Beer Pairings for a Great Oktoberfest Meal!

German style dinner for Prostoberfest food pairing

It’s almost that time of year again, Oktoberfest season!  Everyone’s favorite German malty amber lager is almost here!  Here in Fort Worth, we at Funky Picnic Brewery & Café celebrated with a five-course German-inspired beer dinner.  If you couldn’t make it out on September 20th, we have created some beer and food pairings that you can make at home to pair with our Märzen lager, Prostoberfest.

The traditional Märzen (pronounced “Mare-Tsen”) is a type of lager that was once popular at the Munich Oktoberfest, but has recently fallen out of favor for the lighter-colored and less intense Festbier.  Collectively, they are both known as Oktoberfest beers, as they are both associated with the festival in Germany.  Prostoberfest is a Märzen-style amber lager with caramel toasty bread notes stealing the show, and a dry slightly floral bitter finish.

What To Look out for When Pairing Beer with Foods

1. When pairing beer with foods, you first want to match the intensity of your dish with the intensity of your beer.  Anything overly spicy or intense otherwise will dominate and cover any of the more subtle and delicate notes of Prostoberfest.  Keep your heavy spices and overly sweet sauces away for this pairing.

2. The next aspect to consider is finding notes in both the food and the beer that tie them together.  With the bread-like malt notes in this beer, Prostoberfest pairs really well with fried foods and bread-based dishes with those same toasted Maillard-like notes.  

3. The last thing to consider is to find contrasting notes in the pairings.  Providing contrast will help draw out or hide other flavors that you may want to emphasize or diminish in your pairing.  Bitterness in a beer counteracts sweetness and fat in food but heightens heat.  Salt in food intensifies sweetness but reduces the bitterness of a beer.  In the case of Prostoberfest, a saltier dish will bring out the sweeter, more caramel-like malt notes.

Food to Pair with Prostoberfest From Home

Pork Chops:
Pork is a staple of the German diet, so there’s no surprise that pork dishes pair well with many German-style beers.  When meat is cooked, the chemical reactions (known as Maillard reactions) are the same ones that create the darker malts used in beer and have similar toasty flavors.  Pork is also a bit fatty, so the bitterness in this beer can help reduce some of the richness from the fat.  For the same reasons, other pork dishes, like sausages and various ham, will work as long as they are not too intense.  Since Prostoberfest is only a moderately strong beer, avoid any heavy or intensely flavored sauces with the dish.  

Burgers:
Just like with pork, most cooked meats are going to pair well with Prostoberfest.  Add a lightly buttered sweet brioche bun to complement the bready malt notes of the beer, and you have the perfect addition to this pairing.  Your toppings on your burger will make or break this pairing, though.  Sweeter-cooked toppings like cheese, bacon, and onions will further the pairing to complement the toasted notes in the beer.  But with more intense toppings like dill pickles and tangy mustards, you will want to reach for a more intense beer like an American Pale Ale or IPA. Depending on how much you pile on, you will need to balance out those flavors.

Fried Chicken:
As pointed out previously, saltiness in food heightens the sweetness of a beer.  In this case, salty fried chicken will boost the beer’s maltiness, which will, in turn, complement the toasted notes of the crispy breaded chicken skin.  Prostoberfest can handle a little bit of spice in the batter, but too much will completely overpower the beer.  Other fried meats like Schnitzel and Fish and Chips will also pair well.

If you're looking for a Brewpub for your next Oktoberfest, come down to Funky Picnic and Cafe in Fort Worth!

Author: Collin Zreet

Collin Zreet is a native Texan and is a founding member and co-owner of Funky Picnic Brewery and Café. He is a Certified Cicerone and Certified BJCP Beer Judge, specializing in beer and food pairings. When he is not thinking about beer, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Taylor, and dog, Rocco.