5 Best Beer and Food Pairs for Your Menu

It’s easy to become hard-pressed on finding the right complimentary beer and food for an occasion.

The issue has a farther-reaching effect for a restaurant owner, as the wrong pairs could negatively impact sales.

Customers would naturally love excellent beer and food pairs and pay for them if given a choice, especially in a golf resort.

Members might want to relax after a round of golf with some drink and a little food before continuing the sport.

However, these beer and food pairs aren’t limited to only restaurants and resorts. You can try them at home too, the same way people are starting to play golf at home.

The introduction of the golf simulator and its individual components has made that possible.

Nonetheless, if you’re considering getting one, ensure you pick a golf simulator whose quality and make are unmatched.

These simulators became popular during the lockdown as a result of the pandemic.

They also come in handy during winter when playing at a course isn’t too enjoyable.

The article highlights some of the best beer and food pairs you can try out today, as well as general guidelines for picking complementary pairings.

Guidelines for Beer and Food Pairing

There are no scientific methods to picking out the best beer-food combinations, mainly because there aren’t very many flavors that clash with that of beer.

However, you can rely on a few guidelines to help you understand how each flavor brings out the best of one another. Below are some handy tips.

1. Rich-tasting foods compliment heavy-flavored beers and vice-versa
2. You can make excellent beer and food pair if the beer acts as a palate cleanser
3. Contrast allows you to amplify each flavor in a beer and food pair
4. Overpowering flavors can’t work well in a beer and food pair

Light Beer/Spicy Meals

One of the more interesting beers and food pairing is light beer and spicy food. Light beer typically has a crisp, thin taste and doesn’t exude a strong flavor.

An essential factor is to note when combining light beer and spicy food is harmony.

It means that light beers play well with foods with character. Spicy foods with rich flavor and taste make up for the lack in a palatable way.

However, other food options could pair with light lagers as well. Salads – while mellow in taste, are a suitable combination. You couldn’t go wrong with a burger-light beer combo too.

Wheat Beer/Fruity/Spicy Meals

Wheat beer is a different beer type from light beers. It shares the same brewing process as malt beers, which means it has a distinct caramel taste and a nutty flavor.

Some people would love wheat beer paired up with any sweet or fruity meal. Also, you wouldn’t have any problem pairing the beer with spicy foods.

Stouts/Barbecue

Stouts are also known as the “dark” kinds of beer. Not only do they look very dark in color, but they also have a darker flavor and texture.

Thanks to the longer roasting time stout ingredients require, it’s common to have a smooth chocolatey taste. However, you could also find light-flavored stouts with low alcoholic content and bitterness.

You’d want to pair stouts with sweet desserts, as the chocolate hints in the beer get amplified. Chocolate mousse and truffles are excellent pairing examples.

Lobsters and other shellfish are also suitable food pairings with stout, and you get a delectable blend of mellow flavors. Furthermore, barbecue isn’t a bad food option for stouts, If you could manage it.

Amber Ales/Meats/Pizza

Known for their amber to reddish-gold color, amber ales have a slightly stronger hint of malt.

You’d also catch some sweet caramel notes, and there’s a medium to solid mouthfeel overall. Since you don’t get an overpowering sweet flavor, amber ales are crisp and dry in taste for most of the time.

It also means they’re great palate cleansers during meals. Some of the best food pairings for amber ales would typically contain meat.

Barbecue pork, briskets, and jerk chicken are examples of great food combinations for the beer. Pizzas are a suitable recommendation as well.

Indian Pale Ales/Meats/Mexican Foods

Indian Pale Ales (IPAs) are a popular type of beer from breweries nowadays. They have a light amber color and a distinct bitter taste.

The bitterness can vary, and manufacturers can include fruits and herbs to make it more palatable.

Other IPAs double down on the bitterness, as is the case with double IPAs, which use more hops for a more robust bitter flavor.

However, there’s a broad range of variety with the beer, and as a result, there are no definite rules for food pairings.

Some common food examples include barbecue meats and steak. You could also pair IPAs with Mexican staples such as fajitas and burritos.

Wrapping Up

Beer and food pairs can allow you to offer a broader food range on your menu, which should, in turn, yield more customers and revenue.

The key to making the perfect beer and food pair is understanding the flavor composition of the beers and how they accentuate the flavors of the food.

The beer mentioned above and food pairs are excellent examples and could give you ideas on other similar flavor pairings of your choice.