Yes, I am from Wisconsin. That title should tell you that, if nothing else. We *heart* our beer cheese soup. I have been searching for recipes to make a soup that #1 tastes good and #2 does not include cheese whiz or velveeta as an ingredient (~*shudder*~).

This recipe is close. It may need a bit of tweaking yet, but as is the recipe tastes good. It just isn’t as thick as it should have been, so I decreased a bit of the broth I actually used. Oh, an immersion blender definitely makes this a nice smooth soup. Oh, and please don’t use skim milk. You need a fatty milk in here. Ask me how I know?

This also goes very well with a loaf of beer bread.

Recipe:

Step #1 – into the crockpot in the morning:

1 bottle of beer (something with actual flavor – i.e. probably not a light pilsner beer)
4 cups chicken broth (basically I box of broth)
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 leeks, cleaned and sliced up about midway
1 tsp horseradish

Throw this all in the crockpot in the morning and let it go all day on low.

Step #2 – turn crockpot on high

2 TBSP Flour + 2 TBSP butter – mix up and heat up in the microwave for 1 minute, stirring often (this is a thickener)
1 cup whole milk, warmed up in the microwave
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 cups cheddar, shredded (I used Dubliner, an aged white cheddar)
1 TBSP worstcheshire sauce
Salt, to taste

In the pot, puree up the potatoes, leeks and broth so it is as thin as you can get it with no chunks. Heat up the flour and butter in the microwave, so it gets cooked a bit (not burned). Add this to the crockpot and mix well (I used the blender). Then add in the warmed milk, and start adding the cheese. Slowly add the cheese and stir so it doesn’t all clump up. I used the blender again to get everything incorporated nicely. Add in the worstcheshire. Let this all hang out for a good half and hour. Taste to make sure it is nice and cheesey. If it seems a bit bland, add in more cheese. Salt to taste once you have your cheese all incorporated.

Enjoy with some yummy bread!

Noteworthy to note: This may appear to be some beaten up bar counter in a tavern, but no…it is our kitchen table.  We aren’t buying a new one until the kids are out of the house.  It’s “rustic”, isn’t it??  You can’t see where the babysitter used an iron on it, either.  That area is less “rustic” and more “ruined”.