Pairings

Beer with BBQ

Food off a barbecue tastes of char, smoke, salt, and often a sweet glaze. The beer has to cut sugar and fat or the third rib tastes the same as the first, only stickier. Carbonation and bitterness do that cutting. Caramel malt meets the glaze instead of fighting it.

Smoke in the glass is the easy mistake. A lightly roasted porter can echo char. A beer that already tastes like a bonfire, piled on meat that tastes like a bonfire, becomes one note. Match the intensity. Sausages and chicken want a lighter beer than brisket and sticky ribs.

Beer styles that work

Amber or brown ale
Caramel and toast line up with glaze, ketchup-style sauces and grilled onion. Bitterness is moderate, so the beer does not scrape a sweet sauce raw. This is the best all-rounder for a mixed grill: ribs, sausages, chicken thighs. Serve it cold. Warm amber ale tastes syrupy against a sticky sauce.
Pale ale or IPA
Hop bitterness is what cuts through a thick barbecue sauce and a fatty cut. Pine and citrus also brighten charred meat. It is a better match for ribs and burgers than for a delicately smoked fish, where the hops take over. Keep the strength in the ordinary range so the heat of chilli in the rub is not amplified.
Porter
A dryish porter with brisket, burnt ends or a mushroom-heavy plate. Roast flavour meets char. Skip it on very sweet, molasses-heavy sauces or you get two desserts. And skip a smoked porter unless the meat itself is only lightly smoked.

If you are not drinking beer

A cocktail

Whisky and ginger

Whisky, ice, and a fiery ginger beer or ginger ale. Ginger lifts smoke and glaze, and the whisky echoes charred oak. Build it long. A neat spirit next to a sweet rib glaze is a lot of intensity in one mouthful.

Without alcohol

Ginger beer

Cold ginger beer, the spicy kind rather than a pale sugary mixer. Ginger cuts fat and stands up to smoke and black pepper. Lemonade is the backup when the sauce is already very sweet and you do not want more sugar plus more spice. Ice matters. Warm ginger beer tastes hot in the wrong way.

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Questions

What beer goes with barbecue?

An amber ale for glazed meat, a pale ale or IPA when you want bitterness to cut the sauce, and a porter for brisket and char. Avoid a heavily smoked beer on heavily smoked meat.

Why does carbonation matter with barbecue?

Glaze and fat coat the tongue. Bubbles lift them off so the next bite still tastes of smoke and meat rather than of sugar. A still, sweet beer makes the meal feel heavier.

What soft drink goes with BBQ?

A cold, spicy ginger beer. Use lemonade instead if the sauce is already very sweet.