Food pairing
Beer with welsh rarebit
Sharp cheese sauce, often made with beer and mustard, grilled onto toast until it blisters.
Welsh rarebit is a sharp cheese sauce, usually made with beer and mustard, grilled onto toast until it blisters. Salty, savoury, fatty and mustard-hot on a base of toasted bread is a great deal of intensity for a small plate.
A best bitter is the classic answer and the correct one, and often the same beer went into the sauce. Its malt meets the toast, its bitterness handles the fat, and its restraint leaves room for the mustard. The pairing is regional and traditional rather than a coincidence of attributes.
Welsh rarebit 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 salt.
What to drink
Best bitter — classic pairing
Beer is frequently in the sauce, and the pairing follows from that: the mustard sharpness and the aged cheese both want the same bitterness that made them work in the pan.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Munich Dunkel — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
American brown ale — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
American porter — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Bière de Garde — outstanding
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Czech dark lager — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Dubbel — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
English porter — strong
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
What not to drink
- Milkshake IPA — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.