During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of bars and breweries were forced to shutter their doors. However, many restaurants and food establishments were allowed to stay open because they served food. The rules varied state by state, and breweries adapted by adding a food menu. Some made light of the new rules, crafting “teeny tiny” menus with items like “a solo onion ring” or “one cheese ball.” But for others, the chance to think about pairing their beer menu with new food offerings presented an interesting challenge.
COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we eat and drink—that’s obvious. From rules dictating what must be served to staying at home and finding beers to go with your at-home meals, there’s a new opportunity to think about how beer and food go together. We’re already accustomed to thinking about what foods go with alcohol. A sommelier at a restaurant might recommend a certain type of wine for the meal you’ve chosen, and now that more breweries are serving food, in tandem with more people drinking at home, we can craft pairings that go beyond typical bar food and consider how flavors interact and engage with one another.
So we talked to Claire Bullen, author of the book, The Beer Lover’s Table: Seasonal Recipes and Modern Beer Pairings, and asked her for some tips on how to pair beer with food.
1. Look for balance
Bullen says that there are a number of beer styles that’ll work well with food: she points to Saisons as her “pairing MVP,” but in general, beers that are balanced will work best with food. “Vienna lagers and dunkels; pale ales; English-style bitters are flexible pairing options,” she says. “I'd say what unites them all is that they are relatively balanced and versatile themselves—that is, they don't have any extremely boldly flavored or singularly strong elements (like the hop profile in a double IPA or the sweetness/high alcohol of an imperial stout), but rather malt, hop, and yeast profiles that are in relative harmony.”
Why are Saisons her go-to? Because they’re meant to be refreshing and their hop presence is mild. “As a rule they are dry and highly carbonated, with a yeast character that recalls citrus fruit and spices, a moderate hop presence that can be quite earthy and herbaceous, and a malt character that runs from biscuity to more bready, depending on the malt used.” Bullen recommends a wide array of foods that can be paired with Saisons: from an elegant cheese plate to a composed fish dish to a straightforward sandwich.
2. Play into the flavors of beer
In general, beer is bitter, and Bullen notes that the bitterness in beer can stand up to many classic bar foods that are rich and fatty. “Beer works exceptionally well when tempering dishes that are fatty, oily, or salty. For that reason, hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, fried chicken—these kinds of foods go well with a wide variety of beer styles.”
You don’t necessarily have to go the full bar food route, especially if you’re working in a brewery that has limited space or perhaps doesn’t have a deep fryer (or you’re making something at home for yourself). “Snacks that are oily, salty, and/or fatty are generally a good option,” says Bullen. “I'm a huge fan of cheese-and-charcuterie plates for those reasons, and also because they offer drinkers a wide range of flavors, textures, and nibbles (especially with chutneys, toasted nuts, and honeys on the side).”
Likewise, pay attention to the heft and weight of a beer. You wouldn’t want a delicate dish lost in a heavy beer, so try pairing lighter dishes with lighter beers. “Begin with intensity, as a rule of thumb,” Bullen advises. “Dishes that have lighter, more delicate flavors (think: a summer salad with cheese and fruit) tend to work well with beers that have a similar delicacy and won't overwhelm them (so, think a witbier or a gentle fruit sour versus a barrel-aged stout or West Coast IPA).”
3. Complimentary flavors are great, but look for contrast and allow yourself room to be surprised
It makes sense that light beers and light dishes would go well together, and Bullen admits that finding contrasting flavors within a food and beer pairing is a more difficult task. In general, you’re looking to meet an intense flavor with another that can mellow it out. “A cherry sour can work really well with a fresh, creamy goat cheese (that pairing tastes almost like ice cream and fruit compote), or with a venison steak, where its acidic fruitiness cuts through the gamey meat,” Bullen says.
Pairing beer with food hasn’t been as well-researched and studied as pairing wine, so there’s still tons of room to explore and learn new combinations. Bullen advises trying to pick a flavor that’s perhaps not the dominant flavor in a dish and see if you can draw it out with your beer pick. “I'd say the most successful or interesting pairings, in my mind, are the ones that are mutually transformative—maybe a dish draws a sweetness out of the beer that you couldn't taste on its own, or the beer highlights the herbs and spices in a dish. When that happens—when they combine and create a new, third sensation—I know I've done well.”
