It’s a match made in heaven whether it’s football season or the Fourth of July: beer and hot wings. Now, we have another great reason to keep this timeless pair together: science! Samuel Adams teamed up with the Culinary Institute of America to see if certain beers affected the heat of spicy foods, and the results 1) prove what we knew already (that this is a great, classic combination), and 2) tells us why hops and heat go so well together.
The experiment took place back in August when Samuel Adams brewer Jennifer Glanville visited the campus of the Culinary Institute of America in the Hudson Valley. While there, she and a panel of brewers, academics, and chefs paired up a flight of IPAs with chicken wings said to be “medium hot” to see what tasted the best. As it turns out, the alcohol content, or alcohol by volume (ABV), as well as the International Bittering Units (IBUs) do have an effect on how spicy food can taste.
The panelists concluded that together, the greater IBUs and higher ABV [do] increase how taste buds perceive spiciness. However, how the mouth perceives “heat” depends on other characteristics in a beer, like the hops, malt and alcohol content.
For some context, the Samuel Adams Rebel Rouser Double IPA (8.4% ABV/85 IBUs) “produced far and away the highest spiciness rating and dramatically increased the heat intensity of the pairing.” But the Rebel Rider Session IPA (4.5% ABV/45 IBUs), which has a lower alcohol content, “allowed the beer and wings to complement each other nicely.” There was also a noticeable “increase in heat or a longer lasting heat” due to “the lighter malt profile of the beer.” But the Rebel IPA (6.5% ABV/45 IBUs), which could be considered the happy medium of this trio, ended up being the most balanced pairing.
In a nutshell, the higher the alcohol content, the hotter your food might taste. But malt also has an effect on heat; more malt will temper heat, less malt will allow heat to last longer. Glanville explained in foodie-speak:
“The beer’s malt character ensures that the hops and the wings’ spiciness never overpower one another. Instead, they allow both the bitterness and heat to really be evident on their own.”
So, next time you throw a game day party, you’ll have all this fancy knowledge to drop on your friends. Or, if someone brags incessantly about how much heat they can handle, you’ll know exactly which beer to give them to sip while they eat.
