Christmas and beer

Historical • Matt Kirkegaard • 7 Dec 2010

With the Australians doing so well in the cricket, the ABC Queensland needed to fill in some time today and ran an interview with me about beers for the Christmas table.

I got a call from the delightful Georgia Stynes and here are my top-of-the-head recommendations for those Queenslanders who didn’t have a pen handy, as well as some leads on where to get them if your local doesn’t carry a wide range of beers.

What are you going to be putting out for your Christmas repast? Let us know in the comments below. We will give away a pair of Chimay (Australia only) for the best suggestions.

Oysters

Porter or Stout. Darker beers – often associated the very dry and astringent roastiness of Guinness , most actually have chocolate, coffee and liquorice hints to them that work really well with the saltiness of good fresh oysters.

Coopers Best Extra Stout
Bridge Road Robust Porter
Meantime London Porter

Prawns, bugs and crab.

Win a pair of Chimay chalices

Lighter style – but flavoursome – lagers with the emphasis on the sweetness of the malt rather than bitterness of hops. German hefeweizen (cloudy wheat beer) or Belgian witbier.

Stone & Wood Lager
Burleigh Hef

Baked ham.

Strong malty German lagers and Belgian-style strong golden ales. Rauchbier may be too smoky but the mild smokiness of a smoked hefeweizen may work very nicely.

Bluesky Smoked Wheat.
Holgate Big Reg

Turkey.

Belgian-style strong golden ale is number one pick, though a biere de garde or spicy saison would work nicely too and suit our warm climate.

Duvel
Bridge Road Chevalier Biere de Garde
Otway Bier de Garde

Chocolate.

Porters and stouts, not to mention chocolate stouts work well, but a Belgian strong dark ale such as Chimay and – if you can lay your hands on some – Trois Pistoles.

Fruit cake.

Porters and stouts again, or a good spiced Christmas beer.