Is a poor beer(wine)/cheese pairing better than no cheese?

[Keith]

I wanted to grab a quick snack and my wife has a bunch of those individually packed sticks of string cheese (not sure if they have these in places outside the US or even out of this region of the US, imagine a stick of mozzarella cheese about 4 inches long and ½ inch in diameter) . I grabbed one and drank a beer with it. The beer was dark and the cheese light, which is not supposed to be a good pairing, but it tasted OK to me but I’ve had beer with a more proper pairing of cheese and it is indeed much better.

If I was entertaining company, is it better to serve beer/wine with a “bad” pairing of cheese or would it be better to omit the cheese altogether?

[Dr. Socially Liberal Fiscally Conservative Vermin]

You should never have poor cheese! End of story!

[Neildo]

cheez-strings, ritz, and imported beer = high-falootin redneck

[Cullion]

If I was entertaining company, is it better to serve beer/wine with a “bad” pairing of cheese or would it be better to omit the cheese altogether?

It depends. If you and your friends like cheese strings with beer, then you don't need to know our opinion. If you want to know 'what do Europeans think is correct' then the answer is 'serving processed cheese strings to guests is in the same ballpark as serving McDonald's McFlurries for desert.'

[Hedley LaMarr]

It depends on the brand of string cheese I suppose. I don't know where you are but most of the string cheese in my area comes from local dairies and is pretty decent quality mozarella so if that's the case I say go for it. If it's Kraft or some national brand (which I'm guessing is the case if it's individually wrapped) I would say yes unless you have really high post friends, in which case I'd say yes anyway and tell them to deal with it.

[Keith]

I don't mean string cheese specifically, but cheese in general.

If I had a high-quality strong cheese but only light (lager or white wine) drink would it be better to forgo the cheese or go ahead with the "bad" pairing?

[AAAAAA]

It depends on the context too, if I wanted everyone to carefully enjoy a special beer or food I'll seek the pairings, if the guest shows he'd enjoy some food I'll give him the best I have around and if it's that string cheese, whatever that is, then be it.

[jubei33]

hmmm. I would choose some rocquefort, maybe with a drizzle of honey and some walnuts.

[AAAAAA]

hmmm. I would choose some rocquefort, maybe with a drizzle of honey and some walnuts.

To be paired with what?

[NoBowie]