Food pairing
Beer with pad thai
Sweet, sour and savoury stir-fried noodles with tamarind and fish sauce.
Sweet, sour, salty and mildly hot at once, with peanut and egg adding fat and tamarind supplying the acidity.
The sweetness and acidity are both already present, so the beer should bring neither. Something clean and lightly carbonated resets between mouthfuls without adding to a dish that already has a great deal going on.
Pad Thai 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
Munich Dunkel — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Sweet stout — outstanding
Enough residual sweetness to stand up to the dish rather than being flattened by it.
Tropical stout — outstanding
Enough residual sweetness to stand up to the dish rather than being flattened by it.
American brown ale — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Dubbel — outstanding
Enough residual sweetness to stand up to the dish rather than being flattened by it.
Bière de Garde — outstanding
Enough residual sweetness to stand up to the dish rather than being flattened by it.
Czech dark lager — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Altbier — outstanding
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Caution: Capsaicin is an irritant rather than a flavour, and alcohol and hop bitterness both intensify it. A sweeter, lower-strength beer will do more for the heat.
What not to drink
- Lichtenhainer — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.
- Belgian single — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.
- Session IPA — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.