Beer and Whisky Pairings

[ResIpsa539]

You'll hear widely about wine/food pairings, and you'll read about whisky/food pairings on this forum, but I'm curious if anyone has tried pairing beer and whisky...

I was sitting down with a friend tonight over a bottle of Chimay Grand Reserve Blue (beer; 750ml... http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... 78_2883183), and the dark fruits (raisins and prunes specifically) were readily apparent. I was looking through my scotch collection as we were talking and I realized that the Glendronach 1968 (25 year) offers these same dark fruit flavors. So, when the 750ml bottle of the Chimay was gone we ventured over to the Glendronach and found that it was a beautiful pairing - the higher ABV in the whisky made these same flavors easier to detect after numbing the pallate a bit with the 750ml bottle of beer.

Does anyone else have any experience with pairing whisky and beer?

[Ganga]

I used to have Bass Ale and Newcastle Nutbrown Ale with Macallan 12 all the time. They work well but it's been so long I can't remember what they did for each other.

[ResIpsa539]

I used to have Bass Ale and Newcastle Nutbrown Ale with Macallan 12 all the time. They work well but it's been so long I can't remember what they did for each other.

Interesting - I find the Newcastle to be on the sweet side - which would seem to go well with the Macallan 12.

[ResIpsa539]

I've done my share of drinking today and I've NEVER heard of people pairing/mixinng Jack with beer for any reason besides necessity and poor judgment.

[ResIpsa539]

Yes, that's when you mix whisky (not specifically Jack) and beer. That's not what I'm talking about - people don't mix those two with the intention of "pairing" them - people mix them to get wasted.

I'm not talking about blending/mixing; I'm talking about drinking beer and whisky in succession for the purpose of drinking things with similar profiles, or other purposes besides just getting drunk.

Necessity = drinking Jack followed by a beer because that's the only alcohol left in your college dorm.

[Deactivated Member]

Beer and whisky?
Not for me, I hardly ever drink beer.
MT

[Mr Fjeld]

Beer first and whisky after that. I don't think they match very well but if one insists it has to be ale/beer without much hops such as a weisbier - I would think?

[Ganga]

I tended to like the Bass/Macallan pairing because they were not that similar. The bitter part of Bass contrasted with the sweetness of the Macallan.

[Willie JJ]

There's a bottled beer you get here called Innes & Gunn. It is oak aged and goes really well with a dram IMO.



They have several varieties. You can find reviews here:

http://www.beer-pages.com/notes/brewery.php?id=iandg

I doubt it is widely available though.

[Mr Fjeld]

Thanks for the tip Willie! Just ordered 3 of them

[Willie JJ]

Christian did you order them from here or can you find them locally?

[Mr Fjeld]

Christian did you order them from here or can you find them locally?

Through our wine monopoly. The only alcoholic beverage to enter the kingdom without any problems would be Norwegian Perfume

[Spirit of Islay]

Newcastle Nutbrown Ale

What's Nutbrown Ale ?
Have i missed something ?
From the home of NBA......

[les taylor]

Newcastle Nutbrown Ale

What's Nutbrown Ale ?
Have i missed something ?
From the home of NBA......

Gordon it has to be a Newcastle in the US.

It cant be like Newcie Brown.

[Willie JJ]

Christian did you order them from here or can you find them locally?

Through our wine monopoly. The only alcoholic beverage to enter the kingdom without any problems would be Norwegian Perfume

So how does that work? Do they import it for you especially?

[randall fairbrook]

i pair beers and whisky all the time.....

some of my favorites are

st bernardus abt 12 special edition with a cragganmore double matured

russian river pliny the elder with a laphroaig qc

pizza port old viscosity with an ardbeg 10

slo brewing company blueberry ale with glenrothes select reserve

and many moooooooore

[Ganga]

Over in the Live Tasting Section you will find tonights version. In there I have been having several whiskies with Red Nectar Ale.

[andyt]

Caol Ila & Dark Island Reserve go well together, CI and Stella do not!

[Eric m]

I have paired bourbons with tea`s a while ago to find out that some varieties go well with eachother,i was just experimenting,i wouldn`t do it all the time but for science I`d do anything .
Eric.

[jimidrammer]

i pair beers and whisky all the time.....

some of my favorites are

st bernardus abt 12 special edition with a cragganmore double matured

russian river pliny the elder with a laphroaig qc

pizza port old viscosity with an ardbeg 10

slo brewing company blueberry ale with glenrothes select reserve

and many moooooooore

I'm with you Randall, I pair India Pale Ales, Russian Imperial Stouts, Extra Special Bitters, Czech Pilseners, Hefe Weizens, and Single Malts all the time. Almost any good ale, lagers not so much, except for the crisp German and Czech pilseners. The sweet/bitter components of the beer make a great palate cleanser for the sips of malt in between. It's all barley anyway, so why not? I just don't usually make deliberate specific pairings, just how the mood strikes.

[Ganga]

I have some thoughts following Saturday's tasting as applied to the specific ale.

1. I found that highly sherried whiskies didn't work very well. If anything more towards a negative.

2. Bourbon casked or bourbon/sherry vattings worked well.

3. Region didn't seem to matter (peated/non-peated).

4. Higher proof tended to obliterate any impact from the ale.

I'm looking forward to some analysis by others.

[Gov]

Any stout style beer goes well with any irish whiskey and non or light peated scotch, IMO.

[IainB]

Firstly I suppose the classic combination in Ireland is Guinness with Powers. There's a reason it's a classic - it works very well. Also Guinness and Redbreast!

At home I tend to drink bottles O'Hara's stout with a pure pot still or a potstill blend.

For malts or malt blends I find ale works much better than stout. Last night I had an Old Speckled Hen with a Clynlish DE. Perfect!

In the pub I might have a Smithwicks with a Black Bush.

(And in the distant past I've had lot's of lager with JD - not recently though.)

[Ganga]

This afternoon, I'm having a Drake's IPA with McCarthy's of Oregon Malt 3 yo. IPA really makes this one jump. Lots of things going on including a bit of oranginess and earthiness. Drinks much hotter than 42.5%.

[Gov]

This afternoon, I'm having a Drake's IPA with McCarthy's of Oregon Malt 3 yo. IPA really makes this one jump. Lots of things going on including a bit of oranginess and earthiness. Drinks much hotter than 42.5%.

I really like IPA's, never had Drakes. Where would I find it?

[Ganga]

I don't know. A friend brought it over and I'm working on the last couple of bottles. I'd suggest you try a store that specializes in imported and microbrews. In California, someplace like Bev Mo or Hi-Times would be my first suggestions.

I also had the Trader Joe's blend with the Drake's IPA. I found this really interesting because the grain alcohol basically disappeared from the palate and all I was getting were the malt whisky flavors. I liked this pairing but not as much as the McCarthy's.