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.

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