A Pint Half Full

When I think of beer paired with food, immediately my mind thinks of something that complements a main dish or would be good to whet my appetite.  This is probably due to the nature of most ales and lagers, which are hop-focused, lending a bitter, acidic flavor.  Some beer can be give a dry, clean finish to open up the taste buds to prepare for additional food intake.   Savory foods can then be enjoyed fully as the beer fully enhances whatever it is you are eating.

Prompted by one of my faithful readers, cmfl3x, I began to think about what beers would actually complement the after dinner meal - dessert.  First of all, I don't really have a sweet tooth at all; one fun size kit kat and I've got my chocolate fix for a good 2 weeks.  Also, I favor beers that are more on the hoppy end of the spectrum which does not go well with candy or sweets.  The mixture of the bitters and acidity that you taste conflict with the sweetness from whatever dessert you are eating.


So in order to complement sweet things, you'd want to look into beers that are not as bitter or hoppy, but are more smooth with an emphasis on malt or perhaps other additives like chocolate, espresso, even fruit which enhance sweetness.  Two good types of beer which meet these criteria are Cream Stouts or Lambic beers.

Cream Stouts, such as the Samuel Adams Cream Stout, are typically thick bodied, roasted with dark malts and combined with the addition of lactose.  Due to the lactose, the texture of the beer turns out creamy with a unique sweetness.  Some breweries use actual cocoa or espresso in their recipes to enhance the dark roast flavor.  The Cream Stout would pair well with similarly creamy desserts, chocolate cake, pastries.

Lambics are brewed differently than ales and lagers, which give them a distinctive texture, mouthfeel, flavor.  I've seen most brewed with fruit.  A lambic beer is drier and thinner bodied.  While light, it is less bitter since brewers use less hops.  There's also some slight sourness in some of the ones I've tried.  These would pair better with fruit oriented desserts with more tart characteristics such as a fruit pie or parfait.

I've not seen many lambics out there (or haven't looked) so I unfortunately I can't give any recommendations.  But feel free to let me know your experiences and suggestions for beers that pair well with dessert.