Beer & Food Pairing

Question 1

What are three ways that a beer and food pairing can be particularly good?

Answer 1

1) If it highlights a specific flavor in both the beer and the food.

2) If it riffs on flavor combinations the consumer is already familiar with.

3) Theme your beer and food combinations to create entirely new flavors or evoke a memory response of another food altogether.

Question 2

What are the three basic rules for pairing food and beer?

Answer 2

1) Match intensity.

2) Find complementary flavors.


3) Find contrast.

Question 3

What may pair well with a citrusy salad dressing?

Answer 3

A citrusy hefeweizen or pale ale. Why? Similar moderate intensity level, matching citrus flavors, palate cleansing effect of the beer.

Question 4

What may pair well with an Indian curry dish?

Answer 4

It depends on the details of what’s in the dish. A British bitter or mild would be a classic pairing. They offer contrast to chili spice because they’re malty and low carbonation. A wit would be a good choice for matching coriander and citrus flavors. Something very hoppy, like an IPA would accentuate chili heat.

Question 5

What could pair well with a nutty cheddar cheese?

Answer 5

A nutty brown ale would match in intensity, nutty flavor, and would cleanse the palate of the rich fatty cheese.

Question 6

What would pair well with a caramelly and toasty roasted pork?

Answer 6

The clean caramel and toasty character of an Oktoberfest (or similar) would match the pork’s medium intensity, it’s melanoidan flavors, and would cleanse the palate of the rich fatty meat.

Question 7

What kind of beer would provide contrast to a steak’s umami character and fattiness?

Answer 7

Something highly carbonated such as a saison would cut right through a steak’s fat and umami. In addition, its peppery phenols would match the steak’s flavors.

Question 8

What kind of beer would provide big mouthfeel contrast to a sweet, rich chocolate cake?

Answer 8

A Kriek (or similar) with its high carbonation and acidic fruity character would cut right through a sweet chocolate dessert and refresh the palate. Also, the flavors of cherry and chocolate complement each other as a familiar combination to most people.

Question 9

Name some foods that a roasty beer would likely compliment.

Answer 9

Roastiness complements similar flavors. Food cooked in ways that produce lots of browning (on high heat or over an open flame, grilling) often have matching roasty flavors. Roastiness also complements similar toasty, coffee, espresso, and chocolate flavors. It contrasts with and cuts through sweet food.

Question 10

How does beer contrast with most food?

Answer 10

The carbonation and alcohol in beer almost always serves as a palate cleanser that provides mouthfeel contrast and refreshes the palate and prepares you for another bite by “cutting through the food.”

Question 11

What beer is a classic match for a big creamy blue cheese and why?

Answer 11

A big barleywine is a classic match. All that alcohol will cleanse the palate of the creamy fat from blue cheese. The flavors and mouthfeel of both are intense and complimentary.

Question 12

What pairing can create harsh metallic flavors?

Answer 12

Don’t pair bitter beers with tuna, sardines, herrings, anchovies, salmon, trout, or mackerel. Oddly, when hop bitterness is combined with oily fish (as opposed to whitefish), it can result in harsh metallic flavors.

Question 13

Discuss alcohol in beer and food pairing.

Answer 13

Alcohol is one aspect of a beer’s intensity. It cuts through fat very well. Its vinous character matches up well with sweet desserts, which it will also contrast by scrubbing sugary sweetness and refreshing the palate. Warning: alcohol will accentuate spicy capsaicin.

Question 14

What are two beers that are classic and contrasting pairings for oysters?

Answer 14

Both gueuze and dry Irish stouts are classic pairings for oysters that contrast with them. Gueuze’s acidity serves to bring out the mild sweetness of the oysters, the dry stout’s mild roastiness serves the same purpose.

Question 15

What would be a good pairing for a Rauchbier?

Answer 15

Steak or BBQ would be perfect. The burnt roasty crust of the meat and the umami rich interior would match up perfectly with the smoky and caramel flavors in the Rauchbier, while the phenolic character and the carbonation of the beer serves to scrub the palate of all that fat.

Question 16

What’s a great classic pairing for a Flanders Brown?

Answer 16

Flanders Brown is often used as the base for Carbonade Flamande (Belgian beef stew), so there are already some matching flavors there. The bright acidity and dark fruitiness of the beer contrasts with the roasty umami of the rich beef stew while the high carbonation scrubs the palate.

Question 17

What’s a classic pairing for German Weisswurst?

Answer 17

The bready wheat flavors in the sausage and hefeweizen match perfectly, as does the mild spicing of the sausage and the clove phenols in the beer. The beer’s dry body and high carbonation cleanses the palate of the fatty sausage.

Question 18

What’s a classic pairing for a bratwurst?

Answer 18

Oktoberfest is a great match. The caramel and light toasty maltiness in the beer matches the flavors of the sausage and the crisp dry moderately hoppy beer refreshes the palate by scrubbing the sausage’s fat.

Question 19

What are some cooking examples of where you can replace water with beer? Which beer would you use?

Answer 19

Poach mussels in a gueuze or Belgian Tripel. Use a Flanders Red or Brown as a base for a beef stew. Use beer instead of water to make dough in a cake, bread, or pretzel. Use beer to make batter for frying fish, chicken, or veggies.

Question 20

What is the danger of using bitter beers in cooking?

Answer 20

Be wary of using bitter beers in cooking, beer is concentrated during cooking such that the bitterness can become harsh and astringent. This is also true of roasty beers.

Question 21

What would be a good pairing for a fish taco and why?

Answer 21

It depends on the details of how the tacos were made, but an IPA or pale ale with an herbal and citrusy hop aroma and flavor would highlight similar herbal and citrus notes in a fish taco, especially if there’s some lemon drizzled on it.

Question 22

What creates contrast with saltiness?

Answer 22

Sweet beers create contrast with salty food. For instance, a rich toasty bock beer will contrast with a salty ham (there may also be a complimentary roasty or caramel character).

Question 23

What contrasts sweetness?

Answer 23

Alcohol, bitterness, acidity, and carbonation will cut through sweet sugary food. For instance a bitter IPA (or Imperial IPA) would contrast in flavor with a sweet, rich carrot cake and its cream cheese dressing and would cleanse the palate as well, providing mouthfeel contrast.