Lotte Peplow, the Brewers Association’s American craft beer ambassador for Europe, considers the different approach to beer and food pairings in the USA and the UK, and suggests chocolate and beer ideas for Easter.
I’m always impressed with the sophisticated and advanced approach towards pairing beer with food in America. It’s akin to a highly-developed art form, matching brewing expertise with culinary skill and doing so in a uniquely collaborative way, with small and independent brewers and suppliers working together.
Pairing menus are commonplace in most eating establishments in America, from basic bars and diners through to fine-dining restaurants. Special beer and food pairing events attract interest from all over the world, such as Savor: An American Craft Beer and Food Experience in Washington DC on Friday, 24th June, at new venue The Anthem.
Savor pairs more than 200 flavour-forward, independent American craft beers with sublime small bites from an award-winning culinary team, to create an unforgettable culinary experience for beer lovers and foodies alike. Guests will have the unique opportunity to sip, savour, and interact with brewery owners, who are acclaimed personalities
in their own right.
More than 100 American craft breweries will pour over 200 beers. Chef Adam Dulye, the Brewers Association’s executive chef and author of The Beer Pantry, curates the event and will lead an award-winning culinary team to create a one-off menu of more than 60 food pairings. Here in the UK we can only dream of such beer and food related events!
In the meantime, Easter is not far away, and this presents the perfect opportunity to pair high-quality American craft beer with chocolate. Beer and chocolate are a match made in heaven, due to the almost infinite flavour synergies. What’s more, the rich, high-fat content of cocoa butter can coat the palate while beer’s lively carbonation can ‘scrub’ it clean, helping to round out the flavour.
As ever with beer and food pairings, it’s best to match strength with strength. Certain styles of beer lend themselves more naturally to pairing with dark chocolate, such as rich, malty, high-strength beers: porters, stouts, barley wines, etc. High-alcohol beers will stand up to the cacoa butter better than lighter styles, and the malty sweetness will provide a delicious complement to the sweetness of the chocolate.
Here’s a guide:
- White chocolate: creamy texture, no cacoa solids, usually contains 20% cocoa butter, sugar, and 14% milk solids. Pair with witbier, brown ale, sweet stout, fruited wheat beer
- Milk chocolate: usually around 35% to 45% cacoa solids. Pair with: American pale ale, brown ale, amber ale
- Dark chocolate: at least 35% cacao solids, but commonly above 70%. Pair with: robust porter, imperial stout, barley wine, dubbel. These styles of beer also tend to work well with chocolate containing other flavours, eg coffee, nuts, fruit.
There’s still time to register for the Brewers Association’s Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America (CBC), America’s largest gathering of the craft brewing industry, and World Beer Cup, which is taking place in Minneapolis, from 2nd-5th May. The Craft Brewers Conference delivers concentrated, affordable brewing education and idea sharing, to improve brewery quality and performance.
More than 11,000 brewing industry professionals will have the opportunity to meet with 500 exhibitors and hear from a wide range of speakers during seminars across eight different relevant educational tracks, ranging from brewery
operations to sustainability and government affairs.
The World Beer Cup, often referred to as ‘the Olympics of Beer’, is expected to be the most competitive to date, with more than 11,000 entries anticipated from around the world. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony on 5th May.
Tickets for Savor go on sale 6th April 2022, and/or you can register for CBC and the World Beer Cup here.
In the UK American craft beer can be found at online retailers such as Athletic Brewing, the Malt Miller, beermerchants.com, Beer Bruvs, Beer Gonzo, or selected bottle shops, off-licences, online subscription services and supermarkets, and selected pubs and bars.
About the Brewers Association
The Brewers Association (BA) is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts.
The BA represents 5,700-plus US breweries. The BA’s independent craft brewer seal is a widely adopted symbol that differentiates beers by small and independent craft brewers.
The BA organises events including the World Beer Cup, Great American Beer Festival, Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America, SAVOR: An American Craft Beer and Food Experience, Homebrew Con, National Homebrew Competition and American Craft Beer Week.
The BA publishes The New Brewer magazine, and Brewers Publications is the largest publisher of brewing literature in the US.
Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association and the free Brew Guru mobile app.
