FOOD & DRINKS
Beer and food guide
Have you ever wondered why your favourite beer suddenly tastes bitter when you serve it with food? Why does bitter beer become so much softer with chips? And why does the beer that was round and sweet for the starter turn bitter after dessert? Here are six simple rules for combining food and beer.
This is how you create good combinations!
The sweetness of the beer should be at least as strong as the sweetness of the food
Pronounced salty and spicy food benefits from sweetness
High freshness in the beer is almost always an advantage with food
Flavourful and full-bodied food requires flavourful and full-bodied beer
Bitter beer can benefit from salty, fatty and spicy food
Avoid bitter beer with bitter food
Why is food and beer a topic?
For some strange reason, we find few rules of thumb when it comes to choosing juice, water, soda, or milk with our food. But when it comes to beer, several books have been published about how to combine it with food. Why is this such a big topic?
Beer to a higher extent than drinks such as juice, water, soda and milk contains so-called structural components such as alcohol and bitterness. These are things that in isolation do not taste that good. A beer that only tastes of alcohol or bitterness is rarely sought after. To balance these structural components, it also has a number of other characteristics such as sweetness, body and aroma. A good beer can have a lot of alcohol and bitterness as long as this is balanced by a lot of sweetness, body or aroma. When we combine food and beer, the food can affect how different elements of the drink appear and thus the beer's balance, for better or worse. A bitter beer suddenly becomes round and pleasant with slightly salty food; a beer that tasted round and sweet with the starter suddenly becomes bitter after dessert.
If you want to avoid the pitfalls and create really good combinations, read more about the 6 simple basic rules below.
1. The sweetness of the beer should be at least as strong as the sweetness of the food
This is the most important rule of all. If you eat sweet foods, your palate will adjust to the sweetness level of the food. This will dampen the impression of sweetness in the beer and you will be left with a beer with bitterness and alcohol that is no longer balanced by sweetness. It is for the same reason that we drink cola with candy and dessert wine with dessert; sweet to sweet.
In practice, there is rarely enough sweetness in beer to match the sweetest dishes. In such cases, you should reduce the amount of bitterness and alcohol so that this does not stand out too much. Styles such as Bock, Brown Ale and Scotch Ale are good alternatives. Bock has sweetness from caramel malt, while Brown Ale and Scotch Ale are also top-fermented. None of the aforementioned styles have much bitterness, while Brown Ale is the weakest.
Many might think that it gives a cleansing effect when the bitterness of the beer is emphasized in combination with sweet food, but if the beer is initially balanced, this balance will be disturbed. Our perspective is that if it is bitterness itself that you are looking for, you can have a glass of tonic water or a cup of tea; then you will save money and avoid the adverse health effects of alcohol.
2. Pronounced salty and spicy food benefits from sweetness
Salty and sweet is a classic combination. You may already know it from popcorn and cola. Spicy and sweet as well. Think of Asian dishes that often have elements of both, a lot of spice and sweetness like a sweet chilli sauce.
3. High freshness in the beer is almost always an advantage with food
Salt, acid and fat in the food dampen the impression of freshness in the beer. This can make the beer appear stale, lifeless or limp if it does not have enough freshness. Freshness also helps to freshen up or lighten a fatty meal. Almost all food will either contain elements of salt, fat or acid and a certain freshness in the beer is therefore almost always an advantage to food.
4. Flavourful and full-bodied food requires flavourful and full-bodied beer
A beer will taste bland and watery if the flavour of the food overpowers the flavour of the beer. Similarly, the beer will seem thin if the food is much fuller than the beer.
5. Bitter beer can benefit from salty, fatty and spicy food.
Careful amounts of salt in food can increase the impression of sweetness and reduce the bitterness in beer. Bitterness can also give the feeling that the beer is cleansing the palate after heavy and fatty foods. Spicy foods can numb the sensitivity to bitterness.
6. Avoid bitter beer with bitter food
Bitterness intensifies bitterness. For example, it will be a bitter experience if you combine bitter beer with bitter food. Bitterness in food occurs mainly in connection with vegetables, so be careful when choosing beer for your salad, for example.