Bargain book guides you on pairing beer and food

A new bargain-priced book pops the cap on all manner of brew basics, from yummy food pairings (even for dessert) to the beverage’s storied past

With beer nearly a food itself, writes Randy Mosher, its range of flavors, aromas, colors and textures complements many kinds of food, giving us plenty to choose from when seeking resonance.

"From a cheery golden pilsner to a brooding imperial stout, from a comforting, malty Scotch ale to a bracingly hoppy India pale, beer is hands down the most varied beverage on earth. So whether it’s a rustic handmade sausage or the loftiest tall-food masterpiece, there’s a beer for it."

So advises Mosher’s new, value-priced book, Tasting Beer ($16.95, Storey Publishing), an accessible yet encyclopedic work that should have a place in anybody’s library. Most importantly, it will explain how beer beautifully pairs with food.

You think wine and cheese go hand in hand? Try blue cheese and a double India pale ale, or an oozing, ripe camembert with a brown ale. Or, for that matter, a Russian imperial stout with an aged Dutch gouda.

Tasting Beer is full of suggestions of beers that are available locally, including Saint Arnold’s Fancy Lawnmower Beer, a kolsch-style brew from Houston (paired with triple-cream butter käse), and San Francisco’s Anchor Old Foghorn (Stilton). Check out his "No-Brainer, No-Fail Beer and Cheese Pairings."

Beyond cheese, Mosher throws out very intelligent food pairings: all-malt pilsners, Belgian-style saisons, hefeweizen (German-style wheat) beers and witbier (Belgian wheats) with light appetizers, and India pale ales, fruit beers and Belgian pale ales with hearty starters.

As for main courses, he argues convincingly that the host should take into account the character of the dish, as in, lamb imparts a heavier taste on the palate than, say, chicken. Then there’s the cooking method. Roasting, sautéing, frying, grilling and smoking give progressively more intense flavors. And since browning, chemically, is akin to kilning malted barley for brewing, consider the affinities of such common beer flavors as bready, nutty, caramelly, toasty and roasty.

Now consider seasoning and sauces, which can dramatically change the character of the dish and are influenced by herbs, spices, fat, sugar, acidity, chile heat, etc.

What wine stands up to barbecued ribs in a rich, sweet sauce? Don’t even go there. Mosher suggests a Belgian-style dubbel. Again, a no-brainer in his book.

Grilled fish? A Dortmunder-style lager.

Roasted chicken pairs nicely with a malty amber lager or pale ale.

A very hoppy beer adds fire to hotly spiced foods, which some folks like. Others might prefer rich malty beers instead, such as a Marzen (Oktoberfest), Munich dunkel or Scottish ale, to douse the flame.

"I am sorry to say there is no 'red wine with meat’ rule as far as beer goes," Mosher writes. "Pairing beer and food is really all about common sense and taking a few things into consideration. There is nothing difficult or mysterious about the process. Follow a few basic rules, pay attention, and it is hard to go wrong."

Don’t strive for perfection, he urges. "But every now and then you will have a truly transcendent moment."

Mosher is convinced, and convincing, that beers, unlike all but rarely consumed sauternes, go amazingly well with dessert.

His favorite?

"Carrot cake and India pale ale, a really big double IPA," he said in a call from Chicago. "You don’t really expect it, but it complements and contrasts, like matter and antimatter, the bitterness of the hops and the extreme sweetness of the cake."

There’s far more to Tasting Beer than food pairings. This is a book that can be read at several sittings, then consulted as a reference work.

Mosher, a graphic designer and adman-turned-home-brewer and beer lecturer, covers an ambitious range of beer-related topics that will leave a budding hophead conversant on every key issue related to the world of ales and lagers. No exaggeration.

Fully and entertainingly covered are beer history, the science of brewing, beer judging, ways to get the most from a beer festival, differences in glassware — the topics go on and on. It’s truly hard to imagine a more complete work on beer at anywhere near this price and written with such obvious acumen.