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Cheese & Beer

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Gourmand Awards winner---Beer category, USA.

"Like a lot of cheese experts, I'm convinced that the ultimate companion to cheese is, and always will be, great craft beer. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself. This beautiful, well-researched and tastefully written tome is the perfect accompaniment to your journey. Cheers!"--- Greg Koch, CEO & Co-Founder, Stone Brewing Co. / Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens
"The rise in cheese connoisseurship has coincided with a delicious growth in quality beer appreciation. Janet draws on her keen palate to describe nuances in the many different beer styles and then recommends great cheese partners for each category. Cheese & Beer is an excellent guide that explains how different beers are crafted and what gives these different types their synergies with superior cheeses."--- Max McCalman, author, Mastering Cheese
Cheese & Beer capitalizes on the rapidly growing audience for craft beer in the U.S. and the enthusiasm these passionate beer fans have for good cheese. Enhanced by the author's reputation as a journalist and cheese authority, the book fills a wide-open niche for consumer guidance in pairing craft beer and cheese.

The beer enthusiast who wants to know which cheeses to pair with an IPA, porter or Trappist ale can easily find a recommendation. Each style entry
The introductory chapter includes general advice on pairing cheese and beer; and on selecting, storing and presenting cheese. Six themed platters give readers ideas for entertaining with beer and cheese.

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 16, 2013

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About the author

Janet Fletcher

60 books8 followers
Janet Fletcher, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, is the author of numerous books on food and wine. She lives in Napa Valley.

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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Darren.
1,193 reviews66 followers
April 17, 2013
The title of this book had this reviewer daydreaming for a while, remembering long, hot summer lunches in a traditional English pub, consuming a fair amount of English ale and eating crusty sandwiches, overflowing with cheese and onion! Lovely.

So what better way to kill a few hours, dream a bit about good food and possibly broaden your horizons at the same time? This is a little book of discovery, of voyage, of dreams. A book about a good marriage. A union of two things that can vary wildly in isolation, yet when together they can be a "match made in heaven". Forget about mass-produced supermarket cheeses and industrial brewing of beer, look more towards artisan cheeses, craft beers and an enjoyable experience. This book provides both an overview and a pairing-off recommendation to two dozen different beer styles and what cheeses could go best with them. Along the way, a lot of information and education awaits you.

Of course, some of the products might not be available in your locality, but the author has thought of that and tried to focus more on the type of a product rather than a given name. Even if, for some reason, you have difficulty obtaining the same "ingredients" you can have even more fun mixing and matching yourself.

There is more to this book than just a series of food and drink matches. It is very deceptive as the descriptive text could appear to be quite limited yet there is a hidden depth, a clear focus and a directed drive to everything you read. You receive background knowledge, informed guidance and inspiration to lead out on your own and make your own investigations. The world is literally yours for the taking, as long as you don't dislike good cheese and bear!

Some great photographs draw you in. Engaging text that is accessible and interesting both to beginners and experts alike. About the only real issue is that the products are not included. A strange Pavlovian reaction is almost guaranteed once you start looking through this book. Even if you wasn't thirsty or hungry before, flip through a few pages and… hmmm…… You might even find the beer and cheese index at the end starts to resemble a check list over time. Tried that, check. Tried that, check. Tried that…

As you might imagine, this reviewer loved this book. It is frustratingly annoying that there are several working hours left and no chance of nipping out for a quick bit of beer and cheese… Roll on the evening!

Cheese & Beer, written by Janet Fletcher and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 9781449421847, 130 pages. Typical price: USD24.99. YYYYY.



// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //
Profile Image for Kelly.
46 reviews
May 26, 2013
For a quick reference on craft beer and artesian cheese pairings, this book is a good guide for beginners. The chapters succinctly go through the various types of beers and suitable cheese pairings. Each chapter is well organized in starting with a description of the beer type and origin, examples of specific beers in that type, of the cheese flavors and types to match, of several artesian cheese makers, and examples of cheese types and specific creameries. I have not done a lots of beer and food pairings, and I would definitely consult this book for ideas.

I consider this a good guide for beginners or a starting reference, because the beers listed are not available everywhere, local brews could fall under these categories, some beers are not favored by serious beer drinkers (ex. Gordon Biersch), and there is a strong bias toward California breweries. Also, although there are several book references provided in the bibliography, it would be helpful to list online sources actively used by the beer community. These considerations make me question the cheese portion, because I am far less familiar with specific cheese than beers. Granted, with either, the more you try, the better you can taste the differences among the different types and then the different creameries.

