Let’s Pair Food with Beer!

Recently, I received an e-mail about a study done at Kendall College where they looked into craft beer. Though the statistics are very interesting, I was most excited to share the food and beer pairing suggestions found. Though I have discussed some of these on here already, I thought a collected version would be helpful 🙂 Matt Zajechowski has provided us with some insights on different food pairings. Enjoy!

Food and beer is something that has always paired well together. After all, the food and beverage industry tend to go hand in hand. The rise of the craft beer industry and emergence of many new different styles and flavors of craft beer has allowed people who enjoy food and beverage pairings to be more creative and try different food and craft beer parings. The hospitality program at Kendall College recently put together a study into the growth of the craft beer industry. Students and faculty both agreed that the growth of the craft beer industry is one beverage trend that they were both interested in studying. John Laloganes and Phil Mott, both Assistant Professors in the hospitality program, along with students worked together to create this craft beer infographic. The infographic highlights different aspects of the craft beer industry that they found intriguing, including overall growth of the industry, sales growth, job growth, food and craft beer pairings along with how different age demographics viewed the taste of craft beer. I have highlighted some of the more interesting food and beverage pairings below:

  • Saisons pair well with salads. Saisons are crisp, light and refreshing so it makes sense that they pair well with salads.
  • Wheat beers are another light beer that pair nicely with lighter foods like sushi and salads. I’ve also found wheat beers to pair well with fruit dishes.
  • Pale ales pair well with pasta dishes like mushroom ravioli. I also think cheese plates go extremely well with strong pale ales.
  • IPAs pair well with spicy dishes like curry or Thai. IPAs usually have very bold flavors so you need to find dishes that match the bold flavor in the beer.
  • Irish reds go well with juicy burgers.
  • Brown ales pair well with comfort foods like grilled cheese sandwiches.
  • Barley wines and stouts both go well with desert dishes like chocolate cake and pie. My personal favorite is pairing a beer like Southern Tier Chocolate with a chocolate cupcake with frosting.

photo Food_BeerPairing_weblarge_zps3c4e7fdd.jpg

All this talk about food and beer is making me hungry and thirsty! 😀 Cheers!

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Comments

  1. I took a class about beer & food pairing! It was amazing how beer can make food taste even better! Cheers

  2. I am loving Saisons lately:) Great Post – thanks for sharing! Happy Hump Day – Cheers.

  3. Really great post, for those like me who are pretty clueless on beer pairing this is so helpful. Thanks for posting this.

  4. love it–thanks! And what an awesome infographic. (learned a new word 🙂 )

  5. This is a great post – it’s interesting to know more about beer and food pairings. I go to a great “gastro” pub here in Sheffield that makes both a wine and a beer suggestion for everything that they offer on the menu – it’s a really great idea, and very popular.

    • I love when restaurants do that!! That really shows they are knowledgeable and care about you having the best experience 🙂 A Belgian beer place here suggests a beer with every food item on their menu. It is amazing how the proper pairing can give more flavor in the beer and food making it all taste better! 🙂 Thanks Georgina!

  6. That infographic is a solid but elementary entry into the food/beer foray. Saisons, to be honest, will go with just about any dish available. Additionally, pairing chocolate cake with chocolate stout will most likely just cancel each chocolate out and you won’t gain much new in the pairing. I nice dry imperial stout would be a better option for the cake.

    It’s nice to see hospitality programs getting into beer, but I’d like to see them be a bit more serious about it and get beyond grilled cheese and burgers.

    • I definitely agree. Saisons can be paired with so much depending on what they are brewed with and the distinct flavors involved. This was a very basic outline. It really just over viewed typical styles which honestly is difficult to do now since each beer is so unique. Not all IPAs can be categorized the same. I think as the program gets going they will have a lot of fun tasting and pairing beers and food.

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    your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your
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