General

How to pair beer and chips

Published: June 21, 2023
A close-up of a glass of pale ale
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Pale ales

An India pale ale pairs well with all-dressed; an English-style pale ale works with salt and vinegar; an American-style pale ale, meanwhile, goes with sweet chilli.

A bowl of cheese puffs
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Brown ales or imperial stouts

These beers go well with cheese: nacho chips or cheese puffs. Imperial stouts, in particular, “are very good with stinky cheeses,” says Chlebowska.

Two glasses of pilsner
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Plain Janes

Blonde ales go best with plain tortilla chips; pilsners pair with regular potato chips, salted or unsalted.

Three bottles of Mexican lager
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World tour

No surprise: Mexican lagers work well with lime. A Belgian strong ale, on the other hand, suits honey mustard chips. Jalapeño chips go best with sour beers.

Assorted chips and dips
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The other guys

Ketchup chips pair well with a farmhouse ale, while dill pickle works with a lagered ale. Love ranch? Eat those chips with a pale wheat beer. Love BBQ? Scarf a bag while sipping a porter or a stout. And bacon makes everything better—especially an amber ale.

You love chips. You love beer. But how to pair them for the most delicious dockside experience? There are three rules of thumb when pairing beer with any food, says Anna Chlebowska with The Beer Store.

Match intensities “Pair a bold flavour of chip—for example, all dressed—with a more intense beer, such as a bitter IPA.”

Match flavours and aromas Drink an English-style pale ale when eating salt-and-vinegar chips. “They’re both kind of tangy,” she says.

Match textures Sour cream and onion goes best with a silky cream ale—both have a similar mouth feel.

This article was originally published in the March/April 2022 issue of Cottage Life.

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