4. Trust the classics—they’re classics for a reason
Some pairings just go together without explanation, and there are pairings, through experimentation and tasting, that Bullen just knows go well together. “Cheese-wise, the first time I had Stilton and Stout blew my mind—it's unbelievable how well they go together. In terms of a complementary pairing, I loved having a caprese salad with Spontanbasil, which is a basil-flavored lambic,” she shares.
For beers that are difficult to pair—Bullen mentions that hazy IPAs and DIPAs can be tough because of their intensity and tendency to dominate your palate—trust a well-worn classic. “[These beers] do incredibly well with South Indian curries that are made with curry leaves and asafetida (hing): That same pungency and intensity of flavor carries through both.”
5. When in doubt, ask an expert
This might be the first time you’ve thought about pairing beer with food, especially for folks who have shifted to drinking more at home. If you’re used to buying beer from a taproom or grocery store, this might be a good time to check out your local bottle shop. “If you're early in your beer journey and are learning about different styles and what to expect from them, I find seeking out those in-person resources to be really useful.”
Seeking out an expert opinion is handy for at-home cooks, who often build a dish before picking out a beer. So you can go to your local bottle shop—or order online for pick up—and let them know exactly what you’re making and they can talk you through the flavors a particular beer might pick up. “Having mushrooms and polenta? A dish with darker malts and some earthiness to it—maybe a brown ale, maybe a red ale, maybe a dark lager—could be really interesting,” Bullen says. Being able to talk through the flavors of the food you’re cooking can lead to new and unexpected pairings that might not be obvious when you’re standing in the aisle of your grocery store or looking at a brewery’s to-go menu.
While having an expert opinion is helpful, the biggest rule of thumb is to go with your gut and trust what you like. “Food is deeply personal, and everyone's preferred flavor map and flavor associations are unique to them and their backgrounds and past experiences, so rather than feeling like you have to adhere to any strict set of rules, drink and eat to please your palate,” reminds Bullen, encouraging folks to have fun with their pairings and take chances. “The more you experiment, the more you build out that flavor map, the more references you'll have—and the more you'll have a sense of which pairings work well for you.”
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of bars and breweries were forced to shutter their doors. However, many restaurants and food establishments were allowed to stay open because they served food. The rules varied state by state, and breweries adapted by adding a food menu. Some made light of the new rules, crafting “teeny tiny” menus with items like “a solo onion ring” or “one cheese ball.” But for others, the chance to think about pairing their beer menu with new food offerings presented an interesting challenge.
COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we eat and drink—that’s obvious. From rules dictating what must be served to staying at home and finding beers to go with your at-home meals, there’s a new opportunity to think about how beer and food go together. We’re already accustomed to thinking about what foods go with alcohol. A sommelier at a restaurant might recommend a certain type of wine for the meal you’ve chosen, and now that more breweries are serving food, in tandem with more people drinking at home, we can craft pairings that go beyond typical bar food and consider how flavors interact and engage with one another.
So we talked to Claire Bullen, author of the book, The Beer Lover’s Table: Seasonal Recipes and Modern Beer Pairings, and asked her for some tips on how to pair beer with food.
1. Look for balance
Bullen says that there are a number of beer styles that’ll work well with food: she points to Saisons as her “pairing MVP,” but in general, beers that are balanced will work best with food. “Vienna lagers and dunkels; pale ales; English-style bitters are flexible pairing options,” she says. “I'd say what unites them all is that they are relatively balanced and versatile themselves—that is, they don't have any extremely boldly flavored or singularly strong elements (like the hop profile in a double IPA or the sweetness/high alcohol of an imperial stout), but rather malt, hop, and yeast profiles that are in relative harmony.”
Why are Saisons her go-to? Because they’re meant to be refreshing and their hop presence is mild. “As a rule they are dry and highly carbonated, with a yeast character that recalls citrus fruit and spices, a moderate hop presence that can be quite earthy and herbaceous, and a malt character that runs from biscuity to more bready, depending on the malt used.” Bullen recommends a wide array of foods that can be paired with Saisons: from an elegant cheese plate to a composed fish dish to a straightforward sandwich.
