Enhance your Christmas Eve feast with a beer pairing. Which beer goes best with schnitzel?
1. Toast
Before you sit down at the table and start feasting, raise a toast. According to Tereza Pospíšilová, spontaneously fermented beers without added fruit are the ideal aperitif and toast in one. They are characterised by their light effervescence, fresh flavour and lower bitterness, making them perfect for the next feast.
What to reach for? Try Belgian Cantillon Geuze. This is a blend of young (one year old) and old (three year old) lambic, which is then fermented directly in the bottle. This particular beer has a light colour, a slightly sour and fruity taste and a mild and woody aroma with a dry finish. Its effervescence is reminiscent of champagne.
2. Fish soup
The soup is best accompanied by a light saison, bock, farmhouse or Vienna lager which has a lower bitterness, a stronger malt flavour and a full body compared to the classic lager. With its ruby colour, it is also a perfect match for the Christmas table.
For connoisseurs, Tereza Pospíšilová recommends a beer Red Baron from the Clock brewery. It's a semi-dark lager with a high percentage of smoked malt, which the brewery has also smoked.
3. Mushroom Kuba
A sour taste goes best with mushrooms, so you won't go wrong with a strongly flavoured sour without added fruit. Try Berliner Weisse from the Libertas brewery. But if you want to pair traditional food with traditional beer, reach for a beer Harvest 2024 from the Chroust brewery.
This is a lager made from fresh hops, the production of which has a long tradition in this country. Freshly harvested Žatecký poloraný červenák gives the beer a mild bitterness and a pleasant herbal aroma that enhances the taste of the herbs in the mushroom cube.
4. Potato salad and carp / schnitzel
For heavy meals, which undeniably include potato salad with fried fish or schnitzel, it is ideal to choose a lighter beer. A light lager will accompany the fatty fish in the stomach, while the schnitzel goes well with sour beers.
In this case, Tereza Pospíšilová does not give up on Tears of Saint Laurent by Wild Creaturesinfused with Saint Laurent berries. The combination of spontaneous fermentation and maturation in oak barrels brings the beer closer to wine in character, with a rich fruity flavour.
5. Sweets
A sweet spot in the form of candy paired with heavier stout-type beerswhich usually have notes of coffee, caramel and malt. These are full-bodied, sweeter and warmer beers that are perfect for winter. One particular tip is Machete, a Mexican Cake Stout from Falcon Brewery.
The base is an oatmeal stout with the addition of, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and habañero peppers that cause a pleasantly warm aftertaste. But it will also work well with the candy Bacchus Frambozenbier from the Van Honsebrouck brewery. The brown beer Oud Bruin, which is then aged on raspberries, promises an aromatic experience full of fruity flavours, especially when paired with the Linzer.
6. Tales
The schnitzels are eaten, the belts loosened, the presents unwrapped. It's time to get comfortable in the armchair and settle in to your favourite film or fairytale.
For Christmas Eve tales, choose an exceptional beer that deserves your attention for the rest of the evening. Our advice Winter 2023 from the Sibeeria brewery, which a year in an oak cognac barrel. This makes the beer perfectly aromatic with notes of prunes, figs, caramel and vanilla.
The second tip is Generous Smoothie from Chroust Brewery. This is a Blueberry & Blackberry Salted Caramel Pastry Sour Ale, a creamy, sweet beer with a subtle tartness. Brewed just right for holiday sipping with friends or family.
7. Non-alcoholic
Not everyone can or wants to have alcohol at Christmas. For this case there is Krystus, a non-alcoholic beer from Clock Brewery. According to Tereza Pospíšilová, it is currently the best Czech non-alcoholic beer.
