Food Pairings With Beer

We've heard wine aficionados discuss what wines to serve with certain foods, but beer also has some especially good food pairings. With "Utica On Tap" coming to the Stanley Theater on March 22nd, here are some tips on matching beer with food.

There are some simple beer paring rules, according to beeradvocate.com:

"Food Pairing Tips

The more hop bitterness the beer has, the heartier or livelier the meal needs to be to hold its own. Don't overwhelm your palate or meal and ruin what the chef was trying to achieve.

Another general rule is keep sweet with sweet, and tart with tart. Try to keep your beer sweeter or tarter than the sweet or tart food on the plate. There are exceptions, like pairing drier robust beers with sweet chocolates.

For those of you who are bound to the wine pairing school of thought, think of ale as red wine and lager as white wine. Hoppy beers can also be used in place of a pairing that calls for an acidic wine. Though it honestly doesn't matter, these tips might help you to convert your taste buds over to beer or those of a friend over to beer.

Taste is very subjective and what works for one person might not work for another. If it tastes good to you, then go for it. However, also be open to suggestions, as these tend to come with some knowledge and possible palate enlightenment."

To match a specific favorite beer style with food, go to beeradvocate.com, and plug in your favorite type of brew.