2. Play into the flavors of beer
In general, beer is bitter, and Bullen notes that the bitterness in beer can stand up to many classic bar foods that are rich and fatty. “Beer works exceptionally well when tempering dishes that are fatty, oily, or salty. For that reason, hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, fried chicken—these kinds of foods go well with a wide variety of beer styles.”
You don’t necessarily have to go the full bar food route, especially if you’re working in a brewery that has limited space or perhaps doesn’t have a deep fryer (or you’re making something at home for yourself). “Snacks that are oily, salty, and/or fatty are generally a good option,” says Bullen. “I'm a huge fan of cheese-and-charcuterie plates for those reasons, and also because they offer drinkers a wide range of flavors, textures, and nibbles (especially with chutneys, toasted nuts, and honeys on the side).”
Likewise, pay attention to the heft and weight of a beer. You wouldn’t want a delicate dish lost in a heavy beer, so try pairing lighter dishes with lighter beers. “Begin with intensity, as a rule of thumb,” Bullen advises. “Dishes that have lighter, more delicate flavors (think: a summer salad with cheese and fruit) tend to work well with beers that have a similar delicacy and won't overwhelm them (so, think a witbier or a gentle fruit sour versus a barrel-aged stout or West Coast IPA).”
3. Complimentary flavors are great, but look for contrast and allow yourself room to be surprised
It makes sense that light beers and light dishes would go well together, and Bullen admits that finding contrasting flavors within a food and beer pairing is a more difficult task. In general, you’re looking to meet an intense flavor with another that can mellow it out. “A cherry sour can work really well with a fresh, creamy goat cheese (that pairing tastes almost like ice cream and fruit compote), or with a venison steak, where its acidic fruitiness cuts through the gamey meat,” Bullen says.
Pairing beer with food hasn’t been as well-researched and studied as pairing wine, so there’s still tons of room to explore and learn new combinations. Bullen advises trying to pick a flavor that’s perhaps not the dominant flavor in a dish and see if you can draw it out with your beer pick. “I'd say the most successful or interesting pairings, in my mind, are the ones that are mutually transformative—maybe a dish draws a sweetness out of the beer that you couldn't taste on its own, or the beer highlights the herbs and spices in a dish. When that happens—when they combine and create a new, third sensation—I know I've done well.”
4. Trust the classics—they’re classics for a reason
Some pairings just go together without explanation, and there are pairings, through experimentation and tasting, that Bullen just knows go well together. “Cheese-wise, the first time I had Stilton and Stout blew my mind—it's unbelievable how well they go together. In terms of a complementary pairing, I loved having a caprese salad with Spontanbasil, which is a basil-flavored lambic,” she shares.
For beers that are difficult to pair—Bullen mentions that hazy IPAs and DIPAs can be tough because of their intensity and tendency to dominate your palate—trust a well-worn classic. “[These beers] do incredibly well with South Indian curries that are made with curry leaves and asafetida (hing): That same pungency and intensity of flavor carries through both.”
5. When in doubt, ask an expert
This might be the first time you’ve thought about pairing beer with food, especially for folks who have shifted to drinking more at home. If you’re used to buying beer from a taproom or grocery store, this might be a good time to check out your local bottle shop. “If you're early in your beer journey and are learning about different styles and what to expect from them, I find seeking out those in-person resources to be really useful.”
Seeking out an expert opinion is handy for at-home cooks, who often build a dish before picking out a beer. So you can go to your local bottle shop—or order online for pick up—and let them know exactly what you’re making and they can talk you through the flavors a particular beer might pick up. “Having mushrooms and polenta? A dish with darker malts and some earthiness to it—maybe a brown ale, maybe a red ale, maybe a dark lager—could be really interesting,” Bullen says. Being able to talk through the flavors of the food you’re cooking can lead to new and unexpected pairings that might not be obvious when you’re standing in the aisle of your grocery store or looking at a brewery’s to-go menu.
While having an expert opinion is helpful, the biggest rule of thumb is to go with your gut and trust what you like. “Food is deeply personal, and everyone's preferred flavor map and flavor associations are unique to them and their backgrounds and past experiences, so rather than feeling like you have to adhere to any strict set of rules, drink and eat to please your palate,” reminds Bullen, encouraging folks to have fun with their pairings and take chances. “The more you experiment, the more you build out that flavor map, the more references you'll have—and the more you'll have a sense of which pairings work well for you.”