10 Food & Beer Pairings NOT to Try

People carp about food and beer pairings, griping that they're just made up pretentions that have no right being associated with something as inclusive and democratic as beer. "It's the drink of the common man," they cry, "Beer goes with everything!" To which I respond, uh, no, it doesn't. And to prove my point, here are ten food and beer partnerships guaranteed to make you wish you had chosen something else to drink.

10. Spicy food and mainstream lager: Icy beer calms the spice, does it? Anesthetizes the palate, more like. Take a dish with a good, healthy spice to it and just try to taste a plain, mainstream lager after a bite. You'll soon find that the subtleties of the beer, such as they are, will be lost underneath a blanket of fire, leaving nothing to taste.

What does work: IPA

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