Altbier braised short ribs: preheat oven to 350 F (175 C). 

Cut your short ribs into large pieces, I usually try to have one bone in each chunk which ends up with about 3-inch pieces. Liberally season each short rib piece with salt and pepper. In a large oven-safe pot or Dutch oven, brown your short ribs over medium-high heat until all sides are brown. This should take less than 10 minutes. If you have too many short rib pieces to comfortably brown, you may want to sear your short ribs a few at a time. When each piece has seared for a couple of minutes on each side, remove to a plate to rest.

Add the chopped onions in the same pot that you browned your short ribs. You will want to cook them for about 5 minutes. 

After 5 minutes the onions should have softened a little. Add garlic and tomato paste to the pot with the onions and cook, stirring often for 2 minutes. 

Two minutes later, add the beer, Worcestershire sauce, and all of your beef broth. 

Put your resting short ribs back into the pan with all the sauce. Roll them around to coat. 

Place the pot in the oven for 3 to 3.5 hours to braise. 

Remove the pot from the oven and allow the short ribs to cool for at least 20 minutes before using it in a sandwich or storing it. If you're not ready for sandwich time, refrigerate and you will warm the meat back up when it's time. Separate the meat from the liquid into a sealable container and then add just a little bit of liquid back to the meat before storing it in the refrigerator. Then, you can reserve the braising liquid in another container to be heated up and used as a dip for the sandwiches if you want (see notes). 

Rauchbier beer cheese spread: if you have a food processor you can use the processor to shred the cheese. If you don't have a food processor you will need to shred by hand. 

If using a food processor: shred the cheese in the food processor and then switch to the blade attachment and add the shredded cheese back in. Add your Worcestershire, Dijon mustard, garlic, and onion powders into the food processor with the grated cheese and pulse a few times. The cheese mixture will probably start to ball up or become really thick. This is when you can start adding the beer. Pour the beer in slowly and pulse until you get your desired texture. 

If NOT using a food processor: Once all the cheese is shredded or blended add Worcestershire, Dijon mustard, garlic and onion powders with the cheese in a large bowl and mix with a heavy spatula or spoon to combine. Once everything is combined, slowly pour in the beer a little at a time and mash/stir everything together until you get a texture that is spreadable. You might not use all of the beer this way, so you can drink that part. 

Grab a cracker and taste and see if you need to add salt and pepper. 

Store in a bowl or container with a lid in the refrigerator for a week or two.

Now it's time to sandwich.

Reheating meat: add around 1/2 to 1 cup of short rib meat to a small pan over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes or until the meat is nicely warmed. You can also do this in a bowl in the microwave if preferred. 

Sandwich assembly: shred about 1/4 cup of gouda cheese (or cheddar). 

Spread a layer of Rauchbier cheese on one slice of bread. Top with all of the warmed-up short-rib meat.

Add a few pickles on top of the meat and then top that with the shredded gouda. Close the sandwich up with the second slice of bread.

Grilling/griddling: preheat a large pan or griddle on the stove over medium-low heat. Butter the outside of the top of the sandwich. After the pan or griddle has heated up for 4 or 5 minutes flip the sandwich over, butter side down, into the pan. Cook for 3 minutes on the first side.

Add about 1 tablespoon of butter to the top of the sandwich while it is in the pan. After 3 minutes on the first side, flip the sandwich again, butter side down, and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes on the second side. Depending on the color of the bread, you may want to flip and cook again a couple more times until the outside of the sandwich is golden brown and crispy. 

Remove the sandwiches from the pan/griddle and allow them to rest on a cooling rack for 2 minutes before serving.

Serve and enjoy.