With the nights drawing in and a crispness in the air, thoughts are turning to stouts, porters and dark beers as the pairing companions to hearty, roasted meat or vegetable dishes. In the States, American craft brewers are taking beer pairings to new heights by exploring the interplay between wood, fire and smoke on food paired with beer, particularly dark brews.

Types of wood, and how they are used, play the same role in food as hops in beer. Wood ignites at between 260-370 degrees Celsius, and as the temperature rises to between 370-540 degrees Celsius, the action of cooking takes place. When gases from wood escape without burning, smoke is formed, but if a fire is too hot, or the smoke too assertive, it can impart bitter flavours. Wood can impart different flavour notes on food depending on the time, temperature, ignition point and smoke in a similar vein to a brewer adding different hop varieties to the kettle. Imagine a gentle, light touch of smoke akin to the subtle hop notes in a Kölsch, the intensity of oak resonating with an IPA or the roasted, charred notes reminiscent of a stout or porter.

Grilling food over flame brings out the Maillard reaction, a complex series of chemical reactions between amino acids and reducing sugars that produce a sweet, caramelly, seared flavour as found on the char of a roasted or grilled duck breast, steak or burger. Roasted malts found in porters and stouts undergo the same chemical reaction and thus pair well with these types of food. The Maillard reaction creates unique flavours in both beer and food – put the two together and the flavour profile is greatly enhanced. Grilling over wood-smoked flame will heighten the depth of flavour and different woods – such as ash, birch, oak, cedar, maple, hickory or juniper – will impart subtle flavour differences to each dish. Note, cooking over a naked flame may not be advisable to do at home!

Stouts, porters and brown ales bring intensely deep, dark, rich flavours such as barrel-aged bourbon, vanilla, chocolate, coffee and sometimes a smoky aroma. Dishes that work well include those with roasted fats as well as the iron content and minerality found in red meats. When pairing, use ingredients that can hold up to these stronger styles of beers. Even though the beers may taste like deeply roasted grains with dark chocolate or espresso notes, they’re often lighter on the palate than you think, so try foods like roasted nuts, braised meats, vegetables and chocolate desserts.

Beer examples: brown ale, imperial stout, Irish dry stout, milk stout, porter, schwarzbier.

Food suggestions: ribs, burgers, barbecue, grilled vegetables, spicy foods, chocolate.

Brewers Association, executive chef and beer pairing expert Adam Dulye said: “Exploring the idea of how wood, fire and smoke impact pairings and flavour is the next step in beer-food pairing. All too often we talk simply about an ingredient when the cooking methods, especially the selections of wood available, are as important as the beer you choose to serve with the course.”

The interplay between American craft beer, smoke, fire and food was recently put to the test at a London restaurant where each course was either smoke-infused or cooked over wood. Each beer was chosen to harmonise with the flavours and cooking methods of the foods. Here is a selection:

– trout lightly smoked over juniper branches with three-month aged caviar smoked over oak, and a crisp, light pilsner to accompany the subtle smoky notes of the fish

– sea bream, dry-aged for nine days with fermented datterino (tomato) and 25-year-old balsamic vinegar with a hazy IPA bursting with tropical fruit notes and resinous dankness

– garden salad of smoked agria potatoes, mizuno (miso), edamame beans and East Sussex sansho pepper with a lush, tropical, citrus hop, hazy IPA

– yellow tail with a citrus and castillo coffee sauce with a robust porter. Bitter coffee notes in the sauce enhanced similar ones in the beer. The acidity from the lime-based sauce was counter-balanced by the malty sweetness of the porter

– Kagoshima A4 black cattle sirloin with sudachi dashi paired with a smooth and creamy brown ale

– cauliflower baked under ash with rokko miso and nori with a Scotch ale aged in single-malt whisky barrels. Notes of caramel and subtle smoke harmonised with the smoky flavours of the vegetable

– Amalfi lemon tart, almond base, oak “burnt” meringue with a pineapple and vanilla cream ale.

American craft beer is available from online retailers such as Athletic Brewing, Sierra Nevada, Beers of Europe, Beer Merchants.com, bottle shops, off-licences, supermarkets and select pubs and bars.

www.brewersassociation.org  www.craftbeer.com

Lotte Peplow is the Brewers Association American Craft Beer ambassador for Europe.