What Cheese To Pair With Guinness

I do love a good conspiracy. The kind that has you feeling like something is awry in ones seemingly organized world, the kind that begs you to take action in an effort to get to the bottom of the mystery.

But before jumping into my own personal Mystery Machine to engage in a caper laced with hijinks, I simply started with the “Google Machine” instead.

By simply “Google-ing” Guinness beer, one will be treated to a plethora of articles and imagery which leaves the “Google-er” foaming at the mouth for a foamy pint of a delicious drink from Dublin.

One will also notice the vast amounts of vintage promotional material that feature a Toucan singing the praises of Guinness, even employing whimsical poetry at times to entice the potential partaker. This image of a rhyming Toucan has piqued my curiosity lately as it bears a striking resemblance to Toucan Sam, the British accented Toucan from the Froot Loops franchise belonging to Kellogg’s cereal.

Alas, there seems to be no connection, no dubious plot linking the two rain-forest dwelling creatures together other than their mutual love of poetry and selling products. The Guinness Toucan first appeared in 1935, and the colorful kid-friendly, cereal-peddling bird who’s “nose always knows” first appeared in 1963, leaving us with no real conspiracy to cling to.

But enough “squawking” about birds and cereal, on to the beer! (Sort of)

I do a lot of beer pairings with cheese, and why not? Cheese is a great way to accent the various complexities of any given beer. Clearly I am not the only one who understands the virtues of these pairings, as others have taken even more action in an effort to bring beer and cheese together in a harmonious combination.

Two flavors that have been “conspiring” together are Guinness and Cheddar, and the marriage of the two culminates in an eye-catching, edible work of art that begs to be noticed!

This cheese from Cahill’s Farmhouse Cheese uses a base of tangy Irish Cheddar that is marbled throughout with Guinness. It has a crumbly texture with just a hint of a sweet aroma to it.

This Irish cheddar cheese with Guinness is made from pasteurized cow’s milk and is considered a vegetarian cheese because a vegetable rennet is used. All Cahill’s Farmhouse Cheese is free of any artificial additives, colors, preservatives, bovine growth hormones, hydrogenated oils, nitrates, or polysorbate.

I had no idea what to expect from a cheese which appeared to contain a fair amount of the world famous beer. The marbling in the cheese was quite deceiving in regard to the actual flavor. The cheese absolutely does taste like tangy cheddar, with a rich undertone that I swear tastes like the foam of a Guinness!

I wanted to test the strength of the cheese so I paired the Guinness Cheddar with Guinness beer. Without a doubt the pairing works! As mentioned above, the muted tones of the Guinness in the cheese are not overpowering, lending itself to being a compatible pairing with stouts.

So gather up your gaggle of Guinness guzzlers and conspire to track down some of this cheese!

What other cheeses do you pair with extra stouts such as Guinness?