Food pairing
Beer with adobo
Meat braised in vinegar, soy, garlic and bay until the sauce reduces to something sharp and intensely savoury.
Vinegar and soy in roughly equal measure is an unusual base, and it produces a dish that is simultaneously very sour and very salty, with garlic underneath. Reduction concentrates both.
Salt sharpens bitterness and acid fights sourness, which rules out a good deal of the beer catalogue at once. What is left, and what works, is something clean, malt-led and dry — a beer that brings body without adding another strong flavour to an already crowded plate.
Adobo narrows the field sharply, and one answer stands clear of the rest. Most beer falls down on at least one thing this dish demands. The attribute doing most of the work is acidity.
What to drink
Munich Dunkel — excellent pairing
Vinegar and soy reduced together is simultaneously very sour and very salty, which rules out most of the beer catalogue: salt sharpens bitterness and acid fights sourness. A dunkel is malt-led, dry and free of both, and its bread-crust depth meets the soy.
Bière de Garde — outstanding
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Czech dark lager — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
American brown ale — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Dubbel — outstanding
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Altbier — outstanding
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Oud Bruin — outstanding
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Old ale — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
What not to drink
- Imperial stout — Acidity in the dish is doing what bitterness would otherwise do. A beer with its own acidity, or one with enough residual sweetness to sit under it, is the safer direction.
- Milkshake IPA — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- American lager — A light beer against a heavy plate tends to disappear.