The beauty of pairing beer with food is that you don’t really need a sommelier to help you make your choices.  Really, taste is subjective and you don’t need a specialist to tell you what you think tastes good.  For soon-to-be-serious beer and food epicures, though, here are some suggestions on how to start your journey toward taste rewards.

You can start by thinking of beer and food combinations along the same lines as wines—by associating heavier ales with red wines and lighter lagers with white wines, for simplicity’s sake.  As a general rule, heavier red wines (and ales) will pair well with heavier foods, as lighter white wines (lagers) would with lighter foods.  Matching strength with strength in this manner will not allow the craft beer to overwhelm the food, or vice versa.

Another way to match foods and beer is to look for commonalities within a group.  These like characteristics will help you choose a good combination—sweet with sweet, nutty with nutty, tart with tart, hearty with hearty, and so on.  It is important to find balance, though, and to always try to make your beer the lesser of the flavors in the profile.  You want your beer to accent the food you are eating, not to overpower it.  Conversely, you have heard the saying “opposites attract?”  This holds true with beers and food as well.  Find those common traits and then switch it up with by contrasting flavors rather than complementing them.  Instead of pairing a spicy Thai dish with a spicy IPA, take a shot at a contrasting flavor, like spicy Pad Thai with a fruity hefeweizen.   And although a light pilsner well complements shellfish, a bitter stout can go a long way toward cutting down the sweetness of oysters or lobster.

When in doubt, you can also go regional.  After all, there is a reason Mexican brews pair well with fajitas or burritos, or German beers taste fantastic with bratwurst.   Development in the same region lends itself naturally to a winning combination.  However, you may limit yourself if you fall back on this standby method every time because a great Belgian blonde ale may be the perfect accompaniment to sushi, but how would you know that unless you ventured beyond the region?

Mostly, though, I would like to leave you with this advice:  because taste is subjective, what works for you may ultimately surprise you.  It’s okay to throw out all the rules and just experiment.  Follow your cravings and your mood of the day, and don’t be afraid to try pairing even the oddest of flavors.  Practice really does make perfect, and there is nothing more enjoyable than practicing with great craft brews and delicious foods.

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Today, all beers are distinguished as either ale or lager. Really? Only two types? It is true, and it is also true that it is the type of yeast that is the differentiating factor. Brewing techniques, however, play a role as well, and the cold brewing process of a lager serves to slow down yeast activity which then requires the beer to have a longer aging (lagering) period, and the cold environment also inhibits the production of fruity aromas common to ales, which are warm-brewed.
Read on to learn about different versions of ales and lagers and some food pairing and glass suggestions as well.

Ales are produced by top-fermenting yeast, usually at warmer temperatures than the typical lager. They tend to be sweeter in flavor, but sometimes have a fruity or spicy component. Their complexity makes them flavorful, and suggested serving temperature is sometimes warmer than you might expect.

Barley Wine: strong and intense, this beer chimes in at a whopping 8.0-15.0% alcohol by volume (ABV). Sometimes sweet, sometimes bittersweet (depending on the hops), the color is expected to be anywhere from an amber to a deep mahogany brown. The consistency is typically thick. Barley wine ages similar to wine and can be cellared for longer periods of time. This style beer is an excellent pairing for cigars or dessert and is best served in a pint glass or a snifter (06-2774, 08-0278).

Pale Ale: in the UK this beer is malty and woody, but in the US the hops are typically augmented, resulting in a spicier flavor profile. A good balance of malt and hops makes this beer a popular choice, and its ABV is more in keeping with what one would expect from a beer—typically 4.0-7.0%. Easy to drink and light yellow to light copper in color, try pairing your American Pale Ale with smoky or sharp cheeses or grilled foods to complement the flavors and a good, sturdy mug or pint glass is the best option for glassware (08-1147, 07-0764).

Brown Ale: with overtones of toffee, nuts, and chocolate, this beer can be earthy or hoppy. One of the best features of brown ale is the creamy bouquet, noticeably missing any burnt, skunky flavors or aroma. Not too heavy, not too light, the 4.4-6.5% ABV brown ale is perfect with flavors of the fall—root vegetables, squashes, cheeses, and sausage. Serve your brown ales in a mug or a pint glass (08-1548, 06-2730).

