| Pairing Beer and Food by: JR Attamante, I believe that one of the most delightful aspects of beer in all its complex glory is pairing it with food. Beer boldly gallops in where wine slips on occasion such as pairing well with spicy dishes and salads. When deciding what style of beer to pair with which foods, beware of sweeping rules. While wine experts have established strict pairing rules, beer aficionados have stopped short of setting hard and fast rules. Every palate is different, so let your palate be your guide. Still, there are a few guidelines I would recommend you consider. Here are a few. The malty sweet flavors of a German Marzen cut through the spiciness of Mexican foods refreshing the palate as it washes down. Similarly, the acidity of a highly hopped Pilsner or American pale ale cleans away the fatty film between bites of rich foods like fish and chips or cheese. To quell the burning sensation of spicy hot foods like Southwestern dishes with chili peppers, a malty beer with high alcohol content like a rich German dopplebock is best suited for the job. Be warned that high alcohol beer with a hoppy astringency like an India pale ale can be too powerful with hot, spicy foods seemingly intensifying the heat instead of cooling the palate. At a sushi bar I particularly enjoy washing down sweet tuna morsels with a Japanese beer brewed with the full-flavored, mildly sweet maltiness of Kirin Ichiban lager. s Another excellent example of food and beer complementing one another is the pairing of a green salad with a coriander-spiced Belgian white ale, an unfiltered Bavarian hefe-weizen or a American wheat beer. The delicate character of wheat beers doesn't overpower the subtle flavors in a salad but instead enhances them. When it comes to pairing contrasting foods and beers, it is a little trickier to find palate pleasing combinations. The classic contrasting example of pairing a dry Irish-style stout with fresh raw oysters or cooked mild seafood may not be for everyone. However it has become such a popular combination, that one style of stout is brewed with oysters in it -- not surprisingly it's dubbed oyster stout. I also suggest trying to pair international beer styles with foods from the same region or country. In most cases, it's no coincidence that the foods and beers of a given region pair well. Another thing to try is to pair like with like: mild beers with mild foods, robust beers with robust dishes. When designing your gastronomic pairings keep in mind the nature of the occasion. You'll want to select a beer or a style best suited to the occasion. An elegant corked bottle of a Belgian framboise shared over Valentines dinner would surly endear your Valentine to you more than a six pack of pilsner. Conversely, that six pack of pilsner would be a welcome sight at a picnic on a hot summer's day, while a magnum bottle of Anchor Brewing Company's spiced Christmas ale would hold its place on the holiday table. |
| BeerNexus proudly presents Bob Montemurro "the ombudsman of beer" Bob says...... |
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| Cheers! Bob Montemurro |
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| Read more by Bob ************* Beer for Dessert What I Drank On My Summer Vacation |