How to Pair Beer with Your Favorite Snacks

How to pair beer with your favorite snacks:

1. Look for contrasting tastes
2. Pay attention to complementary flavors
3. Use beer as a palate cleanser
4. Avoid certain pairings with overpowering tastes
5. Keep “strong with strong, light with light” in mind

Beer is a go-to and a classic for a variety of social drinking situations, such as parties, gatherings, celebrations, or even just for a quiet night at home. It’s one of the few drinks that you can enjoy on any occasion. Of course, beer just gets better when paired with something delicious. If you want to get the most out of your favorite pale ale or lager, then you should know how to pair beer with your favorite snacks! 

Not sure where to start? In this article, we’ve prepared five simple yet crucial tips for figuring out that perfect beer-food pairing. Keep reading to learn more! 

Look for contrasting tastes

The first tip to keep in mind is to look for contrasting tastes. This will help you better appreciate the distinct flavors of your beer even more! 

If your beer already has a strong and commanding flavor profile, then the snacks you might want to try should have a milder profile — and vice versa. 

For example, if your beer has a cool and refreshing palate (like our Corona Extra Beer), then you can pair it with something spicy and dominating, like a plate of buffalo wings, or maybe a serving of chili paneer! It will give this light beer a nice contrast. 

That said, make sure to check if your selected beer and food pairing have one partner that has a strong flavor, while not overpowering the other. 

Pay attention to complementary flavors

You can also try making a pairing between two complementary flavor profiles, rather than going for a strong contrast. This is great between savory beer and food. It’s an effective way to preserve the hearty taste of both drink and dish — which porter beer lovers will want to do. 

On the other hand, this is also a good choice if you’re having a mild beer, like a pilsner-style Mahou Cinco Estrellas, and want to keep things light. For this pairing, we recommend going for something light and with minimal cooking. Recommended dishes include fresh seafood (such as tuna or salmon), or salads. 

Use beer as a palate cleanser

Beers with a lighter profile, such as Sapporo Premium Beer, are perfect for cleansing your palate — especially on occasions where you expect to eat a wide variety of foods or cuisines. 

So if you know you’re about to take in a selection of flavorful snacks for the night, you should rely on a bottle of lighter beer to help neutralize your tongue in between servings. We highly recommend doing this if your chosen snacks for the night are deep-fried, spiced, or fatty! 

Doing so will not only help your stomach from feeling too heavy, but it will also help you better appreciate the flavors of both the beer and the dishes being served! 

Likewise, you can also cut through the flavor intensity of bitter beers by using rich, oily foods as a palate cleanser. Great snack options here are things like salted nuts or potato wedges.

Avoid certain pairings with overpowering tastes

As we mentioned earlier, you’ll want to steer clear of any pairing that overpowers your tongue. On that note, we suggest paying attention to the taste degrees in your beer-snack pairing. Many medium beers have a bold and full-bodied profile, which can easily overwhelm lighter dishes — such as anything with fish or greens.

For example, if you pair a bottle of our Rydeen Beer IPA with a light and soft cheese, then this beer will suppress this cheese’s delicate flavor and texture. On the other hand, a more powerful cheese, such as Camembert, might be a good pairing for this IPA, as it can reduce the cheese's pungency.

Keep “strong with strong, light with light” in mind

The last tip we have for you is to keep the principle “strong with strong, light with light” in mind. It’s a good last resort if you can’t seem to find something that works with your beer (or for your taste preferences). 

Choosing snacks with a similar flavor profile to your favorite beer means looking into what foods have similar ingredients to your drink. Take, for example, a light beer like our Mahou IPA. This beer is lightly toasty and refreshingly bright, so it goes well with anything that isn’t overly spicy or heavy, like veggie bowls or white meat. 

A powerful beer like a stout, on the other hand, is the best option for baked meats, such as ribs — because they have a similar strength. Plus, stout can be used for your meat marinade to make this pairing more harmonious!

Key Takeaway

Beer is a great drink to enjoy on any occasion — which means there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy this drink with a variety of foods! That said, knowing how to pair beer with your favorite snacks is an important piece of knowledge to make your drinking experience that much more enjoyable. 

Keep our tips and suggestions above in mind the next time you crack open a cold bottle of beer! And, remember to stock up on the best imported beer in the Philippines from Ralph’s Wines & Spirits! 

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