How to Pair Beer and Nachos

These upgraded combos will make you king of Super Bowl Sunday.

First We Feast

Welcome to “Ask a Beer Pro,” a new monthly feature where we ask Greg Engert—the craft-brew maven behind D.C.’s Birch & Barley and ChurchKey, as well as the forthcoming Bluejacket brewery—to help us discover new suds to try. Got a question? Tweet it @churchkeydc and @firstwefeast.

There may be no pairing more all-American than beer and nachos. Yet too often, the results are underwhelming, degraded by crappy light lager and lazy, cheddar-sprinkled Tostitos. It’s high time this classic combo gets the respect it deserves.

So, while we’re getting ambitious with our chips and cheese during #nachoweek, we figured why not elevate the beer pairings as well? For help, we hit up Greg Engert, who has won a James Beard Award for his skills at matching suds and grub. Here, Greg breaks down pairing ideas for five popular nacho preparations.

Game day just got a lot more interesting…

Welcome to “Ask a Beer Pro,” a new monthly feature where we ask Greg Engert—the craft-brew maven behind D.C.’s Birch & Barley and ChurchKey, as well as the forthcoming Bluejacket brewery—to help us discover new suds to try. Got a question? Tweet it @churchkeydc and @firstwefeast. There may be no pairing more all-American than beer and nachos. Yet too often, the results are underwhelming, degraded by crappy light lager and lazy, cheddar-sprinkled Tostitos. It’s high time this classic combo gets the respect it deserves. So, while we’re getting ambitious with our chips and cheese during #nachoweek, we figured why not elevate the beer pairings as well? For help, we hit up Greg Engert, who has won a James Beard Award for his skills at matching suds and grub. Here, Greg breaks down pairing ideas for five popular nacho preparations. Game day just got a lot more interesting…
1. Classic nachos with cheese, raw jalapeños, and pico de gallo

Tasting notes: Cheesy, spicy Greg says: Classic nachos call for a classic brew—one that combines a crisp, quaffable character with subdued complexity. Look for an intense effervescence, which will help wash away the heat of the jalapeños, coupled with aromatic nuances to bolster the flavors provided by a good pico de gallo. Paler lagers (Helles, Vienna), clean Blonde ales, and Kölsch do well here, with their faint floral notes, toasty sweetness (melding with cheese and tempering heat), and restrained bitterness. In some cases, pilsners may even be too hoppy, since their snappy bitterness accentuates spicy heat into an unbridled burn. Check out Victory Lager, Great Lakes Eliot Ness (pictured), and Reissdorf Kölsch. Bonus points if you can find some Mahr’s Ungespundet, Devil’s Backbone Vienna Lager, or Freigeist Ottekolong.
2. BBQ nachos with pulled pork and cheese sauce

Tasting notes: Tangy/sweet, heavy, saucy Greg says: When I think of BBQ, I think of malt-driven ales and lagers. The darker, bready sweetness of dunkels, doppelbocks, and altbiers—with their suggestions of Tootsie Rolls, cola, and figs—offer a perfect complement to the sweet tang of BBQ, while a bubbly briskness ensures that these brews can dig into the rich cheese sauce, brightening the pile-up. Belgian dubbels work excellently as well. Grab a dunkel (i.e., lower-ABV dark lager) whenever you can with food (dunkels may be the unsung heroes of food and beer pairing). Mother Earth’s Dark Cloud (pictured) is a lovely rendition of the style. Something related, but bigger and bolder, is the doppelbock, with Ayinger Celebrator always doing the trick. And for dubbels, I like the lower-ABV versions (under 7% alcohol-by-volume), like St. Bernardus Pater 6.
3. Beef-chili nachos

Tasting notes: Meaty, heavy Greg says: Beef-chili nachos love something dark and roasty. The spicier the meat, the less extreme the brew should be; roasted bitterness can intensify spice just like hop bitterness, so the spiciest versions do best with milder dark beers—think Schwarzbier (black lager), like the delicious version from Duck-Rabbit. In any event, roasty brews bring peppery dryness and earthy, chocolate-coffee favors that sing with beefy richness and contrast nicely with salty notes. I’m thinking full-bodied porters, like Firestone Walker’s Walker’s Reserve (pictured), as well as sturdy stouts, like Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout. And I can’t help but dream of a Hill Farmstead Earl matched up with this…
4. Stadium-style nachos

Tasting notes: Lowbrow; goopy, salty cheese sauce Greg says: If there was ever a time to drink something hoppy with nachos, it is when you are wolfing down the most mundane of preparations. Spice levels are typically low, and the stadium’s finest are really all about high sodium intake, so brews imbued with bitterness make a nice pairing (especially as the hoppy dryness accentuates the salt, which in turn downplays the bitter flavors). Spice won’t get out of hand, bitterness is downplayed, and now we have an array of hop-forward flavors to season these nachos. Beers like Lagunitas Sucks and Schlafly Tasmanian IPA (pictured) will contribute piney, resinous notes, plus tropical fruit—this is a pairing that seeks to foreground the brew, flavorfully washing down those crunchy, cheesy chips.
5. Tex-Mex nachos with grilled chicken, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, and diced tomatoes

Tasting notes: Poultry, mild spice, heavy cheese Best pairings: No pairing recommendation would be complete without the mention of saison, and the Tex-Mex setup demands just that. The rustic character of a farmhouse ale provides just the right amount of piquant funk and herbal underpinnings to complement the earthy guac, as well as the tang of the sour cream; additionally, the saison’s peppery nuances will serve to season the grilled chicken and diced tomatoes. Go traditional with Saison Dupont, or branch out and enjoy the delicate zest of Jolly Pumpkin’s Bam Bière (pictured).

How to Pair Beer and Nachos

1. Classic nachos with cheese, raw jalapeños, and pico de gallo

2. BBQ nachos with pulled pork and cheese sauce

3. Beef-chili nachos

4. Stadium-style nachos

5. Tex-Mex nachos with grilled chicken, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, and diced tomatoes

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