Chicago Craft Beer Week

In celebration of the Chicago’s Craft Beer Week May 19-27 I thought I would share some of my favorite craft beer packaging, as well as some food and beer pairings courtesy of The Brew Brothers and CraftBeer.com. Information regarding CCBW check out their website.

PAIRINGS:

Light Beer, Spicy Food
Light ales and lagers go best with spicy foods. Heavy beers will make the meal too oppres­sive for the taste buds, and com­plex beers will be lost once your taste buds are met by the spicy food.

Brown Ale, Brown Food
Brown ales go great with mush­room gravies, beef dishes and wild game.

Porter Beer, Heavy Stew
Try a porter with a bowl of beef stew or a bowl of chili.

Dry Stout/Oysters
There’s noth­ing like shuck­ing a plate of oys­ters while enjoy­ing a mug of stout.

Sweet Stout/Sweet Dessert
Pair a sweet stout with a rich dessert like choco­late cheese­cake or flour­less choco­late cake drown­ing in a rasp­berry sauce.

Pilsner/Seafood
A pil­sner is great with a plate of fried shrimp or crab cakes.

Amber Beer/Pizza
Bring out the amber beer when you’re serv­ing up a home­made Chicago-style deep dish pizza.

Wheat Ales/Hefeweizen
Best with light foods, salads, sushi, vegetable dishes.

IPA
Strong, spicy food, curry. Sweet desserts like carrot cake.

Sweet or Oatmeal Stout
Rich, spicy food like barbecued beef, Oaxacan mole or hearty Szechuan dishes.

Photos and Illustration by Orange Marigold