Pairing: Barleywine and Aged Cheddar

I had a great visit to the Charleston Beer Exchange with my brother this weekend while I was back in my hometown. I brought 10 or 11 beers back to Clemson to add to my pseudo-cellar. Among the beers I brought back are Saison DuPont, Stone Old Guardian, Cantillon Gueuze, and Orval.

Stone Old Guardian Barleywine
11.1% ABV

This barleywine (a style of beer characterized by generous malt proportions and therefore high alcohol content) is a robust, hoppy, malty, complex, well-balanced, and overall wonderful beer. I got it in a growler from the Exchange. It pours dark brown/amber and has a hoppy nose. At the outset the flavor would seem to be more dominated by the hops, but as the beer warms the rich, slightly sweet maltiness and heavy alcohol becomes apparent. The taste is extremely complex and features caramel, chocolate malt, and wood notes.

This beer paired extremely well with an aged cheddar my brother had. Unfortuanley I didn't catch the producer of the cheese as I was too wrapped up enjoying the pairing. The cheese was creamy, salty, and rich (but was not smoked; I'm not yet sure how well a smoked cheddar would have worked). The cheese and the beer alone were very good, and the combination was more than the sum of its parts (which is how I like to think of great pairings). The complex maltiness of the beer interacted with the maltiness of the beer and the hops in the beer helped cut through and refresh the palate. This was a fantastic pairing and has really got me pumped about beer and cheese. I hope to deliver more beer and cheese pairings soon.