If you’re like most parents, you probably plan on bellying up to the counter and picking through your kid’s Halloween candy once they go to bed.
You may also need of a drink after all that trick-or-treating.
We’ve got you covered.
Matthew Stock, a beer specialist and manager of product and training at Brass Tap breweries, has a few tips on pairing beer with popular Halloween candy.
There are few approaches to pairing beer with food or, in this case, candy, he said.
“One is a complimentary approach where you try to match like flavors between your food products and beers, and another is a contrasting nature, where you use aspects of the beer to pull out flavors from the candy,” he said.
SNICKERS: Pair Snickers with a porter, which has a lot of natural chocolate flavors and a mild bitterness, Stock said. He recommends Terrapin Liquid Bliss, which is brewed with peanut butter and has flavors that match up well with the caramel, peanuts, and chocolate in Snickers.
CANDY CORN: Candy corn has a subtle caramel flavor that pairs well with a classic Vienna lager, which is a light- to medium-bodied beer that also has a subtle caramel flavor, according to Stock. He recommends a Sam Adams Boston Lager.
SOUR AND SWEET CANDY LIKE SWEET TARTS: For fruit flavors or sour candies, which have an acidy after-taste, Stock recommends going with a Belgian saison-style beer.
Saisons are brewed with wild yeast, Stock said, which results in a spontaneous fermentation process.
“These wild yeast strains impart an earthy flavor profile, so it might not sound particularly delicious. But in the right context, it is,” he said.
The earthy base pairs well with the acidity from something like a Sweet Tart.
REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER CUP: Chocolate candies can be paired with a Porter, but also with a milk stout by Left Hand Brewing of Colorado.
I ONLY HAVE BUD AND MILLER IN THE FRIDGE: Perhaps you don’t feel up to pairing your beer like a champ. No worries.
Bud Light and Miller Lite have a corny sticky sweetness to them, Stock noted. That doesn’t lend itself to pairing particularly well, but it can be done.
“Candy corn might pair up pretty well with those,” he said. “If I was going to pick something probably more of a mild candy, like Smarties.”
