Beer, Cider & Cheese Pairings

Here are our suggestions for guiding you on a perfect beer and cheese pairing adventure:

• Chill out: Let your cheese rest out of the refrigerator for an hour before serving so the full-bodied taste can develop.
• Don’t overwhelm: When pairing different ciders or beers with cheese, less is often more. Offer only a few choices of both, to get the full enjoyment from the tasting.
• Light to heavy: When you’re pairing, serve lighter cheeses and beers or ciders with a lower alcohol content before moving on to heavier tastes and higher alcohol content brews.
• Be adventurous: Remember, there is no right or wrong when it comes to pairing beer or cider with cheese. The best possible pairing is one that you love.

Did you know? Some Cabot farmers use the spent grain generated from the beer brewing process to feed their cows! Over seven dry weight tons of used grains (aka ‘spent mash’) are offered to local dairy farms as a valuable food source for dairy cows. This completes a renewable energy loop where cows feed on spent mash from the breweries while the breweries purchases renewable energy produced by the cows - now that's full circle!

Here are just a few of our very favorite beer and cheese pairings as well as a hard cider & cheese pairing:

Vermont-based B Corp Alchemist Brewery is renowned for their iconic Heady Topper, an American Double IPA. We love pairing this bold beer with our signature Seriously Sharp Cheddar. The two balance each other beautifully, with their bold flavors complementing one another in a truly delightful pairing.

Downeast's Ciders are known for their unfiltered craft ciders, and we chose the Original Blend to pair with our spicy Habanero Cheddar. This flagship cider is made with juicy sweet apples and is a perfectly balanced match to our spiciest cheddar.

New Belgium is an employee-owned brewery that started in Ft. Collins, CO. The brewery proudly maintains its B-Corp status, which means that it has pledged to maintain rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

New Belgium calls their Fat Tire Amber Ale “the beer that started it all.” We paired Fat Tire with our Alpine Cheddar. Fat Tire won fans with its sense of balance: toasty, biscuit-like malt flavors coasting in equilibrium with hoppy freshness. Our Alpine Cheddar also has a huge fan following. They love its creamy, subtle Swiss and Italian Alpine taste with a slight “grana” texture similar to Parmesan. These two classic tastes were made to be enjoyed together.

Stowe Cider's High & Dry is super-dry, and with no added sugar, it's crisp brightness is a perfect match for our buttery White Oak Cheddar.

Our White Oak Cheddar combines subtle caramel sweetness with delicate hints of the duskiness of wine aging casks. White Oak is traditional in the style of classic British cheddars, honoring balance, sharpness, and a smooth milky texture. This pairing shows how well these new takes on old favorites go together.

Lawson's Finest Liquid's iconic Sip of Sunshine IPA is a beloved beer full of juicy tropical fruit character and bright floral aromas - a perfect match for our classic cheddar.

Vermont Sharp Cheddar's straightforward, slightly acidic taste and creamy texture with nuances of sweetness and a rich, buttery tang answers all the cheesy questions you can think of. In this case, these opposites have an extraordinary attraction, don’t you agree?

And finally, for those who enjoy the effervescence of beer but prefer the taste of hard cider, we present Shacksbury's Vermonter Cider. Crafted in Vergennes, VT, this unique cider features gin botanicals. Shacksbury describes it as a dry, botanical cider made by slowly fermenting apples and infusing them with juniper essence.

We paired it with a Cabot favorite, the ever-popular Cabot Pepper Jack. It’s a cheese that is the ultimate balance of spice and creamy Monterey Jack. It’s moderately hot, supremely smooth, and utterly delicious, just right for a pairing with the dry Vermonter cider.

If you're looking for more pairing content, be sure to browse all of our guides here. We've got everything from herbs & cheese to non-alcoholic pairing content for your next culinary adventure.