Food pairing
Beer with roast potatoes
Crisp outside, soft inside, and salty enough to be a course of their own.
Crisp outside, soft inside, cooked in fat and salted heavily. Roast potatoes are one of the few side dishes people will order as a course of their own, and the crisp exterior carries most of both the flavour and the fat.
On their own they demand very little: there is nothing sharp, sweet or spicy to accommodate, only fat and salt that any well-carbonated beer will clear. In practice they arrive beside something else, and it is the something else that should decide.
Roast potatoes 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
American wild ale — 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.
Belgian golden strong 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.
Belgian 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.
Tripel — 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.
American stout — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Black 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
- Doppelbock — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Eisbock — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Wee heavy — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.