About Beer

Pairing Beer With Food

"About Beer is provided to encourage you NOT to think about beer as some people have in the past and still do."

For thousands (millions?) of Americans, beer is a yellow, foamy, cold beverage to enjoy with a hot dog or pizza on a warm day.

Actually, I like that, too, but there is so much more to discover and enjoy with beer today.

I am neither a wine snob nor a beer snob. But I appreciate the variety of products available to us. I love to experiment with food, and with beer and wine. Can one complement (enhance) the other? The answer is yes. That is really what this article is all about.

Many people automatically reach for the same beer time after time when making their purchase without even thinking about beer. Too bad. They are missing out on what can only be described as the "craft beer revolution."

For those of us who have been lucky enough to have an eye-opening beer experience, we understand about beer today. It is a varied and flexible beverage.

This craft brewing revolution has increasingly been transforming beer drinking habits. Craft brewing or micro breweries now account for an increasingly significant percentage of the beer market and they are growing fast.

I have been serving micro beers and learning about beer from brew masters for many years in my restaurant. Thirty percent of my beer sales are now micros. Still, many people automatically order traditional American brews without even thinking about beer and the hundreds of options available.

There are probably three reasons for this. One is price. Micro brews are usually a little more expensive. The other reasons have to do with the fact that there are many variations of ale, lagers and hybrids, and with that, an almost overwhelming number of choices and that presents a marketing problem.

To illustrate, the Brewers Association has compiled a list of the variations within the three general style categories and an explanation of each. The three styles are "ale," "lager," and "hybrid or mixed."

Within the Ale Styles there are 23 of British Origin, 4 of Irish Origin, 10 of German Origin, 14 of Belgian and French Origin, and 12 of North American Origin.

Within the Lager Beer Styles there are 15 of European Germanic Origin, 12 of North American Origin, and 3 Baltic Porters.

Hybrid or Mixed Styles have 23 variations from different origins. These variations include such beers as German-Style Rye Ale (Roggenbier) with or without Yeast, Fruit Beers, Flavored Malt-Fermented Beverages, Vegetable Beers, Chocolate/Cocoa-Flavored Beers, Coffee-Flavored Beers, Herb and Spice Beers, Specialty Honey Lagers or Ales, Gluten-free Beers, Smoke-Flavored Beer (Lager or Ale) and more specialty beers besides. To see the entire list, click here.

What this all adds up to is many, many choices, especially when you understand that each recognized variation of a style has a great many brewers doing that particular variation a little differently! This is the revolution I referred to.

Wine producers and sellers have done a much better job than their beer-producing colleagues in convincing people that wine is always the best beverage for food and that beer is only suited for the hot dog and pizza I mentioned.

Beer producers have only recently paid attention to pairing their hundreds of beer choices with food. The result is that most people have never given any thought to matching the beer they buy with the food they eat.

Most people don't realize that beer is a far more versatile than what they have understood. Beer now brings a giant range of flavors and aromas to the table. And with our eating habits changing and with far more interesting and diverse foods available, it is time to think about beer as a viable beverage option.

While it is certainly not necessary for anyone to understand about beer's brewing process in order to enjoy a beer, a little bit of knowledge can certainly enhance the experience. With beer, a little knowledge can go a long way in explaining the flavors and aromas in different styles of beer. Making yourself more aware helps you understand about beer and why you enjoy some beers more than others.

