Reviewed: May 16, 2012

There's a major flaw with this recipe. It calls for "beer". There are dozens of styles of beer, this recipe needs to be more specific to be successful. I used a homebrewed porter; unfortunately, the beer flavor completely overwhelmed all of the other flavors. This soup would have been a lot tastier with a lighter beer, I wish I had known that before I made a huge pot... disappointing.

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Reviewer:

rpitingolo

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Living In: Washington, D.C., USA

Reviewed: Apr. 22, 2012

You HAVE to be kidding me! This was AWESOME soup! It could have been the cheese we used (smokey cheddar and some habanero cheddar. Light beer cuz that's what we had. I cooked this low and slow and changed up the order of the directions. It was a wonderful recipe...thank you so much!

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Reviewer:

GINGERLY88

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Apr. 6, 2012

Very good! I followed the recipe pretty closely as far as ingredients go, only adding a bit of swiss and an Irish cheddar to the regular cheddar. I took the advice of previous raters and changed up the directions. I sauteed the carrots, celery, onions and garlic in the butter, then added the broth and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Then I added the beer. I mixed the salt, pepper, cayenne, dry mustard and flour together and slowly sprinkled while stirring it into the vegetable-broth-beer-mixture. Then I reduced the heat and stirred in the half and half, then added the cheese. I put Tabasco and Sriracha Chili Sauce on the table for guests to add to their own tastes. My sister mentioned that maybe some of the raters are having difficulty with consistency because they may be using store-bought pre-shredded cheese rather than shredding it themselves. There could be an anti-caking agent in the pre-shredded cheeses that is causing the cheese not to melt properly.

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Reviewer:

WAKULACHEF

Reviewed: Mar. 22, 2012

I made this on St. Pats day and it disappeared! Even one of my friends who cooks at a local restaurant/bar wanted the recipe so she could make it at the bar. My wife beat me to the 3/4 cup that was leftover the next day.

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Reviewer:

Timothy

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Beavercreek, Oregon, USA

Reviewed: Mar. 4, 2012

This was delicious! Living on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota I've had the pleasure in sampling many beer cheese soups. This was the best home made recipe we have tried.

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Reviewer:

bksmith

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA

Living In: La Crescent, Minnesota, USA

Reviewed: Feb. 16, 2012

The cheese doesn't melt in very well and it has kind of a weird aftertaste. It just doesn't taste like the beer-cheese soup I remember as a child.

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Reviewer:

Kayti

Reviewed: Feb. 9, 2012

I thought that this recipe was great, my SO on the other hand gave it a 3 so we'll average it to a 4. The beer flavor really does come through. I agree with those who said don't add the popcorn until the last second because it melts right in to the soup (but does give it a nice crunch). I also cooked everything in one pan softening the veggies first as suggested by others. Very good. I'm freezing half of this, so we'll see how it reheats. Thanks for the recipe:)

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Reviewer:

Jog Dish

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 14, 2012

Delicious recipe, but the cooking method as described needs work. There's no reason this soup should require two pots to fix. That's just more mess and extra work for such a simple soup. Rather than following the cooking instructions, I did something similar to other reviewers in that I sauteed the veggies in butter and salt first for about 5 minutes, added the flour and dry seasonings next and cooked the dry mixture for a few minutes before gradually adding the liquid ingredients (plus the pepper and worcestershire sauces) and letting everything simmer for 20 minutes or so before adding the cheese at the very end. I prefer a smoother texture for my soups, so I took an immersion blender to the pot right before I added in the cheese. Apart from that though, this is a terrific recipe. My family raved about the flavor and the leftovers are delicious too. The key to getting great results for this soup is to use good cheese. Don't be lazy and use preshredded cheddar, as the flavor profile and the texture won't be as good than if you had picked up a block of decent cheddar (I used Tillamook, but a good Wisconsin cheese would be fitting!) and grated it yourself. The result will be so much creamier and the taste so much richer that you won't regret the extra effort!

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Reviewer:

SHRIEKINGVIOLET

Reviewed: Jan. 9, 2012

Paired a nutty brown winter beer with sharp cheddar, and a squeeze of spicy brown mustard since I had no mustard powder. My family loved it. It is a little thin, but very rich, and yes, it does seem like you could more easily add the flour to sautéed veggies and only use one pot as others noted, but I appreciate someone taking the time to share a good recipe so I try to honor the original cook the first time I try a new recipe. Really easy to make, very filling. Slayed my family. My teen actually got all cozy after eating a big bowl and went horizontal right at the table, laid down across two dining chairs. My wife simply kinda went diagonal, resting on one elbow. I just drank the rest of the beer. Yum.

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