The Great British Beer Festival is taking place this week, so we couldn’t let this pass without discussing pairing beer and food.
It’s important to remember that beer is food. Real beer, and we are not talking about the mass produced fizzy bland big sellers here, is full of vitamins, minerals, proteins and antioxidants. In fact it’s good for you, in the correct doses of course.
So, now we have established that, let’s look at some perfect beer and food pairings:
Bitter
The traditional British bitter is great with a range of food. Try it with fish and chips, for example. A full bodied bitter goes well with meats such as pork, chicken and ham; with the slight sweetness of the drink (it’s not bitter on the taste you know!) providing a nice counterbalance to the salt.
Believe it or not, a bitter also complements Thai food, especially if it is a hoppy bitter which matches the lime, galangal and lemongrass found in most Thai dishes. People often associate Lager with Indian food, but bitters work better to counteract spicy dishes due to their low carbonation, so you aren’t left feeling full afterwards either.
India Pale Ale
A very popular drink, even despite its hop-fuelled high alcohol content (it was made this way so it could survive the voyage to India in the 1700s and 1800s).
This is a very good drink to have with Indian food (funny that given the name) as it is sturdy enough to handle powerful spices and the hops meld with the coriander, cardamom and curry. In this case a bit more carbonation isn’t a bad thing, especially when you encounter dishes made with ghee, the Indian clarified butter. Unfortunately most Indian restaurants will serve Indian pilsner beers which lack the flavour to take on the food, but this is changing and in many places you can bring your own.
A hoppy pale ale is also fantastic with Cajun food, especially blackened chicken and pork, with the bitterness of the beer again cutting through the spice. This is also a great beer to have with the traditional sandwich particularly if the filling is roast beef, turkey, chicken, ham and Italian cold cut meats.
Lager
Lagers are all encompassing, but it is the pilsners that are regarded as the best. Traditional Mexican food is rarely fiery but when you combine it with American food, it becomes Tex Mex and the heat is taken up a notch. As well as handling the spice, a pilsner is great for refreshing and resetting the palate.
Almost any shellfish goes well with pilsner, the quick, snappy short-lived bite complementing dishes such as crab, prawns, clams and squid.
You probably don’t want a pilsner while eating a hearty winter stew, but with nearly everything else, it is fantastic, and certainly it tastes even nicer when the sun is shining!
Porters/Stout
Sure, Guinness is fine, but we prefer cooking with it. There are much nicer brands out there which go better while eating food. The roasted flavours in a Porter pair it well with a chargrilled steak and burger, or barbecued ribs. Stouts are very versatile with food, combining with oyster and lobster to name just two dishes.
But it’s perhaps chocolate where Porters/Stouts really come into their own. Many Porters are brewed with chocolate malt so if you are having a dessert, and especially if it’s dark chocolate, forget the dessert wine or coffee, stick with the beer.
We could go on and on about more beers, but the ones we have highlighted are generally considered the most popular, so next time you make some food at home, or order in a restaurant, have a look at the beers available and see if you can come up with the perfect pairing.
About Neil Shaefer
Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
