A Primer for Pairing Great Brews With Amazing Meals

Beer is one of humanity’s earliest and most enduring creations--a simple elixir of grain and water transformed by yeast and hops. Historians have traced beer to ancient Egypt, where a diet of beer, bread, and onions sustained the pyramid builders. Ancient brews made by tribes and villages have evolved into today’s global brewing industry with hundreds of new brands introduced each year.

Thanks to history, consumers have more beers to choose from than ever before. Americans are discovering that beer opens itself to a variety of styles and depths of flavor and that beer can and should have a place at the dinner table.

We have always enjoyed beer with food. In colonial America, beer was served with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, accompanying everything from a plowman’s simple lunch of bread and cheese to the most elaborate banquet menus. But as beer became mass-produced, Americans began to consider beer a casual beverage, much like a soft drink. Beer is mostly found at picnics, barbecues and football games, used to wash down burritos, hamburgers, and pizza. Unlike wine, beer has rarely been considered as an accompaniment to fine foods.

But all of that appears to be changing. The American beer renaissance of the last decade has created hundreds of small breweries putting out traditionally made, quality beers: full-bodied "craft" brews with incredible complexity and variations in style. This new generation of brewers are turning out beers with enough flavor to stand up hearty foods, or delicate enough to pair with the most exquisite of entrees.

Certain foods cry out for beer. Beer has an affinity to hearty, spicy, powerfully flavored foods--among them Indian and Thai curries, highly spiced Cajun dishes, and chili-spiked dishes from Mexico, the Caribbean and the American Southwest. Other foods, not traditionally combined with beer, are expanding the list of endless beer to food combinations. So read on, learn about beer, and pursue the passion of pairing beer with your favorite foods.

BEER AND ITS COMPONENTS

Beer is made from four essential ingredients: water, fermentable sugars (traditionally malted barley), hops and yeast. These ingredients are processed and combined according to a recipe. Given the right conditions, the yeast will convert (ferment) the malt to alcohol, carbon dioxide and the taste we know as beer. The beer is then bottled and aged anywhere from a week to three months.

Malt gives beer its overall style, body, color and intensity. The first step for successfully pairing beer and food calls for balancing a beer’s "malty" characteristics with the richness, intensity, and overall character of the dish.

Beer’s subtle flavors come from hops (which gives beer a bitter, biting characteristic) and the yeast used for fermentation (which can, depending on the brew, impart a varying degree of "bready" or "earthy" flavors). Hops and yeast provide a flavorful overlay to a beer’s malty core and add to the creative possibilities for pairing with food.

BEER & FOOD--A TASTING ODYSSEY

We’ve been doing it all along but probably haven’t given it much thought. Anyone who loves beer has probably downed hundreds of brews with hundreds of meals. So, in effect, we have all had a head start on the artful pursuit of attaining beer and cuisine nirvana. As with anything, the more you know, and the more you pay attention to what you’re experiencing, the more enjoyment you will derive from pairing beer with food.

According to Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly, authors of Real Beer & Good Eats (Alfred Knopt, 1995) there are two principles keep in mind when pairing food with beer. It’s a good idea to match like with like: mild lagers and pale ales with light and subtle dishes, more powerfully flavored amber ales and dark lagers with more aggressively seasoned, intense foods. The idea is not to let either the beer or the food overwhelm the other. What we look for is kind of synergy; both beer and food should taste better together than either would separately.

The art of matching beer and fine food is still in its infancy. In short--there are no rules, only rules of thumb. Following is a list of food categories and beers that tend to pair well with them. These are only suggestions. Be creative, experiment, have a food and beer tasting with friends--most important, have fun!

SUGGESTED PAIRINGS

Aperitif

A beer before a meal is prelude for what is to come. Try a Hefeweizen (beer made with malted wheat) of which many styles and brands are on the market today. Some are filtered (properly called, "Weizen") and leaner in flavor; many are unfiltered, cloudy with some of the residual yeast from fermentation-- Pete’s Wicked Honey Wheat being an example. Wheat beers flavored with apricot (Pyramid Apricot Ale), raspberry (Spanish Peaks Honey Raspberry) and other fruits are very popular now and serve as a light and interesting beginning to any feast.

Shellfish

Simply prepared shellfish, such as cracked crab or steamed mussels, are complimented well with lighter American style pilsners or crisp, tangy wheat beers. Thomas Kemper White, Belgian style wheat, is particularly suited to the simple flavors of fresh shellfish. Depending on the preparation, a move up the scale to a lager or pilsner on the scale of Kemper Pilsner or Pilsner Urquell would do fine. For the bold, mussels and oysters pair well with robust porters and stouts, like Grant’s Perfect Porter, Guinness Stout, or Anderson Valley Brewing Company’s Oatmeal Stout.

