Your Beer-licious Super Bowl Menu

Beer, football and food have always been the perfect recipe for a perfect Sunday. This Super Bowl Sunday step up the ante with these three traditional Super Bowl foods all made with beer.

Beer BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

This is my ultimate pulled pork recipe. Pair it with a pretzel bun and a brew and you are set for life, or at least for the Super Bowl. The key to this recipe is picking out a liquid to complement the flavor. I’ve experimented with several beer styles and prefer a dark porter, which adds a nice depth to the sauce.

Suggested Pairings:

Arcadia Ales Cocoa Loco: The molasses and chocolate malts add a sweet richness to the pork.

Right Brain Brewing Fire Starter Chipotle Porter: The chipotle peppers brewed into the beer add bit of heat and complexity to the sauce.

Recipe: Courtesy of Food Network

Beer Bratwursts with Sauerkraut

Beer, bratwursts and sauerkraut were made to be enjoyed together. Make sure to do so this weekend. This recipe can be modified to be used with an oven instead of a grill. I also prefer a spicy mustard.

Suggested Pairings:

Stella Artois Belgian Lager: Use one bottle for cooking the beer with and then pour the others into a glass and appreciate the fizzy head and clean finish. 

Recipe: Courtesy of Serious Eats

IPA Cheese Dip

Cheese and beer are to of my favorite things and happen to pair together perfectly. Actually, beer and cheese create a much better pairing than wine and cheese, partially due to their similarities (both are fermented and aged) as well as the fact that beer better cuts through the cheese, which can coat the palate and blunt the taste of wine. A sharp and bitter beer will help balance out creamy, pungent flavor of the Gouda cheese.

Suggested Pairings:

Brooklyn Brewery East India Pale Ale: The robust bitterness from the hops balances out the creaminess while also providing a clean finish.

Recipe: Courtesy of my kitchen experiments

6 oz. IPA

1 oz. grated Gouda cheese

1 ½ 8 oz packages of Neufchatel cheese

1 clove of roasted and pureed garlic

1 T. spicy mustard

1 C. baby spinach

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together in an oven-safe dish. Pop in the oven, preheated to 325 degrees, for 30 minutes or until bubbling. Serve with

crostinis and more beer. 

Enjoy the Beer, recipes and especially the Super Bowl this Sunday!