Principles of Pairing Beer and Food
Experiencing Craft Beers with Different Courses and Foods
Beer with Cheese: Beer’s bright carbonation and crisp hoppiness can handle the mouth-coating richness of cheese. Medium-intensity beers suit many cheeses, but one as powerful as Stilton requires an assertive barley wine.
The herbal and floral hop nose of an IPA blends nicely with the complex aroma of blue cheese, while the bitterness cleanses the palate. Aromatic hefeweizen makes a nice match with simple Chèvre. Fruit beers are excellent with soft-ripened cheese such as Brie. Stout and aged cheddar is another great pair, and for the adventurous, smoked porter with a smoked cheese is a rustic joy.
Beer as an Aperitif (Salads & Appetizers): Crisp, refreshing beers are the best way to start a meal. Lighter wheat beers can be a perfect match for salads, although the bitterness of greens sometimes calls for a hoppy Pilsener. A floral blonde ale is great with seared Ahi tuna. Hoppy American pale ale can balance the richness of appetizers such as cheese tartlets. Spicy saison is the perfect counterpoint to New Orleans style shrimp. A full-flavored red ale or amber lager can be an ideal mate to smoked fish—or you might choose to present it with an elegantly crisp, dry stout.
Beer with Main Courses: There’s a perfect beer for just about any main dish, as long as you remember to match the intensity of the beer to the food. For lighter items such as grilled fish, a Pilsener is a treat. For roasted chicken, a malty lager or pale ale can be great. The sweet heat of barbecue can be tamed by a beer like an abbey-style dubbel. For grilled or roast beef, a hearty porter or stout is an excellent choice.
Beer with Dessert: So challenging with wine, dessert works beautifully with beer. Rich, full-flavored beers are needed to balance the sweetness of most desserts. American small brewers love to produce such styles, so there are plenty of choices. Fruity desserts can be paired with a strong pale tripel. Caramelly bread pudding or nut tart demands something with similar qualities—old ale fills the role beautifully. Super-sweet items such as cheesecake, crème brulée or carrot cake can create a memorable experience with highly hopped beers such as double IPAs. Spice and citrus qualities in many beers work well with desserts that highlight similar flavors.
Chocolate loves a dark beer. Milk chocolate is wonderful with Belgian-inspired strong dark ales. Flourless chocolate cake or truffles call for an inky imperial stout. Fruit beers have an obvious affinity for fruit desserts, but they can be magic with chocolate as well.
Additional information and credit for the above
information is from www.beertown.org.
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