Cheese & Beer Matching Tips
NZ Beer & Cheese Matching
Why not tweak your taste buds by turning the flavour up to eleven and match NZ cheese and Good George craft beers to celebrate the produce of Aotearoa.
Exploring beer and cheese matching is a fun and delicious experience. Invite a bunch of friends over and ask them to bring their favourite beer and a wedge of local cheese and you’ll soon see how different people’s palates react to aspects of a match and you’ll find some great new flavour combos.
Creating a great beer and cheese match is about balancing the level of flavour intensity so that neither element of the match dominates. Lighter beer styles such as lagers or wheat beers pair well with light, fresh cheeses such as mozzarella or burrata, while stronger more complex beers such as imperial stouts stand up to older, more pungent cheese. A cold, frothy beer cuts through the rich, mouth coating fat of a cheese prepping your palate for another bite.
Everyone’s palate is different and it could take a few tries to find something which will rock your world. Here are a few of our favourite combos to get your started…
Cheddar & IPA
Match the sharpness of the cheddar to the hop strength of Good George IPA for a fool-proof pairing that’s bound to convert the most sceptical critic.
Stout & Blue Cheese
The bold flavour of a blue cheese gears it up to handle the heft of a rich, malty stout. Sweetness and chocolatey flavours in the malt profile of the beer paired with the saltiness of the cheese make a perfect dessert combo, think salted caramel of chocolate covered pretzels.
Pilsner & Burrata or Mozzarella
Pilsner’s light, fruity floral notes match perfectly with the subtle fresh flavour and texture which comes from buffalo cheese such as mozzarella or burrata. As a pair pilsner such as Good George Pilsner and buffalo cheese enhance each other’s flavour rather than overwhelming. To taste the difference match as other more intense beers could.
Spiced beer & Cumin Gouda
Try a beer brewed with spices like cinnamon or nutmeg, these flavours will complement fruity sweetness peppered with mild spiciness of cumin seed in the gouda
Sour Ale & Camembert
Sour beers are becoming increasingly popular and sometimes it can be hard to match them with a food. Pick up a mature farmhouse camembert that stinks and its earthy, barnyard flavour will complement the sour’s intense fermented funk.
Check out Good George for some tasty drops to pair with your favourite NZ cheeses.