The Beer Buzz

Nothing goes with pizza quite like a frothy pint. With that in mind, the folks at Boston’s Harpoon Brewery got together with Vermont’s Cabot Creamery to launch a series at the brewery on pairing cheese and beer (horseradish cheese with Octoberfest beer, for instance, or garlic and herb with Summer Brew). The new Harpoon IPA Beer Cheddar takes the idea one step further: Blocks of Cabot’s creamy, mild cheese are soaked for 24 hours in the beer, and then packaged and stored for four weeks to let the flavor seep in. The hops-heavy IPA gives the cheese a mouthwatering tang while playing tricks on your taste buds—It tastes like beer! It tastes like cheese!—and the cheddar goes down as smoothly as the first drink at happy hour. The companies even teamed up to write recipes that take full advantage of the flavors, including a velvety chicken stew and braised brisket with beer-cheddar crust, but if you don’t want to get that fancy, don’t worry: It’ll go just as well over Super Bowl nachos or on a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. (Talk about your perfect pairings.)

$5.49 per pound at Trader Joe’s, 899 Boylston St., Boston, 617-262-6505, and other locations; traderjoes.com.