India Pale Ale (IPA): over 175 years old, this beer is a mainstay in the realm of beer-drinking. The beer is all about the dominant hops, which gives it its characteristic bitter flare. Ranging in color from light golden to dark amber, with an ABV of 5.5-7.5%, this medium-bodied beer is nicely balanced with citrus overtones and malty sweetness. An excellent pairing with salty and fried food, it also fares well with curries, fajitas, and even spicy desserts (think gingerbread or carrot cake.) This beer is best served in a mug or a pint glass (08-0511, 07-1980).
Porter: A unique blend of old-style and new-style beers, porters have been around forever, but made a grand comeback with the micro-brewery revolution of the late 70s and early 80s. Typically brewed with a malt base the flavor is complex and interesting, with notes of chocolate and a slightly hoppy bitterness balanced neatly by the malt. Dark in color with a 4.0-7.5% ABV, porters are an optimal match for red meats and rich, heavy desserts. Use a mug or a pint glass when serving this beer (09-1190, 07-0764).

Stout: Rich and roasty, a good stout should be full of body, creamy, and silky, opaque in its dark brown to black color, not overly heavy but never watery. A bit on the bitter side, it is balanced by malty sweetness. The bouquet of the beer is similar to its taste, with hints of coffee, chocolate, and molasses. ABV runs between 4.0-12%, with the type of stout determining the various percentages. Heavier foods can be paired nicely with a good, dark stout—marbled steaks, full-fat burgers, and yes, desserts too (in fact, one of my favorites is a scoop of chocolate ice cream submerged in a nice mug of draught stout!) The mug or pint glass is also the best option for serving up a good stout (08-0546, 08-0141).

Wheat: also commonly known as Hefeweizen (Hefe—yeast and Weizen—wheat), is a traditionally unfiltered wheat beer with yeast in it. Pale gold to amber in color, a good wheat beer should be cloudy due to the unfiltered brewing process (but please note that some of the best wheat beers are brilliantly clear!) ABV is similar to the pale ale, generally 4.0-7.0%, and the light citrus notes of the beer are a great complement to summer salads and lighter fish plates. Serve up your wheat beers in a mug or a pint glass, or a pilsner works nicely for better presentation of the foamy head (09-1193, 07-1980, 07-1868).

Lagers are fermented and conditioned at low temperatures and the yeast settles at the bottom of the fermenter resulting in a beer that is less fruity than its ale counterpart. Smooth and refreshing, the beer has become the most popular American style, especially pale lagers such as Budweiser, Miller, Coors, etc. There are other lagers, however, that veer away from the American mainstream and are competitive with microbrew ales in flavor.

Bock: Traditional bock is sweet and very lightly hopped, with a flavor profile of rich, toasty malt and perhaps a bit of caramel. There should be no hint of the hops except to ease the sweetness of the beer, no fruitiness should be found on the palate. Typically this beer is only lightly carbonated, it is clear yet light copper to brown in color. With an ABV between 5.5-7.5%, the bock style ranks high among the lagers. There are variants to the bock as well: maibock is somewhat lighter in color, less malty, and often hoppier than traditional bock, whereas doppelbock is a stronger version of the traditional. While a mug or pint glass serves this glass well, for fun you may try something straight-sided, such as a zombie glass (08-0545, 06-2730, 08-0025).

Pilsner: a type of pale lager, this beer is simple and refreshing. While sometimes rich and creamy on the palate, the balanced bitter and sweet make this a very drinkable beer, and the finish is always clean. An average ABV ranging from 4.5-5.5% puts this beer right alongside most of its counterparts. The lightness of the beer makes it a nice match for roasted meat, chicken, and fish. Pilsners are best served in, well, pilsners, but a nonic style will also enhance this beer (08-0336, 09-0533).

Marzen (Oktoberfest style): Originally brewed in March to be served at the Bavarian Oktoberfest, this beer was cold-brewed and then kept in cold storage over hotter months to protect it from the heat of summer. The ABV ranges from 5.0-6.0% in this full-bodied beer that imparts a dominant malty sweetness and flavors of caramel and earthy nuttiness. Try pairing this beer with sausages such as bratwurst and pepperoni. Serve your marzen beer in a stein or a pint glass (08-0544, 06-2772).

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