The Best Booze Pairings for the Picky Fast-Food Fan

It’s important to pair food and drinks because we digest them usually at the same time. The appropriate drink can greatly enhance anyone’s food experience and conversely, the wrong type of drink paired with the wrong food can spell disaster for a whole meal.

Many believe there’s definitely a type of science behind food and drink pairings. This has to do with science and includes the science of psychology, sociology and physiology. Drinks and food have gone together since the beginning of time and it is increasingly becoming a popular hobby of many people to discover and experiment with the right combinations of beer or cocktails with a vast array of dishes.

Pair these specific drinks with these popular fast-food items and enjoy the meal a lot more.

Wine and In-N-Out Animal Style

It’s great to have wine with In-N-Out’s Double-Double Animal Style. People have reported they love the burger and discovered how fun it is to enjoy with a Qupe Syrah, wine produced in the Central Coast region.

According to Juan Martinez, a Red Rock Resort sommelier, the Qupe red doesn’t overpower the popular In-N-Out’s “secret menu” item but the hints of pepper and cured meat goes really well with the famous double-stack cheeseburger.

Beer with Sonic Drive-In’s Chili Cheese Tots

Hamburgers and beer

Paul Sacksteder, a “certified cicerone”, loves Banger Brewing’s El Heffe jalapeño hefeweizen to go with Sonic’s side dish. He explained that when someone is trying to pair a food item with a drink like beer, they should aim to complement and also balance the two.

Sacksteder, who is a CraftHaus brand ambassador, further added that the jalapeño and the spiciness coming from the beer goes really well with the chili . Since it’s a drier type of beer, he explained, the beer balances out the fatty taste of the food while refreshing the palate.

Hennessy Ginger Smash with Little Caesars’ Pepperoni Pizza

Nathan Greene, a Moët Hennessy’s local mixology representative, made the Hennessy Ginger Smash in order to pair it nicely with Little Caesars’ “Hot-N-Ready” pie.

Greene explained that he and his team were attempting to complement the spiciness of the pepperoni food item along with the ginger spice. He further explained that they also wanted to contrast the sweetness of the ginger-like syrup and Grand Marnier while at the same time cooling it down with the aid of the muddled mint.

Greene explained that the young and bold flavoured Hennessy V.S. Cognac lets the drink stand out next to the savory pizza.

Here is the recipe for the Hennessy Ginger Smash:

Ingredients –

Half an ounce of Ginger Syrup

1.5 ounces of Hennessy V.S Cognac

3 Dashes of Angostura Bitters

1 Barspoon Grand Marnier

Half a lemon (make sure to cut it into quarters)

6 Mint Leaves

Directions-

In the bottom of a shaker, muddle the mint and the lemon along with the ginger syrup. Make sure you don’t break up the leaves of the mint since this will lead to a bitter and unpleasant taste.

Next, add in the ice and the rest of the ingredients. Be sure to give it a hard shake for a few seconds. Double-strain the drink over fresh and crushed ice, pouring it into a rocks glass. You can add a splash of soda if you wish.

If you want to garnish the drink, use freshly spanked mint sprig and place this on top of the drink. Then add three dashes of Angostura bitters on top of the crushed ice.

When it comes to pairing the right food with the right drink, there is a special skill to having a good food and drink pairing. Sometimes the art and science behind this can get very complex. It gets even more complicated when people start pairing food with cocktails since the flavors of cocktails are more complicated. But this can make food and drink pairing even more exciting and a lot of fun. The flavors available are pretty much unlimited and the end results can be very wonderful indeed.

The great thing about cocktail and food pairing is that people can match bold flavors along with more subtle type of foods. For instance, if you’re eating a mild-flavored duck or fish meal, pair it with a bold cocktail full of flavor. If, on the other hand, you have a spicy and exotic Asian dish, you may want to go with a light and refreshing cocktail.

The goal of pairings is to complement the food and let the food be the main feature. Think of the drink as a sort of back-up singer. The drink can be out of tune and this can ruin the performance of the main star. If the back-up singer is good, then there is a great synergy, an amazing performance can be made thanks to both the main star of the show and the back-up performer.

Leave a Reply