Put Down the Wine List: 7 Beer Styles That Outpair Wine at the Dinner Table

Somewhere along the way, we all agreed on a fiction: wine pairs with dinner, beer pairs with wings and baseball. It's a rule with no author and no logic, and it's kept a lot of great meals from reaching their full potential.

Beer, frankly, is the more versatile partner. It has bubbles, bitterness, roast, spice, fruit, and bready sweetness in its toolkit — often in the same glass. Wine gets acidity and tannin. Beer gets a whole spice rack. The only trick is knowing which styles to reach for, and that's exactly what we're here for.

So consider this your field guide. Seven styles, seven dishes, zero intimidation. And yes, you can practice all of them at our bar in Old Town.

1. Saison + Roast Chicken

If wine people could design a beer, it might be a saison — dry, peppery, faintly funky, with enough acidity to cut through richness. That's precisely why it's magic with roast chicken, especially when the bird comes with crispy skin and pan jus. The carbonation scrubs the fat, the yeast spice echoes the herbs. It's the pairing we hand to skeptics first.

2. Pilsner + Fried Fish & Chips

Don't let anyone tell you a crisp Czech- or German-style pilsner is "simple." That snappy bitterness and clean cracker malt is engineered for fried food. With our fish and chips, the bubbles lift the batter's grease off your palate like a squeegee, resetting your mouth for the next bite. A buttery Chardonnay can't do that. It just doesn't have the tools.

3. Hazy IPA + Spicy Tacos or Nashville Hot Sandwiches

Here's a science-backed flex: hops are fantastic with heat. The compounds that make chiles burn are fat-soluble, and beer's carbonation and cool serving temperature calm them down fast. A juicy hazy IPA adds tropical fruit notes that play against the burn instead of amplifying it. Wine with Nashville hot? That's a dare, not a pairing.

4. Belgian Wit + Mussels and Frites

The classic bistro pairing, done with beer and better. Orange peel and coriander in a witbier mirror the classic moules marinière preparation — the citrus lifts the broth, the soft wheat body rounds out the garlic and shallots. Plus, you get to do the thing where you drink some beer and pour the rest into the broth. Highly encouraged at our tables.

5. Amber Lager or Vienna Lager + Smash Burger

The burger is America's most-paired-with-cabernet dish, and it's a mismatch. Big tannic reds fight with char and cheese. A malty amber or Vienna lager — toasty, caramel-kissed, medium-bodied — meets the Maillard crust as an equal. It's a handshake, not a wrestling match. This is our default recommendation for first-timers ordering the ALX burger.

6. Farmhouse Sour + Oysters or a Chopped Salad

Bright, tart, kettle-soured beers do the same job as a squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar — and they do it with more personality. With briny oysters on the half shell, a dry sour or gose is a classic coastal pairing that predates most wine rules. With a big chopped salad heavy on vinaigrette, the acidity layers instead of clashing. It's the low-key revelation of this list.

7. Imperial Stout + Chocolate Dessert (Or a Smoked Brisket Plate)

Save the heavyweight for last. An imperial stout — 9, 10, 12 percent, black as night, loaded with roast, cocoa, and dark fruit — is the dessert pairing wine marketers wish they had. With a flourless chocolate cake or bread pudding, it's basically a fork-and-glass experience. Bonus move: pour a smaller pour alongside anything smoked, and watch the roast notes lock in with the smoke like they were made for each other. Because they were.

Why a Gastropub Is the Best Classroom

Here's the part we really believe: you don't learn pairings from a textbook. You learn them by tasting — a sip, a bite, a sip. That's exactly how our kitchen and tap list are built. Our bartenders aren't certified wine snobs; they're beer people who eat well, and they're genuinely happy to pour you a two-ounce taste before you commit to a glass.

Start with the pilsner and the fish and chips. Work your way to the stout-and-dessert finale. Bring a friend and split two different pairings — comparing notes mid-meal is half the fun.

Wine will always have its place. But the next time someone hands you a wine list over a plate of pub food, know this: the most interesting pairing decision on the table is probably flowing from our tap wall. Come find your match — check our current beer list, book a table, and let the tasting begin.