Pros: Good place to start with beer and cheese pairings, enjoyed added detail about specific breweries and creameries, liked organization of chapters, iPad version had strange placement of what are probably side notes that sometimes made flow of reading interrupted

Cons: Many of the beers are not readily available and I wonder if many of the cheeses are also difficult to find, strong bias toward California breweries, pictures are photogenic but those of glasses and people feel like filler material
Profile Image for Ana Mardoll.
Author 7 books370 followers
December 5, 2017
Cheese and Beer / 1449421849

Be aware right this is a *pairing* book. It's not about cheese and about beer, it's about cheese-and-beer together. That wasn't quite what I was looking for, but that's okay! Pairing books are important too.

This is a gorgeous book with a lot of beautiful pictures and a huge variety of pairing suggestions. I've seen another reviews complain that the selections are too easy to find, but I think that's going to vary widely--I'm in Texas, not California, and even the nicest grocers around here don't serve half the cheeses in this book. Fortunately the pairing suggestions are very versatile so you're not going to be "trapped" into being unable to use half the book. The instructions for storing and serving cheese are especially good to know; I'm kind of a foodie when it comes to cheese and I still learned stuff which is always awesome.

NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through NetGalley.

~ Ana Mardoll
Profile Image for Teresa.
26 reviews1 follower
March 12, 2013
If you want a concise and informative view of Cheese and Beer Janet Fletcher delivers. The beautiful pictures and commentary on the different Beer and Cheese pairing is delighful. As a person who never knows what to pair with beer or or cheese the book was enlightening and engaging. Everything you want to know about beer from Ales to Lagers is discuused here. The introduction: "So many choices, So little time", was an eye opener. You will find yourself wanting to try each pairing suggested. I throughly enjoyed Cheese and Beer and look forward to trying the Velvet Merlin(Stout) with double cream Cremont(Cheese) from Vermont in the future. (publication provided by Netgalley, the views and statements are solely my own.)
Profile Image for Melissa.
172 reviews14 followers
April 22, 2013
I received an ebook copy from netgalley. Let me say I've never made it a secret...my love of cheese that is. This book had me drooling in a very Homeresque way. "MMMM cheese and beer".

The book is exactly about what you would think. Cheese and beer. It goes on to describe different types of cheeses and beers and how to pair them together. Talk about a yummy culinary experience.

I thoroughly loved this book. Full of pictures and full descriptions it will be fun the next time I host and event. I plan on trying to do some of the pairings and see what people think. I've always wanted to go on a cheese and beer tasting tour and this will let me do it at home. I'm honestly considering get the hardback version for myself to display. Munch on! I give this 4 and half out of 5 stars!
Profile Image for Glennis.
1,386 reviews29 followers
February 9, 2013
This is a really lovely looking book that is an excellent guide of pairing beer with cheese. A great book to gift the beer fan in your life that also happens to like good food with good beer. The book breaks down each style of beer and what and why each cheese goes with that style. It isn't a dense book but the photographs are really nice and there is also a index for both the cheese and beer along with a small chart to look up complementing pairings.

Digital review copy provided by NetGalley
Profile Image for Beckey.
1,466 reviews116 followers
February 14, 2013
Just like another book (Wine and Cheese, written by the same author) this book is more for the craft beer connoisseurs that are looking to make great pairings to go with different cheeses.
Between the index and the excellent pictures this book will be a great one to give as a gift or even keep a copy for yourself.
Profile Image for Jason Davis.
9 reviews1 follower
July 29, 2013
More beer-centric than cheese-centric, so it's a great beer nerd beginner's guide for beer and cheese pairings. I question some of her beer selections for certain styles of beer, but any beer nerd will inevitably disagree with other beer nerds. The cheese suggestions are definitely intelligently explained.
Profile Image for Alberto Jacobo Baruqui.
233 reviews12 followers
October 21, 2014
Que delicioso es el queso y la cerveza!
Una estupenda guía de quesos artesanales y cervezas draft y artesanales es maravillosa para principiantes.
No todos los quesos los encontrarás con facilidad, ni siquiera en una tienda Gourmet, pero cada uno valdrá la pena el esfuerzo para su búsqueda y disfrutar de las combinaciones. AJB
Profile Image for Mark.
2,134 reviews45 followers
June 11, 2013
Excellent cheese and beer porn with some sound advice on pairing the two. I can't wait to try out some of her recommendations and especially to try and track down some of the amazing sounding cheeses she describes.
1,933 reviews5 followers
June 15, 2013
A good primer on pairing cheese and beer. Unfortunately, it is aimed at an American audience and most of the beers are not available but the information about styles works well. Might be a good time for some Canadian version of this...
Profile Image for Janet.
2,361 reviews31 followers
August 30, 2013
Exquisite book. Packed with beer and cheese pairing recommendations that sound like they will knock your socks off. Beautifully photographed plates and glasses left me hankering. Tonite it'll be Three Philosopher's and Rogue Blue!
Profile Image for Heaether.
366 reviews10 followers
June 20, 2013
This book was so perfect I bought it. I actually bought it - I buy like 3 books a year...
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews