Beer vs. Wine

Beer geeks like to argue that ales and lagers pair with food as well as wine does. Here, a beer expert and a wine pro battle it out during a tasting of nine great grill recipes.

Inspired by the new book He Said Beer, She Said Wine, F&W invited authors Sam Calagione, the founder of Delaware’s Dogfish Head brewery, and Marnie Old, a wine educator, to a taste-off. The challenge: Who could come up with the superior pairing for the recipes here? As the rivals and F&W judges ate, drank and debated, we learned to embrace our inner beer geeks and admit that ales and lagers can be as good with food as wine—sometimes even better.

Food-Pairing Smackdown Results

Published June 2008