Food pairing
Beer with barbecue
Slow-smoked meat with a sweet, tangy sauce and a heavy smoke character.
Barbecue is three pairing problems at once: smoke, rendered fat and a sauce that is usually both sweet and sharp. Any one of them would decide a pairing on its own, and together they rule out most delicate beer.
Smoke is the one people reach for first — a Rauchbier meets it directly — but that is a bold move rather than a safe one, and doing it every time is how a pairing engine ends up sounding like a party trick. Roast malt echoes the char without competing, and a firm bitterness handles hours of rendered fat. Sweetness in the sauce is what stops a very dry beer working.
Barbecue 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 smoke.
What to drink
Rauchbier — classic pairing
Smoke on both sides, and the same compounds doing it — the guaiacol and syringol in beechwood-smoked malt are what smoked meat gets its character from too. The clean lager finish stops the pairing becoming overwhelming.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
American brown ale — excellent pairing
Caramel and chocolate malt meet the sweet barbecue sauce, while the hop bitterness handles the fat. Less of a statement than a Rauchbier and easier over a whole meal.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Baltic porter — strong
Roasted malt echoes the charred, caramelised edge of the food, so the two reinforce each other.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Foreign extra stout — strong
Roasted malt echoes the charred, caramelised edge of the food, so the two reinforce each other.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Belgian dark strong ale — strong
Enough residual sweetness to stand up to the dish rather than being flattened by it.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
American barley wine — strong
Enough residual sweetness to stand up to the dish rather than being flattened by it.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Doppelbock — strong
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.
Wee heavy — good
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.
What not to drink
- Dry stout — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.
- Gueuze — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.
- Berliner Weisse — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.