BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Beer & Brewing Do you like food with your beer?

Do you like food with your beer, or do you prefer the pure taste of the brew as a solo treat?

What is your most common food/beer combo? Is this also your "favorite" food/beer combination?

Okay, how about a charcoal roasted pig in a big ole Cajun microwave? That way, you can drink beer all day while the hawg is cookin! If you tell enough people, they'll all come with MORE food - Red Potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, maybe some special cheeses and gourmet mustards! Apple pie with Belgian Ale, or Heavenly Hash with Chocolate Stout...Hmmmmm....

Cheese - Definitely cheese! Something strong and sharp, paired with an intense, biting IPA or a malty Scottish Ale.

Schwarzbier is a grand accompaniment with spicy, blackened foods like Cajun Chicken or Mississippi Red Pork Chops. The rich, snappy bitterness and roasted espresso flavors have the power to absorb the heat of tongue-tingling foods.

Welcome with hot sausages, spiced ham or jambalaya dishes, these black beers also merge well with spicy luncheon meats like pastrami or corned beef on slabs of fresh-baked seeded rye or pumpernickel bread.

Ooh I love beer!

I used to drink it often (solo treat, as you say) after work - my hubby and I would swing by the pub after work, especially on a Thursday or Friday.

Now, however, I've tried to cut back a bit - especially since I noticed how flat my stomach became when I gave it up for a month before our wedding! I save it for weekends now and it has definitely become our Friday night pizza and beer treat. I cannot imagine pizza now without beer. Also, beer is a must with barbecues. And I also like it with pies.

Other than those specific beer-oriented foods, I tend to have wine with my meals.

Hot, hot Mexican food with Farmhouse Ale!

I think a lot of people tend to drink wine with meals, as you do, elle CreatEd. The old phrase, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," has us often doing what our group does, or what we have always done in the past, especially when we eat.

Over the Holidays this year, I made a conscious decision to drink styles of beer that would match all my meals - even when everyone else was drinking wine. No, I'm not turning into a beer snob - just doing an experiment. To my delight, I found that beer matched food on a more pleasing level, consistently. No wonder it has lasted thousands of years!

You can learn more about this in Garrett Oliver's book, "The Brewmaster's Table - Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food."

If you don't want to put in that effort, there are many brewpubs and breweries holding "Beer Dinners" now - those with multi-course meals that serve specific, selected beers with each course. Framboise (Lambic beer infused with fresh raspberries), for example, is wonderful with a rich, chocolate dessert.

Give it a try! You may be pleasantly surprised.

As for the "Beer Belly" that so many read about - I'm all about beer and health. Consistent exercise works!

I have a hard time eating Asian, Caribbean, Cajun or Mexican food without beer. Once in awhile I'll drink gewurtztraminer with Asian food, but I much prefer the palatal feel of beer (versus wine) with spicy or heavily spiced food. I like to match my beer with the country/area of origin with my food. Dos Equis (never Corona, it makes me sick as a dog) with Mexican, Singha with Thai, Abita with Cajun, etc.

If I'm comparing beers or trying out a new brew, I prefer to go solo with it - I don't want to confuse the food flavors with the beer flavors. (Especially since I love spicy or strong flavors.) But I definitely love to have food and beer together! In fact, I usually think most foods just scream for a beer to go with them to really round things out properly. I think about the only kind of food I don't think of pairing with beer is probably Italian foods like pastas - I don't know whether it's just in my head that Italian food goes with wine, or if it's because I haven't had any Italian beers to see what I think of them.

Moules and frites and a Unibroue Blanche de Chambly?