Copyright The Austin Chronicle
With a few notable exceptions – like sake at a sushi omakase or mezcal at a high-end Mexican restaurant – food and alcohol pairings usually center around wine. Wine-food partnerships like Cabernet Sauvignon & steak and Champagne & oysters are common knowledge among regular diners and are known for highlighting the unique flavors and dynamics of both elements. But in a city as beer-centric as Austin, wouldn’t it make more sense for restaurants to home in on food pairings that involve local craft brews? Will Jaquiss, founder and brewmaster of Meanwhile Brewing, sees some real merit to this idea, if for no other reason than because “Pairing beer with food is fun!” “Beer is very versatile and forgiving (more so than wine even), so [you] don’t need to worry about nailing it perfectly,” he explains via email. “Lots of different styles of beer can pair with any particular dish.” Luckily, a number of elite indie breweries in Austin prioritize food friendliness when designing their signature beer styles and seasonal releases. “All of our beers take into account our food menu, our atmosphere, and the two weather seasons we have here in Austin,” explains Taylor Ziebarth, founder of Oddwood Brewing. “We skew every beer to be lighter on the malt notes [with a] lighter mouthfeel, higher on the carbonation levels, [with] above-average bitterness levels, and a touch on the acidic side to help stand up to our flavorful pizzas and Austin’s endless summer. Crispy pizzas and crispy beers!” Creating beers that pair successfully with specific food (and finding dishes that pair well with a brewery’s existing beer repertoire) requires brewers to “understand the intention behind the food,” says Patrick Clark, co-founder at Zilker Brewing. “How do the makers want people to experience it? From there, you can look at the ingredients they’re using for inspiration and see how subtle touches might be added to a beer to create a connection. Start small with any new flavors or adjuncts so the food stays in the spotlight and the beer complements it.” Another approach, according to Clark, is “to really dive into the fundamentals of flavor – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami – and figure out how to express those through beer. That takes time, but it’s worth it.” Many of the best beer-food pairings in Austin happen as a result of collaborations between brewers and chefs. When Clark’s team at Zilker gets involved with a project like this, “We like to sit down with our partners, get a real sense of what they’re going for with their food, and then build a beer that [complements] it instead of competing with it. Whenever we can, we’ll pull inspiration from the ingredients they use – but in a subtle, nuanced way.” One of the most famous real-life examples of what Clark describes can be found in Zilker Icy Boys, a Japanese-style rice lager developed with the Spicy Boys Fried Chicken truck (one of which can be found at Zilker’s East Sixth taproom). Clark says that, when it comes to building a flavor profile for Icy Boys, “Our goal was pretty simple – we wanted a beer that could cool off the heat from Spicy Boys’ bold flavors and spices. A palate cleanser or ‘cooler,’ if you will.” The process of working with Spicy Boys included “brewing several test batches, sampling them together, and talking through what we were aiming for until we landed on the right balance.” The end result of this team experience is “a clean, simple lager made with high-quality ingredients” that has become as iconic in Austin as the piquant chicken sandwiches and nuggets that inspired the brew. Another brewery that’s tight with the Spicy Boys truck – St. Elmo Brewing – also takes pride in its beers created to pair with certain dishes. “With pairings, the classic question is whether you want the beverage to [complement] or contrast with the food,” says founder Bryan Winslow. “Well-made light beer, like [St. Elmo] Carl, is an easy go-to, as it pairs with a ton of different types of food. Beers like stouts, porter, or barleywine tend to be sweet and pair very well with an array of desserts.” A notable recent collaboration for St. Elmo featured LeRoy and Lewis Barbecue and a new beer called Smoke on the Lager, which Winslow describes as “a lightly-smoked amber lager.” “It’s toasty, slightly smoky, and has a touch of dark fruit on top of a dry finish. It is perfect when drunk in their restaurant with a plate full of beef cheek and sausage,” he says. This experience with LeRoy and Lewis “reminded me of how seriously fun our work can be. The beer and food we made together was created with all of the intention, care and focus imaginable. Yet simultaneously, it is created in the most fun environment with the kindest people around.” Linking up with outside restaurants or a food truck parked outside lets brewers flex their creative muscles, but working with an in-house kitchen can lead to a longer-lasting focus on how craft beers and dishes interact with each other. Oddwood Brewing gets to experience the best of both worlds; with the KG BBQ trailer parked out front, “We have had several collaboration beers focusing on the flavors of pomegranate,” Ziebarth says. “We’ve gone down the road of brewing a pomegranate-laden sour beer and also working up several beer cocktails to pair with [KG BBQ’s] menu. We feel the lighter, food-friendly nature of our beer [plays] nicely with their menu.” But the brewery also gets to try new mix-and-match strategies with its own pizza-focused house menu. For instance, “A few years ago, we changed our pepperoni brand to a spicy, cupping pepperoni. The spicy, crunchy texture of the pie mates perfectly with our house German pilsner. The spicy, floral, lemony German hops and the dry bitter finish really help cut the pepperoni and mozzarella oils. It’s a personal favorite [pairing] of mine,” Ziebarth tells us. Pinthouse Brewing, famous for its own pizza operation along with its award-winning beers, never overlooks the importance of keeping its dish profiles harmonious with its delicate pilsners and punchy IPAs. “The styles we love to brew naturally pair with the dishes coming out of our kitchen,” says Jacob Passey, VP of brewing at Pinthouse Brewing. “The bitterness of hoppier beers like Jellyfish or Scorpion Disco cuts through the spice of our top-selling pies, while lighter brews like Magical Pils or Burro’s Breakfast make the perfect sidecar for salads and sandwiches. We focus on approachable, sessionable styles that keep people coming back for another pint, which makes them even more food-friendly.” Ultimately, all of the brewers believe that beer pairings in Austin deserve all of the credit given to wine pairings… and honestly, they may deserve even more. In the words of Will Jaquiss, “We’ve got one of the best food and beer cities in the country, and Austin is lucky to be filled with food- and beer-literate folks. As a result, I think we can do more storytelling, rather than educating, when presenting our food pairings. That’s just more fun. “These collaborative relationships taught me that there is a lot of mutual respect and trust between the hospitality scene and brewing scene,” Jaquiss continues. “We all get to be a little more experimental as a result.” This article appears in October 24 • 2025.