Fish

The simple, clean flavors of wheat beers go well with most kinds of fish. Again, depending on the preparation, there is room to experiment. A golden pilsner such as Pyramid Sunfest would go very well with firm fleshed fish. If the recipe is on the spicy side, try a highly hopped ale, such as Anchor Steam or Lagunitas I.P.A.-the hoppy bitterness will hold its own against the spiciness.

Salads

For a simple green salad the no-frills style of American wheat beers makes a perfect combination. Unlike wine, whose acidity works against the vinegar in vinaigrettes, beer blends with the tartest of dressings. For an exciting change of pace, any of the fruit-flavored wheat beers or ales, such as Portland Brewing’s Berrybrew, will compliment a summer salad that includes seasonal fruits.

Red Meats & Game

There is a range of choices when it comes to pairing beef, lamb or game with beer. Pale Ales like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, tend to blend harmoniously with simple preparations of most red meats. Brown Ales, such as Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale or Pete’s Wicked Ale, or any other dark ale is a winning match for most red meat dishes. For lamb, with its gamey flavor and combination with aromatic herbs, a highly hopped, dark ale, such as Red Hook Extra Special Bitter Ale, is a sure bet. The character of the hops will create interesting flavor combinations with the spices and herbs used in preparation and marinate. For robust flavors, try a porter or stout with steak, lamb or game.

Poultry

Lagers and ales are sure-fire combinations for most poultry dishes. The "like with like" principle comes into play here. Depending on the preparation, chicken is very versatile for pairing with beer. As a tip: the simpler the dish, the lighter and less hopped the brew. For simple roasted chicken, a mellow golden ale or pilsner will not outshine the simplicity of the preparation.

For spicy chicken wings or barbecue, try a highly hopped ale like Mendocino Brewing’s Blue Heron Pale Ale to quench your thirst and provide enough bitterness to rise above the sauce. For rich, savory dishes, like chicken in red wine or chicken in mushroom sauce, experiment with a slightly darker, sweeter lager such as Thomas Kemper Bohemian Dunkle to blend with the savory character of the dish. Turkey, duck, or goose, due to their richer flavor, can stand up to richer beers.

Pork

Because pork is a sweeter tasting meat, the perfect beer combinations tend to be on the sweeter side as well. Amber ales and lagers are very complimentary. Try Humboldt Brewery’s Red Nectar Ale or Mendocino Brewing Company’s Red Tail Ale. Seasonal Oktoberfest beers also tend to be made with the pork eater in mind.

Pizza & Pasta

Amber beers also tend to be the perfect compliment to tomato-based dishes. The sweetness of the malt tends to meld with the tomato flavors and creates a winning flavor combination. Try North Coast Brewery’s Red Nectar Ale, Golden Gate Original Ale, Three Fingers Amber Ale or any of the numerous amber beers on the market.

Barbecue

Sweet and smoky are the predominant flavors of any barbecue. With these flavors the best beers for grilled foods tend to be sweet (malty) and highly hopped. California-style amber ales, I.P.A.s, and other highly hopped brews tend to mix beautifully with the tangiest of barbecue sauces. Red Hook Extra Special Bitter, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Full Sail I.P.A., and Pyramid Pale Ale have enough body and hoppy bitterness to cut through the spiciest of sauces while creating an interesting play of flavors.

Hot & Spicy

There are two ways to approach spiciness in your food--drink for relief or pair ‘like with like’ for a harmonious truce between spice and brew. For insanely hot curries, Cajun dishes, or Mexican foods, a light beer, such as a pilsner or wheat, Samuel Adams Golden Pilsner, Bert Grant’s Hefeweizen Ale, Thomas Kemper Belgian Style White, or Widmer Wheat will put out the inferno and provide subtle undertones of flavor. A highly hopped beer like Oregon India Pale Ale will provide the cool-down factor and will add an element of hoppy bitterness while creating interesting flavor combinations with the spices.

After Dinner & Dessert

You can stretch out a great meal by finishing it off with beer. Many beers can either stand alone as after dinner beverages, on the same scale as a port or desert wine, or pair as beverages with desserts.

For a very sweet desert beer, try Dixie’s White Moose White Chocolate Brew, which reminds us that beer evolution is far from over. Fruit beers, such as Pyramid Apricot Ale or a Belgian Iambic, are great on their own or served with tarts, pies or pastries with similar flavors. Chocolate is fast becoming an item to pair with beer. A very dark beer, such as Grant’s Imperial Stout, will be a winner when paired with your favorite chocolate dessert.