The first cheese was a Camembert. If you have never had any, this is a soft, creamy French cheese with a chalky rind, and is very similar to Brie. I usually pick up very gentle notes of mushroom in the taste, along with masses of creaminess. This cheese is very subtle and delicate in taste, and is a style I have only recently become a fan of.

The second cheese was a 3 year aged Australian Cheddar cheese. This is a very assertive cheese, pretty much the diametric opposite of the Camembert – if the Camembert whispers sweet nothings in your ear in French, this Cheddar comes up to you and yells “G’day, mate, time for a tinny!”.

As I expected, Gouden Carolus Tripel handled these radically different cheeses with utter aplomb. With the Camembert it brought out the creamy, lush, buttery richness without drowning out any of the subtlety. With the Cheddar it calmed the cheesey exuberance without becoming harsh or watery or leaving any nasty after-taste.

Combine this experience with the barleywine pairings I did previously, and it looks as though the days of the rotten grape being paired with cheese are numbered.

Some rights reserved:

Beerlicious articles by Stuart Carter, stuart@beerlicious.net is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

This is part one of a linked two part article looking at pairing barleywine and cheese. The second part will look at the flip side, pairing cheese with barleywine.

A few bottles of barleywine

Mikkeller Big/Worse
A Danish barleywine.
Flavour is sweet and fruity, making this a very easy to drink beer. It does not play very well with the cheese we chose, making this hard to recommend as a pairing beer. But it’s well worth it as a drinking beer

Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot
A Pennsylvanian beer.
The absolute show-stopper perfect pairing of the evening was Blithering Idiot paired with Neal’s Yard Dairy Colston Bassett Stilton. This pairing is definitely a 10 out of 10: you will taste rich, buttery, creamy sweet notes in the cheese, with a cheeky little hop/blue cheese snap at the back of your throat as the after-taste. Outstandingly good.
Your mileage will definitely vary more with cave aged Gruyere: one comment of “sweet and tasty”, one of “BAD ANIMAL, BAD!”.

Avery Hog Heaven
A Colorado brewery.
Pairs very well with Neal’s Yard Dairy Montgomery Cheddar – it makes the cheese taste more cheesy, without developing any harsh flavours. It pairs reasonably well with Cave Aged Guyere, bringing out a funky nutty taste.

Flying Dog Horn Dog
A Maryland brewery.
This beer is best described as “cheese agnostic”: it will pair respectably well with a wide range of cheese, but never reaches the heights of the Blithering Idiot and the Stilton.
With Maytag Blue, the beer brings out a nutty spiciness; with the Cave Aged Gruyere, it reduces the funk of the cheese and brings a buttery flavour out, but beware of the Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog – your mileage will vary a lot with this pairing.

Norrebro Little Korkny Ale
A Danish barleywine, it tastes much more like a Sherry than a beer. It does not play well with anything less than a powerful blue cheese – it is so sweet that it will drown out any lesser cheese, but beware Stilton – for me, the combination with the Stilton was bad enough for me to comment “Bad, fail, kicked puppies”! Enjoy this as a good drink, don’t sweat it as a pairing beer.

Nogne O 100
A Norwegian brewery.
A very pleasant beer, it is meant to be paired with a goat cheese like Humboldt Fog. Comments include “brings out faint Stilton flavour”; “Goat Heaven! Goats should drink this!”; “brings out some spice, makes the cheese more creamy”. Don’t pair this with Stilton, the cheese will wash the beer out entirely.

Rogue Old Crustacean
An Oregon brewery.
A huge, complex, powerfully flavoured beer. Brings out citrus spicy notes from Borough Market Cheddar, a nutty spiciness or Stilton/feta characteristic from the Humboldt Fog, a chalky earthy funk from the Stilton, and a good balance and complexity from the Montgomery Cheddar.

Great Divide Old Ruffian
A Colorado brewery.
Works wonderfully well with the Quicke’s Cheddar, bringing out buttery flavours, peppers, soft red fruits. Seek this out!

Uinta XV Anniversary
A Utah brewery.
Oh dear. Under no circumstances have this beer with the Colston Bassett Stilton. I nearly vomited. One of the participants described this combination as tasting “like the contents of a moldy New York dumpster”. There really is no way to emphasise how truly appalling this pairing is. I warn you: if you seek out this pairing, puppies will commit suicide in horror. Won’t you think of the puppies?

It was a dirty job, but we did it.

Some rights reserved:

Beerlicious articles by Stuart Carter, stuart@beerlicious.net is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.