Making beer cheese soup will be enjoyable if you enjoy eating beer cheese dip. Beer, cheese, veggies, a blend of spices, and other flavorful ingredients flavor this silky, creamy soup. But which beer goes best with beer cheese soup?
- Amber Lager
- American Pilsner/Pale Lager
- Vienna/Oktoberfest Lager
- Hellas Lager
- Doppelbock
- Bock
- Sweetwater Blood Orange Radler
- Altbier
- English Brown Ale
- Rauchbier
What Beer Is Best For Beer Cheese Soup?
The best beers to use when making beer cheese soups are brown ales or light lagers. Abstain from IPAs. Dawn claims that her people regularly drink Bud Light or a comparable beverage. You want a beer that tastes like bread or almost nothing else. Both of those will go well with the soup.
With a creamy, tangy flavor from the cheddar and a deep, earthy flavor from the beer, this recipe for Beer Cheese Soup hits the sweet spot. And best of all, it only takes a few minutes to complete.
Most recipes advise using firmly malty beers, with toasted, and have little to no hop bitterness.
Read More: 10 Beers Like Blue Moon
Why You Need Beer For Beer Cheese Soup
- It adds flavor. Beer is a complex beverage with a variety of different flavors. These flavors can enhance the flavor of your soup.
- It helps to thin out the soup. This is important because you don’t want your soup to be too thick. If it’s too thick, it will be difficult to eat and you’ll end up with a lot of leftovers.
- Beer adds a bit of body to the soup. This is important because you want your soup to have a nice, creamy texture. If it’s too thin, it will be watery and won’t have the same appeal.
Best Beer For Beer Cheese Soup
For beer cheese soup, the following varieties of beer work best:
1. The Amber Lagers
Amber lagers typically taste lighter and are less dominating than darker lagers since they are brewed using two-row, Vienna, Munich, and Caramel malts.
The grains give them a flavor that is toasted, a little sweet, malty and has overtones of caramel. Just enough bitterness is added by German noble hops to counteract the malty sweetness.
Amber lagers give your soup’s color and flavor greater depth.
- IBU: 14 – 20 (low)
- Cheddar, Fontina, Gruyere, and Pepper Jack are the best matches.
2. American Pilsners and Pale Lagers
American-style Pilsners and Pale Lagers have flavors that are slightly sweet, malty, and toasted and are brewed with two-row, six-row, and Pilsner malts. They frequently lack flavor depth and typically have malt and hop flavors that are well-balanced with low bitterness.
When you don’t want the beer flavor to be overt in your soup, you can use these brews.
- IBU: 8 – 15 (low)
- Gruyere, sharp cheddar, and pepper jack are the greatest matches.
3. Vienna/Oktoberfest Lager
Vienna and Oktoberfest Lagers feature a strong malty backbone with crackers, bready, nutty, and toasted characteristics. They are brewed with Munich, Vienna, and Pilsner malts. The mild hoppy bitterness is provided by German noble hops.
These darker German lagers give your soup a roasted, nutty flavor.
- IBUs: 20 – 28
- Gruyere, Pepperjack, Fontina, and Cheddar are the cheeses it goes best with.
5. Helles Lagers
Helles Lagers have a rounded bready, malty flavor and are made with Pilsner malt and German noble hops. The flavor is comparable to a German Pilsner, although it is more malt-forward and lacks the bitterness of hops.
Helles Lagers give your soup depth without overpowering it with sweetness or bitterness.
- IBU Helles: 18 to 30 (low to medium)
- Gruyere, White Cheddar, and Monterey Jack are the best matches.
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6. Doppelbock
Although prominent, the malty sweetness shouldn’t be overpowering. More than caramel or toffee malt, the malt flavor has more in common with freshly roasted Munich-style malt. Possible dark fruit flavors include prune and raisin.
It pairs best with Gruyere, Pepperjack, Fontina, and Cheddar cheeses.
- IBU 17-27
7. Bock
Bock beers are rich, toasted, and malty with a hint of sweetness and very little hop flavor. They are brewed with roasted barley and German hops.
Your soup has rich tastes thanks to roasted barley, caramel, and hints of chocolate.
- IBU: 18 to 30 (low to medium)
- White Cheddar, Gruyere, and Monterey Jack are the best matches.
8. English Brown Ales
English Brown Ales have characteristics of toasted malts, roasted nuts, and caramel with a hint of toffee, making them slightly sweet. They are brewed with roasted pale malt, crystal malt, and other specialty malts. They are less bitter than their American cousins because they have a lower hop profile.
These ales provide your soup with a mildly sweet, toasted flavor as well as a richer color.
- IBU: 12 – 20 (low)
- Best paired with: Cheddar, Fontina, and Gouda
9. Altbier
A mixture between ale and lager, altbier. The issue is that depending on the brewery, the hops’ bitterness can range from hardly detectable to extremely strong. If you know of a good one, it can give this vegan beer cheese soup a great flavor element without being overpowering.
- IBU: 25-50
Read More: 10 Beers Like Budweiser
10. Rauchbier
Rauchbier (“smoked beer”) gets its smoky flavor from malts that are roasted over an open flame during the brewing process. Talk about changing the flavoring game.
- IBU: 20 – 30
Beers To Stay Away From When Making Beer Cheese Soup
If you don’t want a stronger “beer taste,” stick to the pilsner or golden lager because darker beers WILL affect the color of the soup.
Avoid strong stouts and porters while making this vegan beer cheese soup because their flavors AND hues will tend to overpower the meal rather than enhance it. AVOID fruit beers, too!
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Frequently Asked Question
What Country Is The Origin Of Beer Cheese?
On the banks of the Kentucky River close to Winchester, it all allegedly began in the late 1930s. ITowhet his guests’ appetites for beer, Chef Joe Allman’s cousin Johnnie, the proprietor of the Driftwood Inn, presented the unusual salty, spicy spread as a complimentary snack.
Can Cheese Soup be Freeze?
Yes, you can! Before freezing, allow to cool entirely. You could choose to freeze in individual microwaveable containers. has a three-month shelf life in the freezer.
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Can I Make Vegetarian Beer Cheese Soup?
Simply omit the bacon and swap the chicken broth for the veggie broth to convert this soup to a vegetarian option.
