Food pairing
Beer with fruit dessert
Baked or fresh fruit with sugar — sweet with real acidity underneath.
Sweetness with real acidity underneath, which distinguishes fruit desserts from creamy or chocolate ones and widens the answer considerably.
The acidity means a beer with some tartness of its own bridges rather than clashes. Sweetness still has to be met or the beer reads sour.
Fruit dessert 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 sweetness.
What to drink
Weissbier — good pairing
Banana and stone-fruit esters meet the fruit in the dish, with enough carbonation to keep a sweet dessert from feeling heavy.
Caution: Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.
London brown ale — strong
Enough residual sweetness to stand up to the dessert rather than being flattened by it.
Dubbel — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Dark mild — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Dunkelweizen — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Bière de Garde — good
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Caution: Something lighter will let the food lead. This pairing works only if you want the beer to be the main event.
Milkshake IPA — good
Enough residual sweetness to stand up to the dessert rather than being flattened by it.
Alcohol-free wheat beer — good
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
What not to drink
- Alcohol-free stout — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.
- Altbier — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.
- American wild ale — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.