Start off your week in a sweet way! Greg Nagel of OCBeerBlog.com helps us ring in another Monday with need-to-know brew tips.
Q: As is the case with wine, are there certain beers that pair well with sweet or dessert foods?
A: For chocolatey sweet, Russian Imperial Stout’s work well matching the intensity and heightening the overall bite. The hop bitterness helps keep the sweetness in check and the carbonation helps clean the palate for the next bite. For caramely/vanilla sweet, I tend to lean towards a nice Barleywine. The rich caramel notes of the beer play a nice game of ping pong on your palate. Fruity sweet, I lean towards a Belgian Dubbel or Belgian Dark Strong (Quadrupel). The high effervescence and dark fruits have a way of bringing the pairing to a whole new level.
