Beer & food matching

We knew this was going to be a tough one. Asking our experts to match beer to cheese is a pretty wide brief. Almost all of the panel started with a warning that "it really depends on the type of cheese..." - which for the sake of space, we've edited out. So with that proviso, let's get this party started.

Paul Drye, catering development manager, St Austell Brewery:

A ploughman's lunch and a foaming pint of ale on a balmy summer's day is as well matched as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. However, the cheese board is usually eaten in the evening and is often the fourth course in a meal, and this is what you must bear in mind. We need a beer that has depth and character but also has a slight acidity that will cut through the fattiness of the cheeses. I'd recommend our own Smugglers Ale (five per cent ABV) a deliciously deep bronze ale with a rich biscuit flavour and a wonderful spicy aroma, perfect with cheeses like Davidstow cheddar or Cornish blue. Another beer with fathomless depths and boundless character is Greene King's Strong Suffolk Vintage Ale (six per cent ABV). This is a unique beer - strong, dark, fruity, oaky and slightly vinous and the ideal partner for a really strong pallet-itching cheddar. Of course if it were lunchtime and the cheese was part of a ploughman's, then that's another story altogether...

Craft Guild of Chefs member Michael Tuckwood, patron chef at The Stag in Aylesbury:

I recommend matching Leffe Blonde with a cheeseboard as it has a very strong but sweet flavour that would suit most cheeses, and is rich enough to cut through highly-flavoured blue and mature cheeses. As it is brewed with aromatic malts, the beer has a fruity taste that really complements the taste of a range of cheeses. With a cheeseboard I would suggest serving Leffe Blonde well chilled and in small glasses due to the high alcohol level (6.6 per cent ABV).

Richard Fox, chef and broadcaster:

As far as beer and cheese is concerned, it's more of a case of the few that won't match rather than those that do. Matching by region, or even country, are good starts, particularly as historically beer and cheese were often made by the same farmer, or producer, and were therefore a perfect match from the outset. However, as far as out and out matches made in heaven are concerned, you won't get much better than a good, mature stilton and barley wine or old ale. If you're lucky enough to get your hands on it, vintage dated Thomas Hardy ale will be as good as life can get. But, Greene King's Strong Suffolk or Adnams Broadside will be just the job.

Rupert Ponsonby, R&R Teamwork:

A firm brie tastes chalky but gives off sweet baby-like aromas smelling of the cow's udder, and needs to be paired with beers tasting soft and sweet such as Mackeson Milk Stout (three per cent ABV). Malt-rich cask milds should also be a hit, or sweet and sour beers such as Ventnor's Old Ruby (4.7 per cent ABV) with its great balance between crystal "caramel" malts and the melon/lime flavours of goldings and challenger hops. Lagers fit for such milder cheeses can range between the sweet and sour flavours of Grolsch or the spicy flavours of Pilsner Urquell or Budvar. Mature bries have that wonderful sweet and sourness about them which is very similar to beers with a high hop content. They are best paired with similarly assertive beers - Marston's Old Empire, Worthington White Shield, or Fuller's Vintage Ale. Soft goat's cheeses can also be scintillating contrasts with fruit beers such as Liefmans Frambosen (raspberry), based as it is on a sour brown Flemish ale which gives the combination backbone; or else use gently hopped British ales with soft malt flavours.

Phil Vickery, chef and broadcaster:

Generally speaking, to match beer with cheese, the hoppier and darker the better, and steer clear of lagers. Stout sometimes works, but again in small quantities. One of the many dry ciders around are great with most cheeses. Sheppy's of Taunton produces great crisp, full-flavoured ciders, look for Tremblitt's bitter or Kingston Black. Big cheeses need big drinks, so the stronger the better. John Keeling, head brewer, Fuller's:

Cheese was made for beer - the only thing you need to consider is the strength of flavour of the cheese itself. If you have got a cheeseboard with some powerful cheese, such as aged Gouda, very mature Cheddar, or a mighty blue cheese, then Golden Pride or, if you are feeling flush, Vintage Ale or Prize Old Ale, will be perfect. For slightly more delicate flavours, head for 1845. I'm not going to recommend anyone else's beer with this dish - you don't need to look outside Fuller's.

Ben Bartlett, catering development manager, Union Pub Company:

I give regular tutored tastings in pubs demonstrating the marriage and harmony cheese has with beer. There are many similarities with beer and cheese. The two are meant to go together. Both beer and cheese come from a farm and are both grain-flavours from a field. Some of you will point out there is a cow in between but the flavours come from the grain. Both are made from grass; barley is a grass and gives the beer its flavour components. My rule of thumb is to match a lighter beer with a milder cheese and a stronger ale with a pungent cheese, for example, Marston's Pedigree (4.5 per cent ABV) with Montgomery Cheddar and Barley Gold Ale (9.1 per cent ABV) with Shropshire Blue.