After five and half years of teaching cheese and beverage pairing classes I've come to a startling conclusion: beer and cheese go together better than wine and cheese. That said, you can't just pair any cheese with any beer and expect bliss. Here's a primer on pairing cheese with lagers, ales, IPAs, and saisons. More

Deb Harkness suggests some food and wallet-friendly Spanish wines to go along with whatever you're grilling this weekend.... More

On Fridays, Deb Harkness of Good Wine Under $20 drops by with Serious Grape. This week, great wine books for your library or that of your grapehead friend or family member. If you are an avid cook, you can probably rattle off the titles of the five cookbooks that you absolutely, positively could not live without. They are the books with the crusty pages, the singed covers, and the broken spines that you turn to again and again when looking for culinary inspiration. So what are the five wine books that I can't live without? My list includes a reference book, a tasting guide, an annual report, a catalogue of grape varieties, and an indispensable guide to food and wine... More

Last week I wrote about cooking with beer, so today it seems only fair to point to Josh Rubin of the Toronto Star on pairing food with beer with Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver, who "enjoys going toe-to-toe with sommeliers when it comes to food pairings. Cheese is a favourite tool for his battles, but he has also used stews, cassoulet, seafood and dessert."I've had some Iron Chef-style events where I'll be matching foods with beer, and the sommelier will be matching the same foods with wine," says Oliver. "But beer against wine is like fighting someone with one hand tied behind their back. I haven't lost yet, and the people in the audience doing the judging are usually... More