If you combine beautiful dishes with a nice beer at the table, you discover beautiful things. Beer has flavors and mouthfeel that you will not find in wines. Another advantage of beer over wine as an accompaniment to a meal is often a lower alcohol content. Lately I have noticed that enthusiasts are curious whether you can also combine non-alcoholic beer into food pairings . There is only one answer to that question: absolutely. This article will put you on the right track with tips for successful food pairings with non-alcoholic beer
What makes beer gastronomically interesting is that it offers bitter, in addition to sweet and sour, in terms of basic flavors. Beer also contains carbon dioxide. This creates a cleansing effect in the mouth with every sip, so you taste everything much better.
The dish and beer must match in intensity
There is a basic rule for a successful combination of a beer with a dish: make sure that both match in terms of flavor intensity. Do you have a dish with robust flavors, for example because it is heavily seasoned and/or prepared on the grill? Then choose a beer with distinct flavors. And vice versa: does your dish have softer notes in terms of taste, for example with a salad or with ingredients and preparations with subtler flavors? Then a more subtle beer would also suit that.
This applies to both ≤0.5% beer and 'real' beer. I dare say that both have the same range of flavors. The spectrum of alcohol-free is less deep. This has to do with the fact that alcohol cannot be used as a flavor enhancer.
Rules of thumb
Which flavors combine well is a matter of discovering and trying out. This means that things will go wrong at some point. But you only learn by making mistakes. You can look for combinations that work based on harmony between flavors from a dish and the accompanying beers. You can also look for it in the contrast. In addition, there are a few 'rules of thumb':
Bitterness in beer goes well with fats and proteins;
Salt in dishes masks bitterness;
Bitter enhances spicy and spicy flavors;
Acid enhances bitterness in dishes.
7 tips for successful food pairings with non-alcoholic beer
I know from experience that your journey of discovery will start more easily if you know where to start. That's why I'm also giving you a few concrete options with which you can start experimenting.
Appetizer
Light starters or a dish with fried fish can be easily combined with an alcohol-free beer such as that from Swinkels . Do you like boiled mussels? Then drink a Weizen with that.
Main dishes
There are also excellent combinations for meat dishes with non-alcoholic beers. With a fried sirloin steak or roast pork you should definitely try Sam's Brown Ale . For barbecue fans, there is also an absolute must: Nillis from La Trappe . You can taste smoke accents in its taste.
But not only recipes with a lot of meat are suitable for drinking (almost) alcohol-free beer. Spicy and spicy flavors from Indian cuisine combine beautifully with Mango from the Norwegian brewery Lervig . In this beer you will find the rich mango flavor, but it also has something savory at the same time.
Desserts
There are also options for dessert from the ≤0.5% beer segment that will bring a party to your plate. For desserts with chocolate and cream, I can highly recommend Svart Hvit from the Norwegian brewery Nøgne Ø. Finally, desserts with dairy and red fruit go very well with a non-alcoholic Kriek from the Belgian brewers of Force Majeure.
Hopefully these tips will make you want to explore how to combine tasty dishes with nice non-alcoholic beers. The perfect combination is what works best for you. And the best food pairing with non-alcoholic beer has probably yet to be discovered. Do you have a find in this area that would also make other enthusiasts happy? Let us know!
