Food pairing
Beer with hummus
Creamy chickpea and sesame dip with lemon and garlic.
Hummus is chickpeas and sesame paste with lemon and garlic: creamy and mild, with a nutty depth from the tahini and a lemon sharpness cutting through it. It is richer than it looks and less assertive than it smells.
Something dry and lightly tart complements the lemon and clears the sesame fat without covering the garlic. It is almost always part of a spread rather than eaten alone, so the bread, the oil and whatever else is on the table matter as much as it does.
Hummus 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
Gueuze — outstanding
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Berliner Weisse — outstanding
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Australian sparkling ale — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Grisette — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Grodziskie — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Saison — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Belgian single — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Cold IPA — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
What not to drink
- British strong ale — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Old ale — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Bock — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.