Something I've figured out about food and beer...

I enjoy beer more on its own, in most cases, than with food. (Actually, I have similar feelings about wine. I mean, wine has more of an obvious affinity for food IMHO, but if I really want to concentrate on and enjoy the drink, I prefer to just drink it.)

But one exception is stout.Hearty food and stout really complement each other well. I generally enjoy a stout more with food than by itself.

cweston said:

I enjoy beer more on its own, in most cases, than with food. (Actually, I have similar feelings about wine. I mean, wine has more of an obvious affinity for food IMHO, but if I really want to concentrate on and enjoy the drink, I prefer to just drink it.)

But one exception is stout.Hearty food and stout really complement each other well. I generally enjoy a stout more with food than by itself.

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Steak and Stout: the perfect winter combination.

I like hoppy ales with meat, and sweeter ales with seafood. Something about matching the color of the beer with the food I guess.

Beer is a lot like wine, in that it works well with food. But unlike wine... its very hard to get a food/beer combo thats terrible... pretty much all beer will go with any food. Of course there are some combos that work better than others... but ya cant stuff it up too badly.

Gotta love beer

Personally, I love a good IPA and some spicy thai food. Other than that, I mostly drink water with my meals and beer for dessert.

I've got to disagree. Beer improves almost any meal, and when you find that awesome pairing, it's transcendent. Like a few years ago, Garrett Oliver was in our shop signing books and doing a beer tasting with us. He paired his Monster barleywine with some Stilton. Simply unreal! Now, every time I have that beer or any b-wine like it, I crave stilton. Some deal happened with Eggenberg's "Natur Trub" unfiltered pils and homemade guacamole dip.

Anyway, read Garrett Oliver's "The Brewmaster's Table". He really does a great job of integrating food and beer.

I would agree that stout + steak = awesome. But I don't think that pairing is head and shoulders over the experience you get with a nice cab or another full bodied red. IMHO, where beer/food pairings really shine is with spicy ethnic dishes, like Indian and Thai, etc. There really is no good wine (that I've found) that can stand up to those big spices, but the carbonation and bite of a restrained ale or lager, say a Helles bock or APA, is just fantastic. Cools down the tongue and is just a nice palette cleanser, in a way. Just my $.02

Evan--you're disagreeing that I typically enjoy beer more on it's own than with food? Wow, you must be very in touch with my taste buds!

Seriously--I get what you're saying. But on any given weeknight, when Stilton is not on the menu...

Plus, I generally have one beer on a weeknight, and I prefer to have it a little later in the evening, when the evening's work is done and I can collapse on the couch.

Just think -

Without beer, a porterhouse steak would just be a house steak.

cweston said:

Evan--you're disagreeing that I typically enjoy beer more on it's own than with food? Wow, you must be very in touch with my taste buds!

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Yes, actually, I know what's better for you than you do. Nice to meet you, my name is The US Government.

Seriously--I get what you're saying. But on any given weeknight, when Stilton is not on the menu...

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Sure, but still, all in all, I find that it's easier to pair food with beer than with wine---and I'm a wine nerd too.

Pluse, I generally have one beer on a weeknight, and I prefer to have it a little later in the evening, when the evening's work is done and I can collapse on the couch.

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One? Damn, good on you! Last night I had a few. The Siegnuriale from Unibroue was awesome, and the Redbach (rodenbach w/ kriek) tasted like a cherry tootsie pop. heheh. But yeah, I get what you're saying. I just usually have a beer or wine with dinner, and it usually makes the meal better.

I'm right and you're wrong. Can we just leave it at that?

I agree with the OP greatly.

I enjoy beer when that is all that is on my palate. I find that food especially detracts from my palate and I enjoy the beer less. I perfer a tall glass of milk with most dinners (ESPECIALLY spicy foods) and a tall frosty IPA afterwards for dessert.

I find that wine is just something I don't care for, and having it with food just ruins the taste of my food

Typically I'd rather have a beer or fruit juice with food. Any kind of medium to low gravity ale is fine, I'd rather have higher gravity stuff by itself.

