The Best IPA and Cheese Pairings | The Cheese Professor

Editor’s note: Depending upon who you talk to, pairing IPA beer and cheese is either an easy no-brainer or a bit of a conundrum. The key is to carefully consider the style of the IPA. The right pairing can bring to mind other classic flavors such as peaches and cream or creamy cheese beer soup.

The India Pale Ale, aka IPA, has become the most ubiquitous beer style in craft brewing. A derivative of the pale ales of the British Isles, the IPA, a relatively strong, hop-forward beer has become a style of its own (with a small multitude of sub-styles) since craft brewing began to reach its fevered explosion in the 1990s. While there are a couple dozen recognized beer styles produced by craft brewers, it is estimated that more than 40% of the craft beers sold are IPAs. Perhaps the only common characteristic of the various interpretations of IPA is that hops is always in the spotlight. Hop bitterness, and a bready/sweet malt base is usually part of the balance, depending on the sub-style, hop aroma and flavor can be notched up higher than in nearly any other beer. When pairing IPAs with cheese (and with cheese-influenced dishes) there is much to consider. I recently tasted one example each of three sub-styles (New England-style hazy, west coast style, and double/triple style) with a dozen different cheeses. Somehow I lived to write about it, and I’ll fill you in on my findings, but first a bit more about how the once-antiquated British ale came to be so important to modern beer drinking. Read more about beer and cheese pairing.

History of IPA

Hops on the tree — Hops photo credit Depositphotos

The style, and its ‘India’ name, originated in the UK in the 19th century as British brewers began adding copious amounts of hops to stronger pale ales being shipped to the Indian subcontinent. One of the properties of hops is that it can protect a beer from spoilage organisms, especially when employed in a higher-alcohol brew such as those that came to be called IPA. This stronger beer did indeed travel well, was successful in India, and gained popularity at home in the late 1800s. But IPA’s charms waned throughout the subsequent century as British beer drinking habits shifted.

While New Jersey’s P. Ballantine & Sons Brewing Co. made an IPA beginning in 1890, it was the emergence of craft beer, beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, that truly led to North American drinkers embracing the IPA. One of the earliest, made by Bert Grant’s Yakima Brewing, in Yakima, Wash., is said to have been inspired by Ballantine’s nearly mythical IPA. Grant’s IPA made with Northwestern Cascade hops was bursting with flavor, aroma and bitterness. It drew attention from pre-internet beer scribes Michael Jackson, and Roger Protz. By the 1990s, American brewers on both coasts and between were rolling out a distinctly American IPA made with American hops that produced piney and citrus flavor and aroma notes that had never been found in the traditional British brews.

Contemporary IPA

Fast forward to today, and the IPAs reflecting the style developed in the 1990s (and really any that are not brewed to be hazy) are usually labeled West Coast IPA. Brewers have flirted with styles like the dark IPA, the white IPA, the wet-hopped IPA and the cold IPA, and some of those have come and gone.

Perhaps the most significant sub-style, New England IPA (also called hazy or juicy IPA) came out of nowhere due to the overwhelming demand created by a single brand—Heady Topper, first brewed in 2004 by The Alchemist Brewery in Waterbury, Vt. This new beer was made with six different hop varietals, and a unique yeast strain. Being unfiltered and unpasteurized, the beer was served a bit cloudy and filled with fruity flavors and aromas, but very little hop bitterness. Heady Topper quickly became one of the best-selling and most highly-rated brands in the U.S. In the ensuing two decades, the sub-style it spawned has become a mainstay, sometimes to the chagrin of long-time craft beer fans. Loaded with exotic, juicy hop flavor and aroma, and a full mouthfeel, extreme examples might be more akin to a frozen peach daiquiri than to classic IPA, leaving some beer drinkers asking their barkeep for a more “beer flavored beer.” Comparatively, West Coast IPAs are generally clear and bright, and often feature plenty of bitterness, but with a good deal of variation in terms of malt flavor. Some are quite malty, while others finish dry. Often, they hearken back to the pioneer American IPAs of the previous century.

According to the Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines, American IPAs have an alcohol level of 5 to 7.5% alcohol by volume (ABV). Those IPAs that range from 7.7 to 10% ABV fall in the Double IPA category and are usually marketed as double, triple or Imperial IPAs. These can be bright and clear, or hazy and juicy. Read more about American IPAs in our beer style guide.

What Style of Cheese Pairs with IPA?

At any point in its evolution, the IPA would lend itself to pairing with cheeses and spicy, cheese-accented foods. In the early days of American craft IPA, the inclination would be to pair those beers with British or American cheddar. Those of us experimenting 25 years ago discovered that blue cheeses with their acidic, pepper and anise flavor notes, also paired well with hoppy American IPAs. There has been a bit more written in recent years about pairing beer and cheese. Looking specifically at IPA, authors including Randy Mosher and Steve Jones point to clothbound Cheddar and blue cheeses for traditional, bitter IPAs and to creamy, rich bloomy-rind cheeses (Nancy’s Camembert) for New England IPAs including the iconic Heady Topper. Now for the pairings.

