Food pairing
Beer with bacon
Cured, usually smoked pork — intensely salty, fatty and savoury.
Cured, salty, fatty and usually charred at the edges. Smoke is often part of it too, which makes bacon one of the few breakfast foods with a genuine beer answer.
Roast and smoke both meet it directly. Salt and fat together want something with enough bitterness to clear the palate, which is why a dry stout works better than the sweetness the smokiness might suggest.
Bacon rules a lot of beer out, but several beers do the job it needs equally well. Pick between them on preference — the reasons matter more than the order. The attribute doing most of the work is salt.
What to drink
Munich Dunkel — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Rauchbier — outstanding
Smoke in the beer meets smoke on the plate — the same family of compounds on both sides.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
American brown ale — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
American porter — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
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.
Dry stout — strong
Roasted malt echoes the charred, caramelised edge of the food, so the two reinforce each other.
Oud Bruin — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
What not to drink
- Belgian table beer — Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
- Lambic — A light beer against a heavy plate tends to disappear.
- Milkshake IPA — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.