ESB is interestingly well paired with pot stickers and a vinegary sauce.

Steak + bleu cheese + Russian Imperial Stout = very happy me

Buford said:

ESB is interestingly well paired with pot stickers and a vinegary sauce.

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That's a good point, anything vinegar based is going to make wine taste vinegary. And that's huge, since vinaigrettes are killer with just about anything, especially this time of year.

On another note, has anyone seen Sam Adam's new TV ads? Really emphasizing the fact that beers pair with food just as well as wine. And sometimes you'd rather have a beer. I thought it was genius, especially because it didn't come from BMC.

GoBrewers said:

On another note, has anyone seen Sam Adam's new TV ads? Really emphasizing the fact that beers pair with food just as well as wine. And sometimes you'd rather have a beer. I thought it was genius, especially because it didn't come from BMC.

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Yeah, I think the full phrase was something like "And when you're really being honest with yourself, sometimes you'd just rather have a beer."

Excellent marketing concept, IMHO. I love wine, too, but I hate the pretense that tends to get wrapped around it, and the conceit that beer is something only frat boys and mouthbreathers drink.

I drink wine with dinner, and beer the rest of the time. I never drink wine unless I'm eating, but beer is good with snacks or by itself. I love beer for the richness and the taste and I don't need food with it. Oh, maybe a pretzel or two if I'm at a bar, but to me, the enjoyment of the beer is great the way it is.

A really good IPA and a bowl of fresh made Vanilla ice cream....yum yum

I love it all man.

Sometimes, I just want to drink a nice Belgian at dusk or something.

Other times, A chilled APA is great when I come in from working in the garden out in the sun all day long.

Still on other occassions stuff goes so nice. I made Pork with Sauerkraut (homemade, added some nice dried wild mushrooms...trying to use them up before this next season), Kasespaetzle (topped with Chive from the garden), pan seared Dandelion greens and my DunkelWeizen. Man that was an incredibly perfect and simple combination.

Some times though, I'll be munching on something and notice it has a negative effect when mixed with beer. You can get really wierd flavors if you aren't particularly trying to be careful. Some foods really make excellent pairing with beer, but others are just simply do not work imo.

I've found that beer with sweet food (say teriyaki) makes the beer taste overly bitter and usually not as good.

There are many that argue that beer is more flexible when pairing. It has the ability toi cut through fats via carbonation. Hops pair well with spice and beer has a universal mate with tomato whereas wine is sometimes problematic with it (think whites and tomato).

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Cheesefood said:

Just think -

Without beer, a porterhouse steak would just be a house steak.

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Some wines go well with certain foods and I've also had some wines that NEEDED food. Some are not the kind of wine you could just sit back and enjoy a glass by itself - unlike most beers.

We have a Chineese & Japanese restaurant in town and they have a guy in charge of the wine and beer. Actually that should be beer and wines. They only have about 15 beers (bottles only) available, but they were all choosen to go with the menu. We ordered Moo-Shu Poark and the guy recomended a Celebrator Doppelbock. The man was right, it was an awesome combination.

He then suggested we try a Rogue Red Fox, which is made specifically for the Asian Export market. It was very nice, not quite an IPA but more than an APA, very smooth bitterness. It would go very well with spicy food, but may be a bit overpowering if eating a dish that that was towards the sweeter end. It might be decent with Teriyaki as all of the salt in the sauce would help to mellow out the bitterness of the hops.

My favorite pairing, for the daring, is a German Rauchbier and a sardine (mustard sauce) and onion on rye (or pumpernickel) sandwhich. A perfect combo if you ask me.

pjj2ba said:

My favorite pairing, for the daring, is a German Rauchbier and a sardine (mustard sauce) and onion on rye (or pumpernickel) sandwhich. A perfect combo if you ask me.

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So you aren't the only one that likes a sandwich like that...

I like it with Red Onion and Limburger added.