Hazy IPA + Burrata

For the Hazy IPA I selected Beezer, an award-winning 6.9% ABV beer from Old Irving Brewing, located right in my Chicago neighborhood. A bit of oats and wheat in the grain bill give this beer a smooth, soft mouthfeel. Citra and Mosaic hop varieties are used judiciously for a fruity aroma and a tangerine/peach/strawberry juiciness. There is a helpful, slight bitterness on the finish. Knowing that hazy IPAs are all about the sweet fruity flavors, I like to pair them the same way I pair hefeweizen or Belgian wit bier. A cheese with clean creaminess provides a nice backdrop for the fruity flavors, resulting in a peaches and cream sort of effect. For the Beezer, I started with a locally-made burrata, oozing cream, and flavors of fresh milk. I found that the melon notes of the IPA floated on the fresh milk flavors of the cheese, bringing to mind the mango ice cream served at Indian restaurants. A great dessert or fruit salad could come from this pairing. A classic brie became noticeably salty in comparison, when tasted with the Beezer. Tangy fresh goat cheese overwhelmed the soft beer flavors at first, but the beer bounced back to accentuate the tartness of the cheese. Read more about Hazy IPA in our beer style guide.

Other Hazy IPAs to try:

King Sue, Toppling Goliath Brewing, Iowa

AU Jus, Vitamin Sea Brewing, Massachusetts, Gold 2024, NYIBC

Green City, Other Half Brewing, Brooklyn New York

Glory Haze, Still Fire Brewing, Georgia, Gold 2025, NYIBC

West Coast IPA + British Cheddar or Stilton

For the West Coast style, I selected Anti-Hero from Chicago’s Revolution Brewing. This is the brewery’s flagship beer, and one of the best selling IPAs in Illinois. Made with classic American hops, it’s brewed to 6.7% ABV with 65 international bittering units (IBUs). This presents as a classic American IPA with a balance of toasty malt flavors, citrus hop aromas and a firm, bitter finish. I found two great pairings for this beer, both from the UK. Montgomery’s Cheddar offered grassy, earthy flavors with a hint of horseradish. This cheese always has a beautiful crumble, and a rich mouthfeel. Tasted with the beer, additionally savory and salty notes emerge, and with its lively carbonation the Anti-Hero sweeps the palate, inviting you to take another nibble or two. The beer and the cheese should both get involved with your next ploughman’s lunch or smoked ham sandwich.

Next up was Colston Bassett Stilton, a fine example of England’s famous blue cheese. With Stilton, the earthy/meaty flavors of the paste play as much of a role as the spicy acidic bluing. It’s like two cheese in one, and the IPA likes both of them. The fudgy cheese melts in your mouth with the beer, and the spice of the hops sings harmony with the peppery notes from the blue mold. It will bring to mind the very best beer-cheese soup one could imagine.

Other West Coast IPAs to try:

Walking Distance, Ocean View Brewing, Delaware, Gold 2024 NYIBC

Citraholic, Beechwood Brewing, California

Gone Away, Half Acre Brewing, Chicago

Double IPA + Parmesan or Aged Cheddar

For the high octane IPAs, I opted for an old favorite, Lampshade Party Ale, from Bell’s Brewing in Michigan. Double and Triple IPAs often have a hefty malt base to balance the hop flavors and boozy aromas. Lampshade leans a bit drier, where it would be easy to mistake it for a lower-alcohol brew. But at 9% ABV and 70 IBUs there is nothing light about it! Hopped with Idaho 7 and Australian Galaxy hop varieties, and fermented dry, it’s easy to think of it as a double west coast IPA. I tried three cheeses with this beer, and the best results were with Sartori Parmesan and Hook’s 10-year aged Cheddar, both from Wisconsin. With the parmesan there was a nice balance of intensity. The dry mouthfeel of the cheese played well with the juicy, refreshing characteristics of the beer. The concentrated, puckering flavor of the Cheddar and its salty finish held up nicely with the Lampshade, but I think the cheese wanted more malt flavor from the beer. A nice pairing, certainly, but a maltier beer (Lagunitas’ Maximus, or Three Floyd’s Alpha King) would be even better for this kind of cheese. The Hook’s also went well with the maltier Anti-Hero when I cross-paired it. Lampshade not currently in distribution, but Double Two-Hearted, or the seasonal Hop Slam from Bell’s are in many markets coast-to-coast, and both would go well with a super-aged Cheddar. Read more about Double IPA in our beer style guide.

Other Double IPAs to try:

Headspin, Beyond Mountain Brewing, Colorado, Gold 2024 NYIBC

Tipsy Tortoise IPA, 29 Brews, California, Silver 2024 NYIBC

Maximus, Lagunitas Brewing Co., California

Maharaja IPA, Avery Brewing, Colorado