Beer School: Beer and food pairing – the basics
Before the age of craft beer, back when only macros were readily available, the only widely accepted beer and food pairing was the old standy-by: pizza and beer. And this wasn’t so much a “pairing” as it was a declaration of, “I am man! I eat pizza! I drink beer!” followed by some animalistic grunting.
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little. But let’s face it, a couple decades ago, pairing with food was the arena of wine and fancy-pants restaurants. Pairing food with beer? Pshh, you may as well just have a water with your meal.
But things have changed drastically as craft breweries have continued to pop up all over the country. With so many different styles of beer — from light to dark, sweet to bitter, delicate to extreme — there are countless possibilities of beer and food pairings. And when you zero in on that perfect pairing, where the subtle interplay of flavors makes a combination that transcends both the beer and the food individually… Ahhh, heaven.
It’s no wonder that beer and food pairing has been getting so much mainstream attention lately, between beer dinners, books, and events like Savor: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience. People are starting to discover the magic that can happen when you find the perfect beer and food pairing.
So, what to do if you’re a pairing n00b? Well, first know that practice makes perfect. The more pairings you experiment with, the easier it’ll become. Not sure where to start? Here are a few basic guidelines.
Match intensity. You’ve heard the old “white wine goes with chicken and fish, red wine goes with red meat” rule. The idea is that white wine and chicken/fish are generally more subtle in flavor, whereas red wine and red meat are more robust. A similar rule can be made with beer. Light beer should be paired with light food, and heavy beer should be paired with heavy food.
Here’s an example. Say you’re having a garden salad with grilled chicken, dried cranberries, and a light vinaigrette. This is a light dish with subtle flavors, so you’ll want to pair it with a similarly light and subtle beer, like a Belgian wit or a blonde ale. On the other hand, let’s say you’re having Filet Mignon au Poivre with a rich, peppery sauce and garlic mashed potatoes. Those are some pretty hefty flavors, so you’ll need a pretty hefty beer to stand up to it, like a brown ale with a strong malt and hop backbone.
The point is, you don’t want the beer to overwhelm the food, or vice versa. This is the simplest and most fundamental concept in beer and food pairing.
Find common flavors. Commonalities between the beer and food can compliment one another. For example, the caramel notes of a doppelbock would compliment the caramelized flavors of roasted pork. And what could be better with chocolate than a roasty, chocolatey Imperial stout?
Similarly, common flavor combinations in food also work well in beer/food pairings. An example of this would be chocolate-covered cherries, a classic combination. Try a chocolatey stout with a slice of cherry pie. See what I mean?
Balance contrasting flavors. Another approach is to butt together two contrasting characteristics. Consider the interactions between sweet, bitter, sour, and spice. An aged, tangy cheese would be balanced nicely by a beer with generous malty sweetness. Or try a bitter, citrusy IPA with a slice of cheesecake. Alternate between bites and sips. With contrasting flavors, you’ll find that your palate wakes up each time you go back and forth between the two.
With spicy foods, you can go two different routes. Hoppy, bitter beers work great when the intensity matches that of the heat. The bitterness and the strong hop flavors of an IPA stand up well to spicy food, and provide a nice contrast to cool the fire in between bites. Or you can pair spicy food with a sweeter beer, like a malty amber ale. Sweet and spicy are a wonderful contrast. (Ever have chocolates with cayenne in them?)
Consider mouthfeel. This is a less obvious concept, so I’ll illustrate with an example. Say you’re eating gnocchi with a brown butter sauce. The meal is rich, creamy, and unctuous. You’re not going to want to take sips of a similarly rich beer in between bites. High carbonation is a great way to cut through the richness of fatty foods, so try a highly carbonated pilsner or a spritzy Belgian beer.
In fact, this is the real explanation of the whole pizza and beer thing. Think about it — pizza is loaded with ooey-gooey, fatty cheese. Macros are highly carbonated. The carbonation cuts through the cheese and cleanses your palate. Hence, pizza and beer.
These are some good, general guidelines to get you started. If you want to read more, an excellent resource is The Brewmaster’s Table by Garrett Oliver. This 384 page monster is practically an encyclopedia of beer and food pairing. Read it cover to cover like I did, or just use it as a reference guide.
The important thing to remember with all of this is that beer and food pairings are subjective. If it tastes good, do it. If it doesn’t taste good, or if the match doesn’t really sing to you, try a different combination. The more you practice, the better you’ll get at it.
If you’re interested in seeing more examples, I plan to write more detailed articles about beer and food pairing here at The Hop Press. I’ll take the approach of featuring a specific dish and choosing different beers to match. For now, go forth! Eat! Drink! Pair!
11 Comments to “Beer School: Beer and food pairing – the basics”
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I love the sweet and spicy contrast you mention with chocolate and cayenne. I had my first experience with it from a chocolate maker in Asheville. They make a wonderful chocolate truffle dusted with cayenne pepper.
I decided to try and bring that combination into a beer. A couple weeks ago I brewed a chocolate stout and used cayenne pepper to give it a subtle heat. It won’t be ready for a few more weeks, but I’ll have to let you know how it turns out.
A great commercial beer I found with this combo is the Great Divide Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. Delicious!
A chocolate stout with cayenne pepper sounds awesome! I’ve thought about making something similar as well, like a Mexican chocolate stout. I made a chile ale once, and when I tasted it, I thought the chile flavor and heat would be perfect in a stout. Definitely let me know how yours turns out!
Can i take a one small pic from your blog?
Garretot
[...] month, I wrote up an introduction to the basics of beer and food pairing, detailing four simple rules to get pairing newbies started. Methinks it’s time to dig a [...]
brewing has been around for thousands of years and inevitably paired with all kinds of food. presumably these people got along fine eating and drinking before we came along. while your articles do give one something to think about, and they are visually interesting steering clear of unfair and incorrect judgement of behaviors that you may or may not have witnessed would show better respect towards people in general. because when we get older we usually gain perspective.
I in no way meant any disrespect. I merely stated the observation that before craft beer, beer and food pairing was a non-existent concept. I apologize if you read this as a hit to anyone who drinks macro beer with pizza.
I myself enjoy a good Keystone Light when the conditions are right, and I imagine it would go wonderfully with a nice slice of Papa John’s!
aawww i guess i got a little sensitive for a minute there. it was the male grunt thing and anyway we just do that because were lazy or watching tv or our significant other isn’t cooking (because were not cooking since were being lazy).seems to me someone who can drink a keystone light and eat papa johns (which i have never tried) can’t be a snob. so good luck to you! but still food and brew has been a concept for a long time and i like to hope that maybe some of the macro swill holds a necessary spot in the great skyward progression of beer. maybe i am just a dreamer.
[...] read, including two really good ones by my Hop Press colleague Steph Weber (Pairing With Pizza and Beer School: Beer and Food Pairing – The Basics), have got me thinking about the relative importance of what beer (or type of beer) gets paired [...]
[...] as I’ve said before, beer and food pairing is completely subjective. There are a few general guidelines to get you started, but the most important thing is to try it out yourself. Start with the simple [...]
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