Food pairing
Beer with chilli con carne
Slow-cooked spiced beef and beans — rich, hot and deeply savoury.
Slow-cooked beef with chilli, cumin and usually chocolate or coffee somewhere in the recipe. Heat, savoury depth and a long-cooked richness together.
The heat is real but rarely extreme, so a moderately malty beer holds up. Roast character bridges the cocoa and cumin more elegantly than a hoppy beer manages.
Chilli con carne 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 chilli heat.
What to drink
American brown ale — excellent pairing
Chocolate and caramel malt echo the cumin and cocoa depth in a long-cooked chilli, and the malt sweetness takes the edge off the heat rather than sharpening it.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Tropical stout — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Weizenbock — outstanding
Peppery and clove-like notes from the yeast pick up the warm spicing in the dish — the same aromatic family on both sides.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Sweet stout — outstanding
Gentle sweetness and modest strength take the edge off the chilli rather than sharpening it.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Czech dark lager — 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.
Bock — strong
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
Rauchbier — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
Old ale — 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.
What not to drink
- Alcohol-free pale lager — Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
- Gose — Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
- Grodziskie — A light beer against a heavy plate tends to disappear.