Steak: Wine vs Beer

[Ed Novak]

Ok... curious about how y'all feel about wine vs beer with a good steak. Some background... first, been awhile since I've been here. Last time here I sparked a bunch of ridicule when I posted "what's the big deal over Bordeaux." Since then I've enjoyed some wonderful Bordeaux most recently paired with a venison pot pie. That said, before I began enjoying wine was I was huge beer fan. Not talking about the yellow fizzy stuff... talking the amazing US micro brews, and especially Stone Brewery out of San Diego. I digress... for the last year or two I've been pretty much into wine. And some of the pairings have been totally amazing. One example, never cared for lasagna, but paired with a nice Chianti or Primitivo... wow. So the wine pairing with a nice marbled steak says go with a Cab or something big... Barolo maybe. Is it better than a great beer? This weekend I bought one of those amazing Kamado grills.. the ceramic ones and did up at Prime Cut rib eye and baked potato. I had a very nice Cab/Malbec open a few hours ahead of chow time... and then decided to try my oaked Stone Brewery Arrogant Bastard side by side. I've come to love wine with food in a ton of ways, but with this steak... beer won hands down... not even close. No matter how you cut it, wine brings that grape taste... and with a great steak, nice baked potato... can't compete with the hops and malt of a good brew.

[John Treder]

Well, red meat is the easiest to pick a quaff to go with. Wet will do fine.
I can get wonderful dry-aged rib steaks here, and it depends on how I'm feeling: Zin, Cab, Petite Sirah, lager, ale (light or dark), porter, good Champagne, whiskey....

[Karen/NoCA]

Depends on where I have the steak, home, restaurant, type of restaurant, my mood. There is a locally owned and very popular restaurant out in the country in a small "don't blink or you'll miss it" town. They serve good steaks, the crowd is loud, lots of cowboy types and mountain folks. When we are in the mood and decide to go there, it is always a cold beer. Home, it is usually a good Zin, Shiraz, or whatever we happen to have.

[Mark Lipton]

Ed,
I view a steak's major purpose in life to be to serve as a foil to red wine. The red wine needs to be younger (tannins bind the fats in the meat, enhancing both) but that's most of the requirement: red, young, somewhat tannic and fairly big. Younger Cabernet, Chianti, Barbaresco (young Barolo is no fun regardless of food), Zinfandel, Syrah or even a bigger Pinot Noir works well. I can see certain beers going with steak, but I'd opt for a porter or stout.

Mark Lipton

[Robin Garr]

When I ate steak, I was all about red wine and rare steak. I love a good microbrewery beer, but as Mark and others have said, steak really calls for a red. Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Tuscan ... mmmmmmm ...

[Bill Spohn]

Talking to the wrong guy. Haven't had a beer in more than 20 years and don't plan to as wine is far preferable.

Steak goes with red wine.

[Tom Troiano]

Piling on......

Wine!!!!

rare steak and red wine are made for eachother.

[Carl Eppig]

At home we usually have red wine with our steak; usually Cabernet or Merlot or blend. In restaurants where we drink less and less wine, true love will drink ice tea, and I'll drink the best ale they have.

[Lou Kessler]

My first choice would be a red wine. I think at this point in time a (Chateau Du Pape) like the earthy flavor with a good rib eye rare. We're lucky to live in CA where corkage is very prevalent. I would sorely miss having really good wine when we dine in a restaurant. That's one of the major reasons for having a wine cellar.