Dare to Pair Beer with Food

I married into a wine family. My in-laws built, owned and operated a vineyard and winery here in Southern Illinois for the last 7-8 years. They have since sold the business, but wine is still very much an integral part of the typical family gathering. I have, as a result of this frequent exposure to a myriad of wines, grown to appreciate an appropriate wine pairing with food. While I feel like I understand the basics of matching either a white or a red wine with the "protein" being served, for example, I don't pretend to know what to do with a particular wine variety over another. In other words, I don't know the "rules" and quite honestly, I don't much care to know them. In cases of pairing food and wine, I like to let my nose and my palate be the judge. If the pairing works for me, that's all I need to know. Too bad for the wine snobs who might not approve of my brash and unsophisticated use of a Chambourcin when I should have opened a Cabernet Franc!

You may well be asking yourself right about now, "what does all this wine talk have to do with pairing beer with food?"

My answer ... a great deal. My inability to pair wine with food, based on some objective and documented standard of styles and classifications has in no way impeded my ability to enjoy a good wine with a meal. In fact, I think back on those instances when I have chosen the wine and I think I've done a decent job based solely on what I think "works." So, if I can do this with wine - a beverage I know only a little - how much more might I be able to do the same with beer? After all, I am much more familiar with beer styles and the characteristics that make them unique. The best part of that is the fact that, in many instances, beer is more diverse and expansive in terms of flavor profiles than any wine will ever be. My tastebuds tell me that.

I just made a wine snob angry with that statement.