Food pairing
Beer with grilled lamb
Lamb cooked fast over fire, where char meets a meat that already has a strong flavour of its own.
Lamb is distinguished from beef by branched-chain fatty acids that give it its characteristic taste, and they are more pronounced in the fat than in the lean. Grilling renders some of that fat directly onto the fire, which sends it back up as smoke.
So this is char plus a genuinely assertive meat, and it takes a bigger beer than grilled beef of the same size. Roast and caramel malt both meet it; what does not work is a delicate beer, which the lamb simply erases.
Grilled lamb 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 char.
What to drink
Märzen — excellent pairing
Lamb fat dripping onto fire sends its own smoke back up, so the char is more pronounced than on grilled beef and the meat is more assertive underneath. Toasted malt meets both, and a Märzen has enough body to stand up without the roast bitterness that would fight the lamb’s own strength.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
American stout — outstanding
Roasted malt echoes the charred, caramelised edge of the food, so the two reinforce each other.
American porter — strong
Roasted malt echoes the charred, caramelised edge of the food, so the two reinforce each other.
Rauchbier — strong
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.
Double IPA — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
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.
Weizenbock — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
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.
What not to drink
- Belgian table beer — Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
- London brown ale — Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
- Milkshake IPA — Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.