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Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/68609
BACK 2 BASICS By John Fischer tip, lower alcohol beers tend to be lighter- bodied, while higher-alcohol versions, like the Tripel, will have more body. While acidity is usually not noticeable in beer. Bitterness is, though. While bitterness is an acquired taste for humans, it is present in many foods, and counteracts richness. If you like espresso and broccoli rabe, you like bitterness. But if you dump steamed milk into that espresso, or pour olive oil on that rabe, you are using this principle by counteracting bitterness with fat. Bitterness in beer comes mostly from The fi ner points of pairing brews and food. Beer's Better food. Th ose of you who have had a glass of Champagne with birthday cake know what I'm talking about. Also, beer comes in such a broad range of fl avors, colors and power that its I t may sound like heresy coming from a sommelier but beer is, on the whole, a better partner for food than wine. Th is bold statement is actually made up of a few components. First of all, beer tends to be a more amenable partner with adaptability can leave wine in the dust. Obviously, wine has a subtle complexity all its own —but when matching beverage with food, it is often more about the obvious aspects than the fi ner points. I'm talking about body, aromatics and contrast and beer has the ability to off er all of them at a friendly price point. think about this as you would dairy products. If you imagine the mouth feel of nonfat milk, then work your way up to heavy cream, you'll quickly get the idea. Applied to beer and food, a light fi sh dish with lemon juice and olive oil should be served with a delicate beer, like a German wheat beer (Weissbier). As soon as you fry that fi sh in batter, or put it in a cream sauce, the body is much fuller, and now a richer Pale Ale or Belgian Tripel will have the weight to match the it. As a 50 | JUNE 2012 BODY , WEIGHT AND BALANCE Th e beverage should have the same weight (or mouth feel) as the food. You can hops, a kind of fl ower that is used to add aromatics, bitterness and natural preservatives to beer. A 'hoppy' beer tends to be bitter and have a fl oral aroma. Th e bitterness will balance the richness of the food, and refresh your palate. In beer and food pairing, start thinking beige with beige and brown with brown. Since the process of browning meat is essentially the same as that in the roasting of malted barley, similar fl avors will be present in a well-seared burger and amber or brown beers. Lighter meats prepared will marry well with the paler beers like Pilsner and blonde ales. AIN'T THAT SWEET? A basic principal in pairing is that the beverage needs to be at least as sweet as the food. Th ere is sweetness in a lot of 'savory' foods and anything browned. Ethnic cuisines are hugely popular in the United States now. A good number of American favorites are (let's face it, wine guys) terrible with wine. Th ai, Indian, Mexican and Tex-Mex and Barbecue dishes are based on fl avors that do not come from traditional wine regions. Intuitively, you realize already that there is a beer to go with each of those cuisines, and almost all of the dishes within. With the current popularity of Craft Beer in America, maybe it's time to enjoy a beer with your dinner tonight. the Culinary Institute of American in Hyde Park, New York. He has worked as a wine director in many New York restaurants, including the Rainbow Room, where he was cellar master. John Fischer is an associate professor at www.cheersonline.com