Apéritifs: This beer should arouse the appetite. Something hoppy and dry such as Paulaner Pils or Bitburger.
Soup: Good luck trying to match a beer with a soup, its just as hard with beer as it is with wine. If you are having a beer-flavored soup serve the same beer you added to the soup.
Shellfish: Oysters and Stout are a marriage in heaven. For just about any type of crustaceans, you can serve a dry Porter Stout.
Raw, Pickled, & Smoked Fish: This is where acidity comes into play. A very acidic beer such as a Belgian lambic or red ale will complement the meal with no problems. If the fish is smoked, the beer should be too.
Fish: Just as a dry white wine would be the obvious choice with most fish, so would a hoppy Pilsner (Bitburger,) The hoppiness really helps out firmer fish such as cod, pike, or carp. Heavier fish, such as salmon, fair better with a Dortmunder Export. The dryness and refreshing characteristics of these beers seem to sharpen the flavors of the fish.
Pizza: It has become something of an American tradition to order beer when eating pizza. The only problem is that pizza has too much cooked-tomato sweetness and basil spiciness for an American lager. A Vienna-style lager, Negra Modelo, has its own malty spiciness and sweetness. A hoppy American Pale-Ale from with a lot of Northwest hoppiness adds its own spiciness such as Anchor Liberty Ale.
Chicken and pork: These sweetish meats are accompanied by, a reasonably malty lager, perhaps a Dortmunder for chicken, and a Oktoberfest/Märzen or Vienna-style lager for pork. Märzens and Oktoberfests have an abundance of maltiness and a touch of sweetness that works wonders with many lighter meats. At the Munich Oktoberfest, the festival’s beers are served with spit-roast meats and stews. Try either Paulaner’s Oktoberfest or Beck’s Oktoberfest.
Red meat: Red meats are better partnered by full-colored, fruity ales (Samuel Smith’s India Pale-Ale or Anchor’s Liberty Ale). A heavy brown ale such as Rogue Ale seems to game well.
Spicy Food: Wine is usually too subtle for spicy foods. For Mexican try Negra Modelo, a Vienna-style lager whose slight sweetness will help balance some of the spiciness. Hoppy pilsners also compliment spicy foods as well. Barbeque: For marinating try any beer. Its acidity helps naturally tenderize the meat. For consuming, try a dryish, burnt-tasting porter such as Fuller’s London Porter, or an Oktoberfest.
Sausage: If the sausage is German than German beer is the way to go. Just about any German beer pairs nicely with sausages but German weizens and Oktoberfests work exceptionally well.
Salads: The most extremely acidic styles of beers, such as Berliner Weisse or a gueuze, can be used instead of vinegar or lemon juice in salad dressings. If you fancy a raspberry vinaigrette try a framboise lambic instead. If nuts, or their oils, or if crisp salad ingredients have been used, try a brown ale such as Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown.
Cheese: Many cheeses need a potent beer that is reasonably hoppy to be served with cheese. An English old ale, Fullers, Old Peculier, or a barley wine are potent, but lack hoppiness. The best choice would be a Belgian beer that is potent and hoppy at the same time. Although it is not very hoppy, any one of the Trappist ales from Orval or Chimay work nicely.
Dessert: Many wheat beers have just the right blend of tartness and sweetness to accompany pies and other fruit dishes. A White beer such as Hoegaarden, Blue Moon Belgian White, with its own orangey flavor, is splendid in this role. Sweet double bocks, Trappist beers, barley wines, and especially Imperial Stouts accompany dried fruit cakes and puddings, chocolate, and anything creamy.
