I love this one and serve it at every beer event I have. Gets raves from the crowd. You can also add broccoli, or use veggie broth to make it vegetarian. I generally use a German pils, but have used alt and IPA.
Potato Beer Cheese Soup
1 quart chicken broth (homemade or canned)
2 1/2 pounds potatoes, un-peeled, coarsely chopped
2 cups chopped green onions, whites and about half the green stalks
1 quart half-and-half or milk
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
6 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
6 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup beer (or dry white wine or dry sherry)
In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add the potatoes and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are very soft. Add the green onions and remove the pot from the heat. Add the half-and-half or milk to the pot.
Puree the potato-broth mixture in a blender or food processor. (You will have to do this in batches; when blending, fill the container only half full and cover the lid with a dish towel because the soup "spurts" quite violently as it's being blended.) Return the puree to the pot. Stir in the soy sauce and pep¬per and slowly bring the soup back to a simmer.
When the soup begins to sim¬mer, stir in the grated cheeses grad-ually, a handful at a time. Now gen¬tly whisk in the wine, sherry or beer.
Yields 8 servings.