Serving food with beer is hardly a new phenomenon—even before brewpubs were born, beer was always present at feasts and celebrations. Newer to the scene, though, is the notion that beer can be expertly paired with food to create paradigm-shifting flavor combinations. Beer is quickly replacing wine as the paired beverage at the table, and craft brewers and chefs are ecstatic about it.
“Wine and cheese is like arm wrestling versus beer and cheese, which is like holding hands,” says Matthew Barbee, the owner and head brewer of Rockmill Brewery in Lancaster, Ohio. More broadly, brewers and chefs apply this analogy to all kinds of foods and not just cheese. Beer is more versatile when it comes to pairings, they say, and they’ve set out to prove it through beer-and-food pairing events that are trending across the country.
Each year at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver, Colorado, the Brewers Association hosts an event called Paired (formerly the Farm to Table Pavilion). It’s a Who’s Who of craft brewers and independent restaurateurs who offer guests mind-blowing small bite and beer pairings. (Pictured at top, Lone Tree Brewing Company (Lone Tree, Colorado) paired What The Dill Rye IPA with Ham Rillettes with Smoky Glace and Bubbly Cheese Puff from Rick Martin of Limestone (Lawrence, Kansas) at the 2015 GABF Paired event.)