The following article was published in a local industry newsletter.
With summer upon us and with the BBQ season in full swing, the sense of refreshment gained from drinking a nice cold beer is a sensation that in my mind is almost second to none.
Whilst there is a plethora of information about pairing different types of food with various wines, the information on pairing differing foods with various beers is scarcer.
There are firstly a couple of rules of thumb that may help you decide on which of the amber nectars you will drink with your meal:
• Generally speaking, heavy beers go with heavy food and light beers go with light food.
• Darker heavier beers are analogous to red wine and therefore go with red meat and lighter beers are analogous to white wine and go with white meat.
• Light beers go well with spicy food.
• Light ‘hoppy’ beers are good for ‘cutting’ the taste of rich and fatty foods.
For example, with grilled chicken or fish, you would do well to drink it with a nice lager, light ale or even a pilsner. And the same beers would go well with any hot and spicy foods.
The gastronomical bliss of eating a hot vindaloo curry and washing it down with pints of light Indian wheat beers is very hard to beat.
If you are eating a slightly heavier meal such as roast lamb or beef or even a stew such as beef stroganoff or Lancashire hotpot, you may want to go for something a little heavier. such as A pale ale or even a brown ale or porter, with its richer and ‘fuller’ flavours will complement the more ‘meatier’ flavoured meals beautifully.
The other options for heavier meals during the cold winter months with stews and things like ‘bangers’ and mash is to go for a heavy stout or porter to obtain that nice ‘rosy afterglow’ which makes staying in on a rainy Sunday afternoon the preferable option!
Heavier beers such as stout can also pair up very nicely with big sticky desserts like chocolate fudge cake and sticky toffee pudding
With exceptions to every rule, the other option is to go for contrast when pairing food with beer. Whilst most people like to drink champagne with oysters, I can tell you that a dozen oysters can be washed down perfectly with a pint of heavy stout.
Similarly whilst the rules above state that red meat goes with a heavier beer, I can think of nothing better on a hot summer’s day to wash down a piece of steak with a nice cold bottle of lager.
Another consideration to take into account is the ethnicity of the food. A plate of steamed mussels is paired perfectly with a Belgian pilsner and a plate of Singapore crab wouldn’t be the same without a few cans of light Asian lager.
Similarly, ‘bangers’ and mash goes very nicely with an English brown ale. Therefore, it can sometimes be useful to match ‘like with like’ and pair a particular dish with a beer of the same ethnicity.
Ultimately however, the rules listed above are there merely to provide a general guideline. If you strongly feel that a certain beer goes with a certain food, then that it obviously the best choice for you.
However, if you are eating a particular dish and are spoilt for choice with your beer, using these guidelines listed above should produce a pleasurable dining experience for you and give you ‘beer connoisseur’ status amongst your friends.
© 2005 Dr George R. Ujvary
