinking with our British cheese? Fortunately, Mark Dredge and the fabulous Beer and Food are on hand to let us know.

THE CHEESEBOARD

Some of the best beer pairings you’ll ever have are with cheese. The key cheese-friendly qualities are the malt sweetness, which matches the sweetness or creaminess in the cheese, and the combination of carbonation and bitterness, which can fight the fat.

STILTON

GREAT WITH: BARLEY WINE AND IMPERIAL STOUT

Perfect Pair: J.W. Lees Harvest Ale

Brewed in: Manchester, England

ABV: 11.5%

Blue cheese’s intense pungency combined with a buttery richness, caramel sweetness, and savory saltiness needs a beer with body and sweetness to give it balance. Barley Wine and Imperial Stout are unbeatable candidates for the job. J.W Lees Harvest Ale has brown-sugar sweetness, plus there’s dried fruit like chutney, plenty of alcohol, and a fat-fighting fizz.

BERKSWELL AND MANCHEGO

GREAT WITH: PALE ALE, CIDER, OR WILD BEER

Perfect Pair: Crooked Stave Hop Savant

Brewed in: Denver, Colorado

ABV: 6.7%

These firm sheep’s milk cheeses go together, as they share a sweet nuttiness, fruity acidity, and a lasting savory depth. Pale Ale’s citrus flavor is good, while drinking Cider is like adding a slice of fruit to the cheese. Crooked Stave’s Hop Savant is a Brett-fermented beer that’s loaded with American hops, so you get the funkiness of yeast and then the fruitiness of hops—it’s an astonishing and complex beer, which loves the saltiness, gives fresh citrus, and shares delicate acidity.

LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER

GREAT WITH: ENGLISH IPA

Perfect Pair: Meantime India Pale Ale

Brewed in: London, England

ABV: 7.4%

This is a tangy and nutty cow’s milk cheese with a tropical fruit flavor that clings to your tongue without letting go, thus demanding a hoppy beer. Made with Fuggle and Golding, Meantime’s India Pale Ale is a classic British version of the style. Marmalade, orange pith, a rose bed, and roast apple, plus bread and honey which suggest sweetness—and it all flows toward a clinging bitterness that cuts through the cheese’s richness, while boosting it with extra fruit.

EXTRA MATURE CHEDDAR

GREAT WITH: AMERICAN IPA OR DOUBLE IPA

Perfect Pair: Magic Rock Cannonball

Brewed in: Huddersfield, England

ABV: 7.4%

A powerful, tangy, and fruity Cheddar tastes great with a range of full-flavored beers that can handle the cheese’s oomph. With strong Cheddar, I’d go for an American-style IPA or Double IPA, such as Magic Rock Cannonball or Human Cannonball (a 9.2% ABV big brother to the regular Cannonball). All the citrus and tropical fruit bring out the cheese’s fruitiness, before the bitterness beats away the fat.

This is an excerpt from Beer and Food by Mark Dredge which is available here.