BBQ Beers

BBQ Beers

By Paul Barry | Assistant Buyer: Beer & Spirits

The weather may not conducive to barbequing right now but sunshine can only be around the corner. Time to start planning then!

A barbeque evening can be a long affair, from setting up to getting the heat just right, to perhaps the most enjoyable part, full bellies and conversation long into the night. Fruity ales and easy drinking lagers are the call of the day. All-rounders that suit most BBQ dishes and most palates. 

However why not add a sprinkling of variety to your beer menu. Bold chargrilled flavours call for some beers with real character, here are a few suggestions that will stand up well to barbequed food but are also suited just as well to a long evening’s sipping.

 

Saison is often described as a food beer, it spicy and herbal, thirst quenching while also packing some serious flavour. The high carbonation cleanses the palate while the long finish leaves plenty of spicy flavours to complement your next bite of food. Black Donkey Sheep Stealer is a great Irish example of the style. If you haven’t tried it before it’s the one to pick up. Bold enough for those posh sausages you picked up yet delicate enough for grilled fish.

If you like your barbeque eats smoke and charred, then dark roast stouts are the prefect choice. Choose a more ‘traditional’ style avoiding more modern sweet ‘pastry’ stouts, you want a beer than will compliment the food rather than take over. O'Haras Leann Follain with its earthy chocolate and mocha tones and its bitter bite would be a great accompaniment to roasted meat.

 

Sours beer is also a great choice for BBQ. Able to stand up to the intensity of flavour while delivering contrasting flavours. Rodenbach Grand Cru is a mild Belgian sour, a blend of 1/3 young beer with 2/3 oak aged beer. This aging together with its smooth malt character gives it enough body for heartier foods while delivering an intense, complex and fruity sour flavour.

 

Whatever you choose to drink, do enjoy the weather.

 

Please note prices are correct at time of publishing. Offers end 3rd November 2019, please check our website or stores for the most up-to-date pricing.