Beer can be paired with food in a myriad of ways. Finding the right style of beer to pair with a particular dish is as simple as learning about each component’s flavor and aroma profiles and proceeding accordingly. Pairing beer and food that complement, cut, or contrast each other can lead to exciting and even surprising culinary combinations.
StepsMethod 1Method 1 of 5:Exploring Beer Flavors and Aromas
1Explore crisp beers. These light, clean, and refreshing beers are light to medium in body. Delicate fruit styles, like wheat or cream ales, aren’t especially hoppy or malty and often have a hint of fruit flavor. Malt-accented styles like amber lager or Oktoberfest have a bready or biscuit flavor. Styles that exude a brisk hoppiness like pilsners, have a drier finish with floral or spicy aromas.X
2Try a hoppy brew. With aromas and bitterness derived from hops, these beers are intense in flavor and are medium to full in body. Earthy and dry styles like English Pale Ale or Belgian Indian Pale Ale have light malt profiles and grassy or woody hop flavors. Styles like American Amber Ale or California Common have a malty backbone, while American Pale Ale and American Fresh Hop Ale are bolder with tropical fruit and citrus flavor notes.X
3Sample a malt-driven beer. With notes of coffee, caramel, and nuts, these styles are light to full in body. Styles like Doppelbock and English Brown Ale have a mild, yet crisp quality with bready and biscuit malt flavors. Extra Strong Bitter and Scotch are also have a solid malty backbone, but also have fruity aromas.X
4Sample a beer with roasted flavors. These medium-light to full bodied styles feature coffee and cocoa flavors. Soft and silky styles like Oatmeal Stout and Imperial Brown Ale are dark and rich in malty flavor, but not overly intense. Dark and dry styles like Black IPA and American Brown Ale feature notes of chocolate and espresso as well as fruit flavors like cherries and plums.X
5Consider a beer that incorporates smoked malts. These medium-light to full bodied beers feature malts that have been smoked, often over wood fired. Styles with subdued smolder include Smoked Porter and Steinbrau and balance toasty malt flavors against spicy or smoked notes. Spicy and meaty styles exude heavily-smoked flavors that overlay more subtle aromas like bananas, raisin, or nuts.X
6Try a fruit and spice beer. Bright styles like Belgian Blond Ale or Hefeweizen have bright fruit qualities like peach, lemon, or pear as spice profiles that include clove, coriander, and vanilla. Dark styles like Dubbel or Weizenbock have darker fruit qualities than their brighter counterparts, with malt flavors reflective of chocolate or caramel.X
7Sample a sour beer. These tart beers have rustic notes. Delicate styles like Gose and Faro have mild acidity and are light in body with soft tart and fruity flavors. Fruity and vinous styles like Wild Ale and Traditional Fruit Lambic couple a pronounced acidity with fruity aromas. Earthy styles like Saison and Gueuze Lambic are typically quite sour and even funky in flavor, with earthy notes.XMethod 2Method 2 of 5:Pairing Beer and Foods That Complement Each Other
1Find harmonies between beer and food. Pairing food with a beer that shares some of its flavor or aroma is a great place to start. Seek out beers and foods with similar elements of aroma and flavor profiles.X
2Pair brown ale with foods that have nutty, toasted flavor profiles. Foods such as aged Gouda, walnut cake, roasted pork, smoked sausage and cashew chicken will complement the malty flavor of a brown ale.X
3Try pairing a stout with oysters. The coffee and chocolate flavors of a stout highlight silky, salty foods such as oysters on the half shell. A stout also pairs well with braised or caramelized meats and sauces.X
4Pair an India Pale Ale (IPA) with foods featuring coriander or mango. Coriander found in dishes like fajitas or tacos complements the herbaceous flavor of hops in an IPA. Likewise, many IPAs have tropical notes that can be accentuated with fruits like mangos.XMethod 3Method 3 of 5:Pairing Beer and Foods That Contrast Each Other
1Contrast beer flavor and aroma profiles with those of food. Sometimes opposites attract, and this can definitely be the case when pairing beer and food. Consider the richness, spiciness, bitterness, and sweetness of a beer and pair it with foods in a yin-yang sort of way to balance the two.XIntensity of flavor in beer can involve malt character, hop bitterness, richness, and the alcoholic strength.Intensity of food flavors is all about richness, spicing, sweetness, texture, and complexity.Try matching foods heavy on sweetness or fattiness with contrasting flavors in beers like hop bitterness or roasted malt.
2Pair a bock with spicy foods. The flavor profile of a bock is rich and warm with caramel and toasty aromas. Balance this sweetness by pairing a bock with intensely flavored or spicy foods such as slow roasted meats, Cajun food, or jerk chicken.X
3Pair an amber ale with smoked foods. Amber ales are known for their sweet caramel notes and citrusy aroma profiles. This is best contrasted by foods with a smoky flavor profile such as chili.Method 4Method 4 of 5:Pairing Food with Beer That Cuts Intense Flavors
1Cut the intensity of food with a balancing beer flavor. Cutting intense heat, flavor, or richness of foods with an equally intense beer can allow strong flavors to mingle and even compete. If you’re not a fan of intense beer flavors and aromas, you can cut the flavor of food with a beer whose flavor profile is on the opposite end of the intensity spectrum.X
2Cut the heat of a spicy dish with an IPA. Try cutting the heat and flavors of a spicy dish like Thai green curry with the hoppy bitterness of an IPA. An IPA, with its notes of citrus and pine and rich malt, will cut through the heat of spicy foods, creating an unexpected match made in heaven.X
3Calm the heat of spicy food by cutting it with a German Doppelbock. The malt sweetness of the beer will calm the burn, cutting through the food’s intensity. Try pairing Cajun foods like gumbo with German Doppelbock, a beer known for its malt sweetness.X
4Cut the richness of fatty foods with a gueuze or lambic. When the bold flavors of rich, fatty meats or cheeses are creatively cut with the bright sourness of a fruited lambic or beer, the results are surprising. Try pairing Lambic with duck or pork. A gueuze will cut the oiliness of fish like salmon or mackerel.
5Cut the sweetness of shellfish with a stout. A bitter, dry stout will cut through the tender sweetness of shellfish like oysters. This classic pairing is quite pleasing to the palate.XMethod 5Method 5 of 5:Getting the Most out of Your Experience
1Contemplate pairing food and beer from the same region. While some caution against pairing food and beer that originate from the same region, others recommend it. It may be a personal choice, but in some cases is worth the experiment. Try a Belgian Saison with farmhouse goat cheese or an Oktoberfest with bratwurst and sauerkraut.X
2Pair beer and food seasonally. Food and craft beer are seasonal in nature, so make the most of what’s available to you in any given season. This fall, try your hand at Oktoberfest combinations. In the summer, experiment with pairing a pilsner with summer fare.X
3Check craft beer labels for pairing suggestions. Many craft beer labels will have suggestions for pairing a particular beer with specific food suggestions. Give these a try. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.
4Get creative. Pairing food and beer is a creative endeavor and you don’t always have to follow the rules. Flex your creative muscles and try some pairings that sound like they might have potential. You may win or you may lose, but it’s definitely worth taking the risk. Have fun!
