Food pairing
Beer with fried chicken
Deep-fried chicken in a seasoned crust — very fatty, very salty, and in need of cutting through.
Deep frying puts the fat on the outside, where the palate meets it first and keeps meeting it. Add a heavily seasoned crust and a great deal of salt and the problem is simple to state: every mouthful leaves a coating, and the beer's job is to remove it before the next one.
Carbonation and a dry finish do that work, and several quite different beers do it equally well — a crisp pilsner, a saison, a gueuze, a Belgian ale with a firm bubble. That is why the dish is tightly constrained and still has no single right answer. What fails is anything sweet or heavy, which compounds the richness rather than clearing it.
Fried chicken 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 fat.
What to drink
Bière de Garde — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Dubbel — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Tripel — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Oud Bruin — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
American wild ale — strong
Tartness resets the palate between mouthfuls, the way a squeeze of lemon does.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Weizenbock — strong
Malt sweetness rounds off the salt rather than compounding it.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
Lichtenhainer — strong
Tartness resets the palate between mouthfuls, the way a squeeze of lemon does.
Märzen — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Caution: A richer dish than this beer can clear from the palate.
What not to drink
- Eisbock — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Wee heavy — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Belgian table beer — Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.