The Art of Beer and Food Pairing: A Multi-Sensory Journey

Beer and food pairing is becoming increasingly popular as more of us are discovering that beer is very well-suited to almost any dish that you can think of. Aroma and taste together with sight, sound and texture create the perception of flavor, making the consumption of craft beverages a truly multisensory experience. A lot of what we ‘taste’ is registered through the nose, specifically the retronasal system through which we perceive aromas released in the mouth during eating and drinking.

A Daring Vegan Food and Beer Pairing Event

In December 2022 Dutch craft brewery Brouwerij Bliksem in collaboration with B RACK Breda organized a beer pairing event with barrel-aged beers and vegan dishes, which was unique and daring for several reasons. First, it is unusual to attempt to pair barrel-aged beers with food, as they can be quite intense in flavor. Pairing them with a full vegan menu is another bold move. Since the early ‘90s it has become common to age strong beers in wooden bourbon or whisky barrels, a practice where Goose Island is often attributed as being the first.

Wood is a natural product that is porous and expands or contracts with fluctuating temperatures and thus imparts flavors and tannins into the liquid it holds. Depending on the type of barrel, the beer can absorb flavors from the wood such as vanilla, coconut, caramel, spices, smoke, and oak tannins. This process works best with stronger beers, hence barrel-aged beers tend to be higher in alcohol and have more pronounced flavors. Generally, pairing these beers works well with intense dishes and rich food.

The Science of Tasting Beer

Tasting beer is harder than you think and is a complex skill. Though eating is something we do multiple times per day, our ability to recognize flavors is relatively poorly developed. Professional tasters and beer judges try to be as precise as possible, but it takes a lot of practice. This beer-tailored aroma spiral by author Randy Mosher from his book Tasting Beer lends a helping hand.

According to leading taste and smell researcher Gary Beauchamp, what and how we taste depends for a large part on our inherited genes. This means every individual will have a different combination of taste receptors and varying sensitivity to certain components, such as bitterness. Similarly, the other gustatory components sweet, sour, salty and umami will be more pronounced for some people than for others. We need to speak the same language to be able to describe beer objectively, moving beyond basic descriptions to more refined terms like ‘tropical fruit’, ‘mango’ or ‘passionfruit’.

Upcoming Events: King River Brewing Feast

Prepare for a feast fit for a, er, royal as King River Brewing gets set to host an indulgent night of beer and food matching, par excellence. On June 10, out on the farm at the King Valley brewery, head brewer Nathan Munt will be your sage and host throughout a four course menu prepared by head chef Dylan Old. This menu is designed to pair perfectly with four seasonal beers made more or less right where you'll be seated. They're promising quite the culinary journey, with flavour the focus and your tastebuds the ultimate beneficiary of the experience.

Beer Pairing Event Summary

Developing Your Skills

• Learn to distinguish and describe flavors accurately.
• Understand the impact of inherited genes on taste receptors.
• Explore how the retronasal system registers aromas.
• Practice with tools like the aroma spiral to become as precise as possible.