Think German Helles, the ubiquitous straw-blond lagers of Bavarian beer halls, Czech Pilsners or Gose, cloudy unfiltered wheat beers. In general light impact beers will deliver light grassy notes, soft tropical fruit in the nose and increasing amounts of toasty malt and citrus. They’re delicate, but rich, and light here refers to the color, not the alcohol content.

Cheeses with a similar flavor profile (grassy, soft tropical fruit, and citrus) reveal secondary and tertiary levels of flavor alongside these beers. Annie get your goat. I like soft-rinded goat and mixed-milk cheeses with brainy-looking rinds like Chevrot, Chabichou du Poitou, or La Tur which become all about sweet, yeasty nuttiness. Also formidable are aged goat cheeses such as Garrotxa.