Discover The Sublime World Of Beer And Nachos
It’s time to take your nacho and beer experience to another level. Sure, most beers are acceptable with most styles of nachos, but acceptable is not what makes memories!
Why crush tasteless suds while watching the Super Bowl or kicking it with friends if you can just as easily show up to the party with something that’s a true gamechanger?
From spicy to sweet, from chicken to steak, we’re going down the nacho rabbit hole…
History Of Nachos
Sometimes there are subjects that seem almost ancient or whos origin seems out of grasp. Not so with nachos. Turns out we can track their origin to one man, on one afternoon in 1943.
It was at just south of the border, a few miles from Eagle Pass, Texas in Cohuila Mexico. The spot was the restaurant at the Victory Club, and the struggle that birthed the great appetizer, was a group of hungry army wives and a chef-less restaurant.
Mr. Anaya, after searching everywhere for his chef decided to save face by whipping up what he could. He ran into the kitchen, eyed some tortilla, cheese and jalapeño and the rest is history. He served them individually, prepared like tray passed appetizers. They were a hit, and Mr. Anaya earned a place in the history books. Why are they called Nachos? Well, Mr. Anaya’s full name was Ignacio Anaya Garcia, but his friends called him, “Nacho!”
Let’s Dig In
Start By Identifying The Spice Level
Many beers do not do well with jalapeños. If your nachos are covered in them, you will want a beer that has some caramel notes, the right hop bitterness, or residual sugar. Every other beer will be clobbered by the peppers or the experience of the heat will be ramped up!
Our first defense against “spice clash” are beers with a caramel note and a low to moderate amount of bitterness. American ambers are a great example, they have a relatively low ABV (alcohol level), and they aren’t very pricey. This makes them great for sharing and hours of drinking.
Easy To Find Solid Choices For Ambers
- Alaskan Amber ($10 a 6pk)
- North Coast’s Red Seal ($12 a 4pk)
- New Belgium’s Fat Tire ($10 a 6pk).
Beers With Residual Sugar
What does that mean?
Residual sugar is the sugar left over after fermentation that the yeast didn’t process into alcohol. Belgians add Belgian cane sugar to many of their beers and this makes them slightly sweet and amazing with spicy food!
On top of that, Belgian beers usually have higher carbonation than other beers and this helps “cut and lift” heavy party food. We call them “scrubbing bubbles.”
Due to the extra sugar in Belgian beers, there is a higher alcohol level produced by the yeast. These beers can easily come in at 7-9% ABV and will get you trashed if try chugging them for hours. They’re meant to be savored and even left to warm slightly due to their incredible aromas of fruit and spice. (They can also be pricey and hard to share with large parties.)
My favorite style is called a “Tripel” (3x the sugar and alcohol) and it was invented by the Trappist Monks in 1930’s by Westmalle Abbey.
World Class/ Mind Blowing Tripels:
- La Fin du Monde from Quebec ($12 a 4pk)
- Karmeliet from Belgium ($22 a 4pk)
- Westmalle (made by monks in Belgium to this day!) ($7 a 12oz bottle).
Other notable styles for spicy food are German Dunkel and American Steam beer. Both have a nice caramel and toffee note. These styles will come up again later.
The “Not Spicy” Nacho World
Classic Chicken Nachos
Chicken is lighter than other proteins in both flavor and fat. On top of a bed of tomatoes, beans, and cheese; chicken nachos are to be treated like a cheesy crunchy salad. Lighter beers wont get drowned out and the right beer styles heighten the flavors of the veggies. I look to Belgian Wit beers which are slightly creamy, citrusy, and slightly tart. They work like a dash of lemon or lime, to heighten pico de gallo and chicken flavor.
You may be familiar with the domestic version by Coors/ Miller called “Blue Moon,” but there are expressions of this style that are world class and only a few dollars more. You don’t need to add orange to these because they’re brewed with actual Curacao oranges or fresh juice!
My Favorite Wit Beers:
- Allagash White Ale (USA) ($12 a 4pk)
- Hitachino White Ale from Japan ($18 a 4pk)
- St. Bernardus from Belgium (those Trappist monks at it again!) ($12 a 4pk, or $12 a 750ml)
Honorable mention for Pils Urquel’s original Czech Pilsner ($9 a 6pk)
I know you may be tempted to reach for a German or American pils, but hold off due to the more aggresive hops. Save those for the pork nachos and you’ll find a better match!
Photo: LauriPatterson on Canva
Pork/ Carnitas Nachos
As we move on to pork, we move on to more succulent fat, grease, and weight. This means we move away from the salad focus and onto the caramelized sweetness that can come from the roast or fried meat. It’s an opportunity to play with beers that have some bitterness to create the bitter/sweet effect!
Pork loves moderate bitterness and the citrus found in pale ales. IPAs are too bitter and will crush the pork so stay with a pale.
It’s even more fun to enjoy a beer that naturally has caramel or toffee notes! These malty beers are exquisite with pork because of something called the “maillard reaction.” This reaction happens in foods like pork, steak, breads, and even marshmallows!
Proteins/ amino acids and reducing sugars in the meat undergo a caramelization under heat. Many beers have barley malted to this same caramel level producing the mailard effect. English Porters, American Steam beer, Dopplebocks and Dunkels all have this great toffee aspect and are delicious with cookies and desserts for that reason too!
Top Choices For Pork/Carnitas
- Sierra Nevada Pale ale (USA) ($10 a 6pk)
- Deschutes Mirror Pond ale (USA) ($12 a 6pk)
- Anchor Steam beer (USA) ($11 a 6pk)
- Fullers London Porter (UK) ($10 a 4pk)
- Samuel Smith’s Taddy Porter (UK) ($4 a 22oz)
- Westmalle Dubbel (those Trappist monks again..) (BE) ($6 a 12oz)
- Ayinger Dunkel (GR) ($14 a 4pk)
- Weihenstephaner Korbinian Dopplebock (Oldest brewery in the world estb. 1040AD) (GR) ($4 a 22oz)
- Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock (GR)($16 a 4pk)
Steak Nachos
We have arrived at the heaviest and heartiest of the nacho world.. Steak undergoes that same maillard reaction that pork does, so the porters and dopplebocks that were mentioned before are even better now. We add the English Brown Ale, Oatmeal, and Irish stout to the game to match the level of char and cut the fat. Oatmeal stouts have a nice silkiness from the oats that is marvelous with brisket or Carne Asada!
My Favorite Steak Beers
(See Dopplebocks listed above as well)
- Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale (The first brown ale) (UK) ($4 a 20oz)
- Alesmith Nut Brown Ale (USA) ($12 a 6pk)
- Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout (The first oatmeal stout) (UK) ($4 a 20oz)
- Firestone Brewing’s Nitro Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Milk Stout (USA)($10 a 6pk)
- Guinness Foreign Extra/ Tropical Stout (Yellow Label) (IE) ($14 a 4pk)
Photo by whitewish on Canva
Now that you have some beer styles and brewery recommendations for these various nacho styles, you can translate them to tacos and taco bowls!
Always start from whether the dish is spicy or not, and then move from there. If you encounter a seafood taco or nachos, treat it like “chicken of the sea” and refer to the Belgian Wit beer recommendations. Happy exploring! Cheers!
