For A Better Fish And Chips Experience, Choose This Beer Pairing

Fish and chips is about as iconic as you can get for pub fare. It's a perfect harmony of tender, subtly sweet and briny cod with a crisp, buttery coating; plus, salty, starchy fries. The only thing a classic fish and chips meal is missing is a good beer. After all, it's a standard order in pubs, where many guests are already enjoying pints — and that's not to mention that many chefs actually batter the fish in beer. The question is, what kind of beer is the tastiest with fish and chips? There's a system for successful food-and-beer pairings that helps you choose from dozens of beer styles for the best results. To navigate this process regarding fish and chips, we turned to an expert.

Chef Franklin Becker of New York City's Point Seven restaurant says he loves a "nice wheat beer" with traditional British fish and chips. "The citrusy notes in the beer lighten the experience and cut through the richness," he explains. Specifically, Becker recommends a Blue Moon or Hoegaarden, both Belgian witbiers, though there are also German hefeweizens and American wheat beers.

In general, wheat beers have crisp bread-like texture plus brighter notes and a hint of acidity — witbiers, for example, boast notes of coriander and orange peel, while hefeweizens possess banana, citrus, and bubblegum qualities. The beer's grain character matches the fish's breading while those fruit notes balance the overall fattiness. The crispness is refreshing, and the carbonation of the beer scrubs the palate so that you're ready for another bite.

As a Cicerone-certified beer server and longtime beer writer, I've got some personal suggestions for top-notch beers to pair with fish and chips, too. Keep in mind the basic principles for beer-and-food pairings; the first step is to match intensities. You don't want a beer that overpowers a dish, or that can't stand up to it. Big, boozy beers like barleywines; roasty stouts; and very acidic, fruity sour beers are all a bit too loud for that light, sweet cod. However, a light lager or cream ale might not taste like much of anything against that buttery coating or salty fries.

Find beers that have both similar and contrasting flavor notes. That's why wheat beer works: similar breadiness and contrasting citrus. Fruited wheat beers work well with fried fish, giving pleasant flavors without the intensity of a sour ale. Likewise, a pilsner is a classic, foolproof choice due to its light (though not quite as light as a light lager) and refreshing nature. It's got that sweet-ish grain character plus a bit of floral hop bitterness that sings with fish and chips.

For malty beers less intense than stouts, try a best bitter or dark mild. The former is caramelly and biscuit-like, balanced by earthy, herbaceous hop bitterness that tempers the fish's richness. The latter is a lighter expression of caramel, toffee, nut, and dark dried fruit notes with a breadiness to match the fried fish but bitterness and flavor nuance to cut it. Finally, for hop lovers, an IPA may be too intense, but a more sessionable pale ale delivers all that good fattiness-balancing alcohol, carbonation, and bitterness along with zesty citrus and pine notes that work to season the fish.