Beer/Food Pairing Thread

[Sage1]

What is the general consensus when it comes to basic pairings? Do you tend to pair similar character profiles together or go in a completely contrasting direction?

For example, with a sweet chocolate dessert would it be best to drop a sugar bomb on top of it or go in the opposite direction and pair up something like a dry stout? What about ceviche? Add on top of the acid with lambic or counter it with something like a wheat?

I’m a big fan of contrast. With a sugar bomb beer paired with a sweet dessert, you really run the risk of ramping up the perception of alcohol in the beer. However, I wouldn’t contrast a sweet chocolate dessert by using a dry stout – the stout will just be completely overwhelmed and won’t taste like anything.

Consider going in a completely different direction. I would argue that sweet desserts are the most difficult things to pair, so if you can, try to arrange a pre-tasting. Off the top of my head, I would probably lean heavily on something estery/fruity to draw out some of the complexity in chocolate – something like a belgian table beer (I know that sounds weird, but from my experience if you find a good table beer it’ll pair with anything) or a dark fruity sour (like Consecration). Additionally, the excess carbonation in a table beer will cut through the sweetness and fat, and the acid from a sour will accomplish the same thing.

 

[stakem1]

I’m a big fan of contrast. With a sugar bomb beer paired with a sweet dessert, you really run the risk of ramping up the perception of alcohol in the beer. However, I wouldn’t contrast a sweet chocolate dessert by using a dry stout – the stout will just be completely overwhelmed and won’t taste like anything.

Consider going in a completely different direction. I would argue that sweet desserts are the most difficult things to pair, so if you can, try to arrange a pre-tasting. Off the top of my head, I would probably lean heavily on something estery/fruity to draw out some of the complexity in chocolate – something like a belgian table beer (I know that sounds weird, but from my experience if you find a good table beer it’ll pair with anything) or a dark fruity sour (like Consecration). Additionally, the excess carbonation in a table beer will cut through the sweetness and fat, and the acid from a sour will accomplish the same thing.

I appreciate the reply! Very much agree with most of what you said. Ive never been successful at pairing beer with dessert mainly because I hate sweet things and opt out. Not sure how feasible a pre-tasting is gonna be. The person contributing said dessert has not even eluded to what they are making... hell, they might not even make up their mind until the day of which is useless to me. After taking your words into consideration I am going to contact them here shortly and lobby real hard for them to make cheesecake so I can pop a fruited loon or some other fruited lambic with it.

 

[pgh_penguins]

Next level pairing last night.

dontdrinkbeer