Left to right: Widmer’s Brick, Camembert

Belgian-Style Pale Ale

STYLE NOTES: Despite the similarity of the names, Belgian-style pale ales and American pale ales are distant kin at best. Think of the two styles as cousins rather than siblings. Unlike American pale ales with their full-blown hoppy scent, Belgian-style pale ales owe most of their fragrance to Belgian yeast strains. The fruity aromas typically produced by these yeasts include orange peel, banana, and pear, with sometimes a hint of sour cherry. Some, like the famous Orval, rely on Brettanomyces yeast to add a subtle sourness and complexing aromas of earth and barnyard.

Amber to copper in hue, Belgian-style pale ales have a more malty personality than their American counterparts. Even so, the malt aspect is delicate, closer to toasted grain or baking-powder biscuits than to caramel. European hop varieties contribute a restrained malt-balancing bitterness, a component heightened dramatically in Belgian IPAs like De Ranke XX Bitter.

Most Belgian-style pale ales finish dry, although the brewer may have used sugar to elevate the alcohol without enriching the body. At 5 to 7 percent alcohol, these brews have more power than their easy drinkability suggests. They are a little too potent to think of as session beers, yet one refreshing glass invites another. Moderate in every respect, they don’t wear out their welcome.

BEERS TO TRY: De Koninck; De Ranke XX Bitter (Belgian IPA); Green Flash Rayon Vert; Ommegang BPA; Ommegang Rare Vos; Orval Trappist Ale; Saranac Belgian Style Ale; Palm Spéciale; Svea (Belgian IPA).

CHEESE AFFINITIES: With their fruity aromas, brisk carbonation, spicy flavors, and dry finish, Belgian-style pale ales share some attributes with hard cider. So it’s no stretch to pair these brews with the cheeses that cider complements, such as aged British farmhouse cheeses like Cheddar, Cheshire, and Caerphilly; or with Camembert, a cheese made in cider country. These well-balanced beers can also handle washed-rind cheeses that aren’t too feisty.

Created by a Swiss immigrant in the 1870s, Brick cheese has a distinguished history in Wisconsin. Sadly, modern plants have largely abandoned the old recipe in favor of a bland cheese that hardly resembles the pungent original. Only Widmer’s Cheese Cellars continues to produce a Wisconsin Brick of distinction. Overseen by third-generation cheesemaker Joe Widmer, Widmer’s Brick has the signature sandwich-loaf shape, the sticky bacteria-washed rind, and the fruity, beefy, yeasty fragrance that old-timers expect. The name comes not from the cheese’s shape but from the bricks used to press the fresh curds—the same bricks Joe Widmer’s grandfather used. Widmer’s Brick is relatively tame for a washed-rind cheese, and an ale like Orval, with its high alcohol and its own touch of funk, can stand ground against it.

Using cow’s milk from their own small herd, the Kirkham family makes Great Britain’s most esteemed and traditional Lancashire. Ruth Kirkham and her son, Graham, perpetuate the recipe Ruth learned from her mother, making Mrs. Kirkham’s Lancashire the only one still produced with raw milk and animal rennet. Instead of waxing the wheels, as other Lancashire producers do to prevent moisture loss, the Kirkhams wrap their wheels in muslin and coat them with butter. This practice protects the rind while allowing the wheel to breathe and develop flavor. The unusual procedure also calls for combining curd from several days, a step that heightens the crème fraîche aroma and lemony tang. But the most distinctive feature of Kirkham’s Lancashire is its tender texture, as buttery and crumbly as shortbread. That lemon-butter quality creates a bridge to Belgian-style pale ale with its own fruity bakeshop scent.

The French Camembert sold in America often disappoints, lacking the big, mushroomy fragrance and buttery texture of the finest raw-milk Camembert in France. Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit the sale of raw-milk Camembert because it hasn’t aged long enough, a minimum of sixty days. But celebrated French affineur (cheese ager) Hervé Mons, working with a Normandy cheesemaker, has managed to produce what long seemed impossible: an aromatic and supple Camembert from pasteurized milk. Packaged under his name or the brand name Le Pommier, this Camembert develops a room-filling scent of mushrooms, garlic, and barnyard. Its aromas mesh with the fruity, spicy fragrance of Belgian-style pale ale, and the Camembert’s silky texture loves the beer’s vigorous effervescence.

MORE CHEESES TO TRY: Appleby’s Cheshire; Ardrahan; Brie de Nangis; Caerphilly; Chaource; Coulommiers; Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk; Crave Brothers Les Frères; Scharffe Max; Sweet Grass Dairy Green Hill; Tomme de Savoie.