Four easy food and beer pairings to try in your pub
However, with interest in craft beer booming, and customers increasingly seeking a more complete experience when eating out, food and beer matching is something pubs can no longer afford to ignore.
Luckily, there are several techniques operators can use to create easy pairings to ensure their food and beer offering doesn’t come up short.
McCain Foodservice has teamed up with The Beer and Cider Academy to produce ‘HOP – a guide to craft beer and food pairing’. The guide offers licensees a series of tips on how best to match beers to dishes on their menu, or visa versa, and can be downloaded for free on the McCain website.
On 26 August, Beer and Cider Academy sommelier Shane McNamara gave attendees at the McCain Talking Points Live event a demonstration of how food and beer matching can work in practice.
“The right combination of food and beer can be the difference between a good meal and a great one,” McNamara explained. “It’s also the difference between standing out from your competition or not. That’s the business case for introducing matching on your menu, offering customers a great experience, and another reason to keep choosing you in the face of increasingly tough competition.
“It’s also a way of upselling and can help to increase spend per visit. Front-of-house staff are your number one selling tool, so make sure they’re armed with all of the ammunition and get them trained up. Customers will appreciate it and staff will feel more engaged.”
McNamara guided attendees through the following pairings, featuring beers from Howling Hops Brewery and food from Billy Smokes, accompanied by different varieties of McCain products.
1. Smoked beef topside and red ale
Served medium-rare, and complemented with horseradish butter and chunky chips, this beef topside dish could command a premium of between £14 and £18 on your menu. The dish is best matched with a full-boded American amber such as Howling Hops Ruby Red Dinner Ale.
McNamara says: “The intensity of the smoked beer is matched by the malt body of the beer, while the aroma of the beer complements the kick of the horseradish butter.”
2. Smoked chicken wings and Kölsch
Topped with pickled chillies, coriander and lemon zest, these chicken wings make for great sharing bites alongside a beer at the bar, or add thin-cut skin-on fries to make them a full meal. The wings need an equally zingy and crisp beer to go with them, such as Howling Hops Das Koolsch, although a premium lager would also be a good alternative.
McNamara says: “The light flavours complement the toppings in the dish, while the chips topped with salt provide a moreish salty finish to complete the dish and invite you to have more of everything.”
3. Courgette ribbons and West Coast IPA
These charred courgette ribbons, served with watercress, pine nuts and lemon and herb dressing, are an excellent healthy and vegetarian option. Add chunky chips if you’re feeling naughty. This dish is best served alongside a bitter and tropical IPA such as Howling Hops West Coast Special #2.
McNamara says: “The lemon and herb dressing over the charred courgette melds well with the tropical fruit aromas of the beer, while the pine nuts add more dimension to the malt flavours.”
4. Bread and butter pudding with chocolate stout
A decadent dessert in the form of this burnt orange and chocolate bread & butter pudding, requires an equally decadent beer. Howling Hops Chocolate Stout is a dark, rich stout with chocolate overtones, roasted toastiness and coffee notes that is perfect alongside this hot smoked pudding.
McNamara says: “The burnt orange notes of this beer add depth to the predominant chocolate flavour, while the light bread of the dish absorbs much of the sweet malty flavour to provide a chocolate fudge finish.”
