Food pairing
Beer with salted nuts
Roasted salted nuts — fatty, salty and toasty.
Roasted salted nuts are a bar snack in the most literal sense: fat, salt and a toasted note, in small quantities, alongside whatever you were already drinking. They are designed to make you thirsty and they succeed.
That makes this an unusually forgiving pairing. Almost anything crisp works — a pilsner, a bitter, a gueuze — because all that is asked of the beer is carbonation to clear the fat and enough character not to vanish under the salt. Choose for the occasion rather than for the nuts.
Salted nuts does not constrain the beer much: nothing clashes and nothing is clearly best. Drink what you like, or choose for the sauce, the seasoning or the sides, which will decide more than the dish itself.
What to drink
Berliner Weisse — 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.
Grodziskie — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Gueuze — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Australian sparkling ale — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Czech dark lager — strong
Malt sweetness rounds off the salt rather than compounding it.
Lichtenhainer — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Munich Dunkel — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Saison — 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.
What not to drink
- New England IPA — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Sahti — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Imperial stout — Something lighter will let the food lead. This pairing works only if you want the beer to be the main event.