The Absolute Worst Beer To Batter Fish With

Beer is a great addition to food recipes, from homemade chili to Guinness chocolate cake. And if your fried fish filets come enveloped in the lightest, crispiest coating, they've likely been dredged through a beer batter. Beer batter is a simple recipe to execute, but you shouldn't use just any type of beer. We interviewed Allie Hagerty, a prolific food blogger for the sites Seasoned and Salted and One Bowl Bakery, to find out the types of beer you should definitely avoid putting into beer battered fish.

While the bubbles in beer are the leavening agent batter needs to become shatteringly crunchy fish breading, beer also imparts flavor. So you don't want to choose a beer whose flavor profile clashes with the taste of fish. The types of beer to avoid are thus stouts and IPAs. According to Hagerty, "IPAs are bitter and stouts will have coffee flavors so either of these would be bad! If I had to pick an absolute worst: a sour IPA would be it! No one wants sour + fish!" Fish has a savory, umami-richness with certain types, bringing a briny punch. A sour IPA may be less bitter than your average IPA, but the combination of sour and bitter isn't complementary to fish batter. Stouts with coffee or chocolate flavors won't do fish any favors, either. Plus, stouts and certain IPAs are often less carbonated than other types of beer, which will sabotage that crispy light texture that makes beer battered fish so irresistible.

Now that IPAs and stouts are out of the question, we won't leave you in suspense. We also asked Ms. Hagerty for the best types of beer to batter fish with, to which she responded, "cold, crisp lagers and pilsners are best because of their clean flavor and lively carbonation for lift and crunch." Pilsners are a type of lager, but they're both enjoyed as classic summer beers, full of refreshing carbonation and a maltiness that pairs well with fish. Mexican lagers and American lagers like Coors Light are mild and generally some of the cheapest options, which is a bonus if you're using them in a food recipe. You can save the robust, fancy beers for sipping.

As a final tip, Hagerty told us, "my favorite rule of thumb is to choose something you'd call "crisp and refreshing," not "complex", "funky", etc." If you're looking for an easy all-purpose beer batter, try this eggless beer batter. We've got no shortage of beer battered fish recipes, starting with this classic pub style beer battered fish sandwich. Put a Mexican twist on beer battered fish by using a Mexican lager, corn masa, and chili powder in the batter like we do in this recipe for beer-battered fish with yuca chips or this recipe for beer-battered fish tacos. Fish isn't the only ingredient that'll benefit from beer batter; try this recipe for beer battered onion rings.