Beer cheese — a sharp, hard cheddar spread blended with beer, garlic, and cayenne, served cold with crackers — was invented in the 1940s at Allman's Restaurant just north of Lexington in Winchester, Kentucky. The dish remains a local obsession; pretty much every restaurant has its own version, and the Beer Cheese Festival in Winchester each June draws thousands. Order it as a starter anywhere in Lexington — it is the closest the city has to a defining local dish — and try a few different versions on the same trip to see how wide the recipe range is.