When I finally outgrew Chuck E. Cheese as a kid, all I wanted for my birthday every year were ribs smothered in sauce, the kind of ribs that required extra hand wipes and a second bib. As I grew up, I couldn’t imagine anything better in life.
Then, one day, I walked into an Argentinian market that had a few tables. It was in a seedy part of Las Vegas, a place I probably shouldn’t have been after dark. I ventured there any way on the word of my Argentinian cab driver. “It’s as good as back home,” she promised.
It was good. No, it was breathtaking. I still think about that meal nearly 10 years later. The only problem was that there was nothing good to drink despite the meal. Just a macro lager from an international brewer with a Spanish name slapped on the bottle.
Now, I think about those ribs all the time. I think about the steak, blood sausage, and sweetbreads from that out-of-the-way market. I think about those incredible experiences every time I’m at a neighborhood BBQ that serves pre-formed burgers and ketchup with yellow beer in a red party cup.
We can do better. When someone stands in the heat of the pit for 12 hours to smoke meat that changes our perspective, we owe it to him or her to honor that meat with a beer that will sear that experience indelibly into our minds forever.
Here’s how.
Argentinian Steak with Chimichurri Sauce with a Flanders Sour or Saison
Eat this with a Belgian Flanders Red or Brown sour. The acidity from the beer and from the sauce goes amazingly well with the fire-roasted meat dripping with fat. The beer and the sauce match intensity to also let the caramel malt, the bitter fruit, and the tannins play around on your palate.
You can go in the other direction with a Saison, which will contrast with flavors of lemon, earth, hops, and phenols like white pepper. Meanwhile, the assertive carbonation will clean your palate to prep for the next bite.
American Brisket with a Belgian Dubbel or a German Rauchbier
A good brisket takes a long time to develop deep and rich flavors. Your beer should do the same. A Belgian Dubbel is sublime with Brisket because of the rich and complex malt and dark dried fruit flavors. Both the malt and the meat are balanced by strong carbonation, a dry body, and a phenol character.
Or, try a German Rauchbier. Rauch means “smoke,” and while this beer is often polarizing, it will add flavors of bacon and campfire to your meal.
Hawaiian Kalua Pork with a Golden Belgian Strong or a Hazy IPA
Hawaiian Kalua Pork is the pig in the pit at every tourist Luau. When it’s done well, it’s sweet, savory, juicy, and full of flavor. We need a beer that pairs both with the meat and the humid Hawaiian ocean environment. Try a Belgian Golden Strong because it’s light, fruity, and easy drinking, but with enough alcohol and impact to punch above its weight class.
Or, try a hazy IPA with a tropical hop flavor that transports you to the archipelago in the first place. The slight bitterness and tropical fruit will cut through the fat and fill in the voids of flavor left behind by the meat.
Barbacoa Tacos with a German Maibock or an American Pale Ale
Slow-roasted and seasoned meat that drips onto your tortillas needs something to match. Try a German Maibock to add complex malt sweetness backed by herbal hop flavor that finishes the dish beautifully.
Or try an American Pale ale that adds caramel and stone fruit flavors with woody and grapefruit hops to the already complex and smokey sweet meat.
Barbacoa Tacos with a German Maibock or an American Pale Ale
Slow-roasted and seasoned meat that drips onto your tortillas needs something to match. Try a German Maibock to add complex malt sweetness backed by herbal hop flavor that finishes the dish beautifully.
Or try an American Pale ale that adds caramel and stone fruit flavors with woody and grapefruit hops to the already complex and smokey sweet meat.
Grilled Veggies with a Berliner Weisse or a Belgian Tripel
Not into meat? Grill your veggies like corn, squash, fennel, polenta, etc. over fire. Try a Berliner Weisse to add a tart, fruity, and refreshing balance.
Or try a Belgian Tripel to keep it light and refreshing, but balance the dish instead with a moderate hop bitterness, alcohol, and phenols that add flavor to the already tasty vegetables.
Sidebar Drizly beer suggestions to pair with BBQ
Flander's Sour
Petrus Oud Bruin, Rodenbach Grand Cru, New Belgium La Folie, Duchesse De Bourgogne Sour Cherry
Saison
Saison Dupont, Boulevard Tank 7, Great Divide Colette, Lost Abbey Carnvale Ale, Jenlain Bière de Printemps (Biere de Garde)
Belgian Dubbel
Chimay Premiere (Red), Westmalle Dubbel, Rochefort 6, St. Bernardus Pater 6, Taxman Deduction, Dubbel, Ommegang Abbey Ale
Rauchbier
Uinta Tinder Rauchbier, Aecht Schlenkerla Maerzen Rauchbier
Belgium Golden Strong
Duvel, Delirium Tremens, La Chouffe, Bruz Hellraiser
Hazy IPA
Deschutes Fresh Haze, Firestone Walker Mind Haze, Bell’s Hazy IPA, Lawson’s Finest Liquids Sip of Sunshine
Maibock
Hofbrau Maibock, Rogue Deadguy, Jack’s Abbey Maibock
Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Pale, Dale’s Pale Ale, Sun King Osiris, Deschutes Mirror Pond, New Belgium Fat Tire
Pilsner / Lager
Westbound and Down Italian PIls, Yuengling Golden Pilsner, North Coast Scrimshaw, Paulaner Premium Pils, Czechvar
Gose
Cigar City Margarita Gose, Dogfish Head Seaquench, Flying Fish Brewing Salt and Sea, Destihl Piña Colada Gose
Berliner Weisse
Maui Brewing’s Shave Weisse, The Bruery Hottenroth, Odell Sippin Pretty
Tripel
Victory Golden Monkey, Allagash Tripel, Tripel Karmeliet, Left Hand Brewing St. Vrain Tripel
