Not Sure What Beer To Pair With Your Meal? Follow This Easy Advice

Pairing alcohol with food is an art form. When it comes to wine, most people know the basics: the best reds with hearty meats, whites with seafood or chicken. But what about beer? Just ask Kwame Onwuachi, James Beard award winner and host — with Guinness – of the Lovely Day In Brooklyn block party taking place on August 24 in Williamsburg's Domino Park.

His New York City restaurant Tatiana draws on his West African, Caribbean, and Bronx-born roots, serving dishes like spicy Jamaican-style escovitch fish, soulful braised oxtail, or short ribs that channel both pastrami and suya. It's the kind of food that can be expertly paired with wine yet is just about perfect alongside a cold beer, not least because of its spiciness.

Thanks to his culinary experience, Onwuachi has some general guidelines to follow if you're pairing beer with food — Afro-Caribbean or otherwise. Firstly, he notes that the general beer pairing rules follow a similar pattern to those for wine pairing. "Pay attention to how it's going to eat together," says Onwuachi. "If you're having a light beer, keep lighter foods in mind; similarly, if you're having a dark beer, keep more rich foods in mind." There's some flexibility, though: If you pay attention to the fat content, you can get a bit more experimental with your pairing. "You can pair a light fish with a dark stout, for example, but it should be more heavy or rich, in fat, to stand up to it," he notes.

Of course, just like how there's more than one type of red or white wine, there's plenty of variety within the broad categories of "light" and "dark" beer. If you're eating spicy dishes, go for lighter or medium brews. That means ales, pilsners, and lagers — all of them pair pretty well with a range of fiery foods. For pizza, red meat, and generally heavier fried foods, ale may be better. Lager may also work better for seafood and white meat or lighter pastas. Pilsner operates in a similar way but goes well with cheesy dishes, too.

If you're working with hoppy suds, like IPA beers — which have 18th-century origins – you can go into heavier territory like curry, steak, or burgers; they'll still play well with spicy food. At the darker end, your porters and stouts are rich and heavy and may not play so well with hot and spicy fare. Stews and barbecued meat are good options or even rich, buttery dishes like lobster. The chocolate flavor notes in stout also make it a good pairing for desserts — particularly rich, chocolate-based ones.

Applied to Tatiana's menu, you could sip on a lager while supping on Kwame Onwuachi's Jonah crab-stuffed egusi dumplings or his tuna kitfo with yuzu and ricotta. If it's the "Top Chef" contestant and judge's short rib that has your attention instead, you'd want to give an ale or even sour beer a shot.