Beer Cheese for the Win

Beer Cheese for the Win

For those in the know, any event involving football and cold brews would be incomplete without a certain spicy cheddar dip. Here’s the story of how it came to be, plus a couple of exemplary mail-order versions and a recipe for homemade beer cheese

By Keith Pandolfi om the Wall Street Journal

I DIDN’T EVEN realize I missed beer cheese until about a month ago. I was having friends over to watch my doomed Cincinnati Bengals take on the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC wild-card game, and went to a grocery near my Brooklyn apartment to buy some. The dip wasn’t hard to come by when I was growing up in Cincinnati, where it was served at pubs, restaurants and parties. And while I hadn’t had it in years, I suddenly found myself hankering for this sharp, spicy, altogether perfect pairing for pretzels, crackers and, of course, beer.

In the dairy section of the local Key Food I found plenty of cheese dips—nacho and cheddar-jalapeño, Tostitos and Newman’s Own—but nothing with the words “beer cheese” on the label. Refusing to accept defeat, I went online, searching for a beer-cheese recipe I could whip up on my own. I found dozens, mostly simple concoctions of sharp cheddar, flat beer and a dash of hot sauce or cayenne. I also discovered that Kentucky beer cheese—as it’s commonly known nowadays—has been around since the 1940s. The Eureka moment happened when Joe Allman, the head chef at a horse-racing track in Arizona, visited his cousin Johnnie Allman, who owned an eponymous restaurant along the river in Boonesborough, Ky. Johnnie was trying to come up with a snack that would increase his customers’ appetite for beer—as well as his profits—and Joe was happy to help out. The result was something they called Snappy Cheese, its dash of Cayenne pepper a nod to Joe’s fondness for the spicy foods of the Southwest.

A Taste of Kentucky

Howard’s Creek Authentic Beer Cheese | This version, made in Lexington, Ky., contains two different sharp cheddars and has a nice spicy kick. Even Joe Allman’s son, Tim, vouches that it’s as close as they come to his father’s original. Howard’s Creek owner Kathy Gorman Archer began perfecting the recipe back when she was still a teenager. $26 for four 8-ounce containers, howardscreek.com

Kentucky Beer Cheese | Made by the Evans family in Nicholasville, Ky., this small-batch iteration contains beer, cheddar, garlic and spices. While it starts off mild, the silky spread finishes with a decidedly snappy punch. Be sure to try the Evans family recipe for beer cheese soup on the website. $6 for a 16-ounce container, kentuckybeercheese.com.

Johnnie gave his Snappy Cheese out free, along with radishes, carrots, celery and crackers. His beer sales spiked with the introduction of the salty appetizer, and it wasn’t long before the dip became so popular it spurred customers to come up with recipes of their own. Although Allman’s burned down in the 1970s, a similar version of the cheese is still served nearby at Hall’s on the River. Several commercially available brands, including River Rat and one that simply goes by the name Kentucky Beer Cheese, also claim to be a near facsimile of Allman’s original.

“Everyone in Kentucky seems to have a recipe,” said Kathy Gorman Archer, who started making her own version back in high school and now markets it under the name Howard’s Creek. Those recipes might include anything from Worcestershire sauce to Sriracha, bock beer to Budweiser. But when it comes to who uses what, it seems Colonel Sanders isn’t the only Kentuckian with a secret to keep. When I called around to restaurants in Winchester, Ky., which hosts an annual Beer Cheese Festival each June, I was met with contemptuous laughter whenever I asked for a recipe.

While most beer cheeses are served at room temperature, it’s no sacrilege to serve the stuff warmed up, as they do the Sriracha-spiked version that comes with a soft Bavarian-style pretzel at Wunderbar, my go-to beer-cheese spot in Covington, Ky., just across the river from Cincinnati. Beer cheese can also be used as a condiment for hot dogs and hamburgers, blended into scrambled eggs and grits, or stirred into a spicy mac and cheese.

The recipe I ended up settling on for my own football-viewing party came from Rose Maginnis, an old friend and Kentucky transplant now living in New Orleans. Featured at right, it is ridiculously easy to make and gets a little added zing from fresh onion and garlic.

Kentucky couldn’t keep beer cheese a secret forever, of course. Slowly but surely it’s been popping up on menus at pubs and restaurants hundreds of miles from where Allman’s restaurant once stood, even right here in my adopted city. At East Village gastropub the Redhead, chef Meg Grace sends out a classic take paired with housemade soft pretzels, while down the street at Alder, modernist Wylie Dufresne swaps out the beer for red wine and provides “chips” engineered from slices of Martin’s potato bread, rolled flat and oven-dried, for dipping.

It’s heartening to find that this childhood favorite of mine still has the capacity to surprise. A few weeks ago, I visited a Brooklyn bar called Floyd that I’d heard served an addictive version alongside what turned out to be the best beer cheese accompaniment of all time: Ritz Crackers. Curious, I asked co-owner Andy Templar how he knew about beer cheese and where he got the recipe. “I’m from Kentucky,” he said. “We all have a recipe—but I’m not going to tell you what it is.”

Homemade Beer Cheese

This recipe, based on one from former Kentuckian Rose Maginnis, is spiked with both cayenne and hot sauce. Open the beer 24 hours prior to making this recipe to prevent it from foaming up in the food processor.

Total Time: 10 minutes Serves: 8–10

Add 1 (12-ounce) bottle flat lager-style beer, 1½ pounds shredded sharp cheddar cheese, ¼ small onion, thinly sliced, 1-2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce, ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper and 2 peeled cloves garlic to the bowl of a food processor. Purée until well combined and very smooth. Add kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and more Tabasco to taste, and pulse to incorporate. Serve with pretzels, crackers or chopped vegetables.