by DRINK Item Image

Pilsner

Named for the Czech Republic city of Pilsen, pilsner is light and refreshing with the absolute slightest hint of hops.

Pilsner

Baby Swiss

It’s hard to do baby swiss wrong, unless you try to pair it with something too sweet. We never hesitate to pull out the wine and beer for collaborations with baby swiss. Beers that pair well include stout, porter, weiss beer and lager. Wines that enjoy babysitting: oaked or unoaked chardonnay, grüner veltliner, champagne and cava.

Butterkäse

Light and refreshing drinks go down well with rich and decadent butterkäse. Stock the fridge with pilsner, pale ale, lager, kolsch or a slightly sweet German weiss beer. If wine sounds better, chardonnay and grüner veltliner are both good choices. Brandy, port and other digestifs and dessert wines will also never turn down a date with butterkäse.

Cheese Curds

We’re happiest tossing back a frosty light pilsner, lager, pale ale (or two!) with a serving of salty, fresh Wisconsin cheese curds. You might as well go ahead and order a pitcher.

Colby

Colby is a mild, crowd-pleaser of a cheese, so it’s friendly with all sorts of drinks. If you're wanting beer, go for a pilsner, pale ale, brown ale or lager. Wines that pair well with colby include cabernet sauvignon, chianti, pinot noir, red zinfandel, champagne, riesling and malbec. If you prefer the strong stuff, tequila reposado and rye whiskey are definitely good bets.

Feta

If you’ve never had retsina, we highly recommend drinking this pine-flavored Greek white or rosé with feta. It’s like traveling to Greece without leaving your home. Any crisp and bright beer or wine will do for feta, but we particularly like pilsner, lager, pinot gris and grüner veltliner. It’s fantastic with ouzo too -- if you can handle the powerful anise, licorice-like flavor.

Havarti

Havarti is easy to pair and you really can partner it with just about any drink that sounds good in the moment. If we were pushing your havarti-filled cart in the beer aisle, however, we’d fill it with weiss beer, doppelbock, stout or ESB. Wines that we matchmake with havarti include buttery chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc, beaujolais or an on-the-lighter-side pinot noir.

Muenster

Beers and wines are our go-to for Wisconsin muenster. Stouts, pilsners, pale ales, porters, brown ales, lagers and Belgian ales are all really tasty with it. If you’d rather sip on wine, we suggest chardonnay, pinot noir, merlot, red zinfandel, riesling, sauvignon blanc, beaujolais, pinot gris or gruner veltliner.

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