Lotte Peplow, the Brewers Association’s American craft beer ambassador for Europe, explores the world of beer temperature and the effect it has on the flavour of food
Photographs: Nic Crilly-Hargrave
The majority of American craft beer styles are typically enjoyed chilled, valued for their crisp, refreshing character. However, when pairing beer with food, raising the serving temperature of the beer just a few degrees can have a subtle impact on its interaction with the dish, unlocking deeper flavour nuances and enhancing the overall tasting experience of both.
The Brewers Association recently demonstrated how American craft beer and the temperature at which it is served can interact with food to create harmonious and memorable flavour profiles. Taking place at Manteca, in London, the event featured a five-course paired menu curated by Adam Dulye, executive chef at the Brewers Association, in collaboration with Manteca head chef, Chris Leach, the pairings explored how varying degrees of temperature can shape a beer’s character and elevate its harmony with food, revealing the complex interplay between temperature and flavour.
The meal started with 1944 Golden Pale, a helles bock lager from the Bold Mariner Brewing Co, served chilled, at a lower temperature than an exquisite plate of salumi, focaccia, and silky house-made ricotta. The crisp, clean, refreshing character of the beer offset the ambient temperature of the food ingredients, creating a complementary interplay on the palate.
Next up came a chilled dish of sea bass crudo with a grilled nectarine salad, shiso and hazelnuts paired with Hinterland’s Jamaican Haze IPA, served a few degrees above the normal serving temperature of approximately 7°C/45°F. Ice cold temperatures can mute hop aroma and flavour, so IPAs are best served slightly chilled. This IPA is brewed with Sabro hops, giving notes of coconut and lime which were showcased perfectly at the slightly warmer temperature and blended with the delicate flavours of the fish.
Allowing a beer to warm slightly before serving allows the expression of more flavour nuances. If the beer is too cold, the palate can become numbed and unable to appreciate the full taste profile of the beer. Lagers and lighter styles are typically served very cold to maximise refreshment, but beers paired with food are an integral part of the dish and the temperature should complement that of the ingredients to enhance the overall dining experience.
A campanelle pasta dish with duck ragu, sprinkled with duck fat pangrattato, came next. Leftover foccaccia is dehydrated, blitzed into crumbs, and cooked in seasoned duck fat to create a duck crouton crumb. The dish was paired with Samuel Adams Boston Lager, making its welcome return to the UK after five years and now available in selected bottle shops, bars, and pubs throughout the UK.
The fourth course demonstrated how seamlessly the two paired beers complemented the dish, so much so that they could have been part of the recipe. Featuring a rare breed pork chop, a fresh cherry sauce finished with mustard oil, roasted potatoes with roasted charcuterie, and a flourish farm salad, the two accompanying beers were natural partners. Served a few degrees above chilled, Toppling Goliath’s King Sue double IPA was bursting with juicy tropical hop notes layered with a cream popsicle orange citrus note underpinned with a gentle vanilla to soften the bitterness and round out the flavours. Equally harmonious was Coldfire’s Cerise Rouge 2024, a foeder-fermented sour blonde base ale aged in white wine barrels then refermented on Montmorency cherries in a meticulous process that takes three years, served at cellar temperature. Both beers were natural extensions to the dish, the only difference being they were in a glass not on the plate!
And so to a decadent dessert of chilled profiteroles paired with a room temperature imperial oatmeal vanilla porter from Virginia Beer Co, Pinwheel Porter, showcasing flavours of chocolate and vanilla and brewed with flaked oats to give a creamy mouthfeel with traditional carbonation. The harmony between the cold chocolate and vanilla cream profiteroles and the beer’s matching flavour profile was striking, and made all the more expressive and nuanced by the beer’s warmer serving temperature.
The event clearly demonstrated that American craft beer has limitless food pairing potential not only with flavour synergies but also through thoughtful temperature contrasts. Allowing the beer to warm slightly enhanced the flavours of both beer and food.
The menu
Welcome beer
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co, Hazy Little Thing IPA
Wild farmed focaccia
House-made ricotta, fennel pollen, Manteca salumi selection
The Bold Mariner Brewing Co, 1944 Golden Pale Lager
Line-caught sea bass crudo, cucumber, rosemary, grilling nectarine salad, shiso, hazelnuts, chilli
Hinterland Brewery, Jamaican Haze IPA
Campanelle, duck ragu, duck fat pangrattato
Boston Beer Co, Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Pork chop, cherry mostarde, salumi roast potatoes, flourish farm salad
Toppling Goliath Brewing Co, King Sue Imperial IPA and Coldfire Brewing Cerise Rouge 2024
Profiteroles, chocolate sauce
The Virginia Beer Co, Pinwheel Oatmeal Vanilla Porter
Look out for exciting and iconic American craft beers from Allagash Brewing Co, Other Half Brewing, Revolution Brewing, and Toppling Goliath Brewing Co which will be available in the UK throughout August from bottle shops, bars and pubs ordering through Cave Direct.
The UK is an important export market for American craft beer, accounting for 8.2% of all exports and ranking as the third largest market globally. The style-diversity and world-class quality of American craft beer make it ideal as a food accompaniment. Manteca is a a nose-to-tail Italian-inspired restaurant, focusing on whole-animal butchery, hand-rolled pastas, wood-fired breads, and an in-house salumeria.
The Brewers Association
In the UK, American craft beer is available from selected national wholesalers for the trade and online retailers such as Athletic Brewing, Sierra Nevada shop, Brew Export, Beers of America, Cave Direct, and Beer Merchants, selected bottle shops, off-licences, online subscription services, and supermarkets, and man pubs and bars.
The Brewers Association publishes a wealth of resources to understand and enjoy craft beer, downloadable free of charge from brewersassociation.org.
About the author
Lotte Peplow is the American Craft Beer Ambassador for Europe for the Brewers Association and is based in London. She is a certified cicerone, BDI-accredited beer sommelier, beer writer, author, beer communicator, international beer judge, homebrewer, and beer lover.
