Backyard Brews: Best Beers for Your Barbecue

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Overview

Few things are more all-American than a cold beer at a backyard barbecue. But if you want to step up your game and pair your beer choices with your food, how do you determine your lineup? We caught up with The Beer Chicks, Hallie Beaune and Christina Perozzi -- owners of the 8th Street Bottle Shop in Los Angeles and authors of "The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer" -- to learn their secrets to picking brews for a barbecue.

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For Veggies and Seafood: Wheat Beer

There are two major styles of wheat beer that the Beer Chicks recommend for a barbecue -- Hefeweizen, traditionally from Germany, is the most well-known. It's a filtered wheat beer that has notes of clove and banana. Its relatively low alcohol content and bright flavor makes it a great contender for an outdoor shindig. It can also be used in the kitchen: Beaune recommends adding it to salad dressing. Belgian wit beer is light-bodied and citrusy, it's traditionally spiced with coriander seeds and orange peel, flavors that "complement veggies and seafood without overpowering them," said Beaune.

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For Carne Asada and BBQ Sauce: Amber Ale

For spicy foods with a lot of flavor, the Beer Chicks recommend carmelely, malty, slightly sweet amber ales. "American Reds, like North Coast's Red Seal, have notes of caramel and nuts and finish with a crisp, clean, hoppy bite," says Beaune. "This goes well with spicy, sweet BBQ sauce without overpowering the meat flavor."

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For Burgers: IPA

"With a nice cheeseburger with all the fixins' you gotta have a crisp, hoppy IPA," says Beaune. "This is a beer with a nice bitter bite and notes of grapefruit, pine and citrus. The hops cut through the fat and big flavors of the burger."

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For The “Wow” Factor: Rauchbier and Schwarzbier

Impress your guests with your beer knowledge by serving these two lesser-known beer styles from Germany. Rauchbier is a German-style beer that is made with smoked malt. "They can be quite bold, with notes of bacon and campfire. Perfect for bbq and smoked meats!" says Beaune. Another outlier the Beer Chicks recommend is Schwarzbier, which means 'black beer' in German. It's less smoky and lighter than Rauchbier, but still "awesome with bbq."


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