When preparing for Super Bowl Sunday, it’s important to make sure you don’t forget the craft beer! If your house is anything like most of ours, there’s going to be plenty of food around – so what craft beers make the best pairings?
When choosing a craft beer to accompany a certain dish, it’s often best to aim for a complementary flavor, but a contrasting one can work too. For instance, hot & spicy foods usually go great with IPAs, whose big, spicy hops match the heat and intensity of the food. But, a sweeter, maltier craft beer like a bock can help tame the heat while refreshing the palate.
Just like with food and wine pairings, you want to make sure you don’t have one member of your pairing dominating the other, so try to match the intensity levels of the craft beer and the food. For example, a barleywine will stomp all over a celery stick, and a bowl of 5 alarm chili will kick the butt of a pale lager – so keep the character of each of the components in mind.
Here’s a little guide we made with some of our suggestions for popular game day foods:
Chips & Dips: Pale Ale, Kölsch, Blonde Ale, & Helles Lager
Veggie & Fruit Trays: Witbier, Hefeweizen, Pale Ale, Gose
Pizza: Vienna Lager, Pilsner, Saison, Schwarzbier
Chili: Amber Ale, Märzen/Oktoberfest, Porter, Sweet Stout
Buffalo Wings: IPA, Pilsner, Bock, Belgian Pale Ale
Burgers & Hot Dogs: Brown Ale, Dunkel Lager, Dry Stout, Scotch Ale
Chocolate Desserts: Imperial Stout, Fruit Lambic, Barleywine, Belgian Dubbel