About Beer Brewing Traditional beer is simply an alcoholic beverage made from water and malted cereal grain, such as barley and wheat, flavored with hops, and then fermented with yeast. But, as described, the creative, modern brewers have greatly expanded the list of possible ingredients ranging from from beets or garlic to powerful flavor enhancers for traditional stouts and pale ales. Malt is the foundation of beers. To create malt, barley is dampened until it germinates. It is then dried at controlled temperatures causing the barley's starches to turn to sugar. Different types of malt are made by how long the drying process continues. Longer periods of drying create darker colored malts which produce deep roasted flavors. Brewers use specialty malts, including chocolate and black malts, to create dark beers such as stouts and porters, while using paler malts in amber and pale ales. After the brewer has his recipe in mind and the materials have arrived at the brewery, the actual brewing process begins. The malted barley is run through a mill to finely crush it in order to extract the sugars that the yeast will use in fermentation. This finely crushed malt is then mixed with water in a large brewing tank, called a Mash Tun. The mix is gradually heated to a set temperature and the process converts the starches of the malted barley into sugars. The brewer then transfers the mix to another large tank called a Lauter Tun. A small amount of hot water is added to the tank to extract the sugars from the malt, resulting in a thicker, sweet liquid called ‘wort.’ A false bottom in the Lauter Tun strains the spent grain and allows the wort to transfer to the Brew Kettle. Once In the Brew Kettle, the wort is brought to a continual boil and the brewer adds hops at different intervals to achieve different flavor profiles. Hops are the spice of beer. Hops added early in the boiling process impart bitterness, in the middle are for flavoring, and at the end are primarily for aroma. After the boiling is finished, the "wort" is transferred to the fermentation tanks, where the brewer adds the yeast to start fermentation. This is where wort becomes beer through the magic of fermentation. Depending on the yeast strain used, a beer will either become an ale or a lager. Ales are beers whose yeast ferment at the top of the tank and that are fermented at warmer temperatures. Ales are generally fruity, robust beers. Lagers are beers whose yeast ferment at the bottom of the tank and are fermented at cooler temperatures. The cool lagering process produces smoother beers with less assertive aromas and flavors. The length of the aging process is also influenced by the type of yeast used. Ales generally age for three weeks, while lagers age for six to eight weeks. Since water makes up more than 90 percent of the finished product, the mineral content of the water used in brewing makes a difference in the finished product, as well.

That's the basic brewing process, but that only brings us back to the question, how do you match a beer with a food item?

This article about beer can point you in the right direction, but you have to also do your own research. I have resources listed below and a suggested approach on how to pursue your interest.

The first thing about beer to remember is what I also say about wine. There may be some general guidelines, but ultimately you need to taste for yourself and make your own determination.

Consider first the strength of the beer. Is it a "low impact," "medium" or "big impact" taste? To have a successful match, you’ll want to match the strength of the beer to that of the food. A heavy-duty beer will overwhelm delicate fish, and a lighter beer may seem flat when you’re enjoying a barbecue.

A wheat beer may match that delicate fish perfectly, while a darker ale will stand up to the ribs. If you think a beer and a dish are pretty well matched in terms of strength, you’re probably right.

Now think about the flavor of a beer. Beer can have flavors of caramel, coffee, chocolate, bread, bananas, limes, herbs, smoke or raspberries, just as examples. Your goal is to either find harmonious (enhancing) flavors with the food, or pleasantly contrasting flavors.

As with pairing wine with food, there are some very general rules of thumb, but things become more interesting when you consider how food is prepared and what it is served with.

For instance, amber ales, amber lagers, brown ales and light porters all have flavors that will match a roasted chicken beautifully.

In fact, beers with a camelized flavor go well with roast pork, steaks, barbecued ribs, and grilled vegetables. But what if you used herbs when roasting that chicken? Now you should think about not only matching the flavor of the chicken, but also the herbs you used.

Most American pale ales have some citrus character from hops and that can be used to match Mexican, Thai and Vietnamese dishes, which are often flavored with lime. Those hop flavors also work wonders with chilies, ginger and cumin.

Any dish that has flavors of char, coffee or chocolate is a good candidate to match brown ales, porter and stouts. Grilled ribs, burger and steaks are obvious matches, but their flavor is so powerful that these beers can even match roasted peppers. Cajun-style blackened chicken or pork go well with these beers, too.

Wheat beers match a wide variety of dishes. Some wheat beers are a perfect match for Eggs Benedict (Hollandaise sauce match and a pleasant contrast to Canadian bacon). Beers with a hint of orange flavors are perfect with egg dishes.

Wheat beers are also great for salads and they won't "fight with" vinaigrette dressings.

Wheat beers are also great with seafoods including crab, oysters, fish, shrimp and lobster.

Matching desserts is one of the greatest talents of big stouts and porters. Strong stouts, especially imperial stouts, can provide perfect matches to chocolate desserts. Try (experiment) with a really strong stout. A match is often better when a beer is not sweet and provides a brief "rest" from the sweetness of the dessert.

Now it's your turn to do some research. Here are some suggested books about beer you might be interested in reading.

Recommended Books About Beer Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food Garrett Oliver, Brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery. 2004 James Beard Award Nominee for Wine & Spirits and 2004 IACP Award Winner for Wine, Beer, or Spirits Category. A great book about beer. Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook 100 great recipes from 30 great North American Brewpub kitchens to pair with craft beers.

Thanks for reading the information about beer. I really hope you found it useful.



Donna
Bookmark Real Restaurant Recipes.com