beer and wine with chili?

Ok, making a pretty spicy Boar and Venison chili for the superbowl. I'm looking for suggestions for decent, and not too expensive, beer and wine that will go well with it.

I know that pretty much any beer will go ok, but if anyone can suggest something specific that might match well with meat-heavy spicy chili, that would be cool.

And for wine, I have no real idea.

Maybe a barley wine, or Imperial Stout?

And maybe a Shiraz?

I'm thinkin' an over-the-top hoppy brew like Mad Hatter. For wine: a zinfandel on the "big" side of the genre.

Hoppy is definitely always an option with something spicy, a Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale or any of the plethora of IPA's would be nice.

I think I'd go for something darker though. A brown ale would pair well with the veniso and boar - but would probably get overpowered by the spiciness of the chili. I would recommend Goose Island Oatmeal Stout, or a nice Porter like Fuller's London Porter which is awlays available. Could mix a little hoppiness in to your porter with an a more americanized version such as Sierra Nevada Porter another one that should be easy to locate.

As for the wine - I dunno I'd skip the wine with a nice bowl of chili myself.

A dish like that has so much rich character on its own, I think I would lean towards contrasting rather than complementing. Beerwise, I would go for something dry, crisp and fairly hoppy like a czech pilsener to refresh the palate and squelch the heat between bites. An American Pale like Sierra Nevada is also a good choice or maybe Anchor Liberty Ale. The bitterness would contrast well with the richness of the chili. Anything with a heavy body might just lay ontop of the texture and flavor of the chili and become overwhelming. Likewise, something too malty might step on the gaminess of the meat. Based on the same concerns, I would also choose a lighter bodied wine like a zinfandel (as stewed coot suggests with 'big fruit') or maybe even a white wine. Although, I had some of the new batch of Anchor Bock yesterday, which might strike the perfect balance between rich dark flavor and hoppiness, without being syrupy or sweet. How about some Anchor Liberty and some Anchor Bock? That way you have all bases covered, and you can report back which worked better.

As far as wine goes, I'd agree with d4v3: Go with a white, like an Alsatian riesling or guwurtztraminer.

I'd be surprised(and delighted since gerwurtz is one of my faves) if the whites would work with this dish. I know they are well matched with spicy foods, but in my experience they are best with the Asian spicy cuisines, which somehow maintain a delicate nature even when spicy. A big bowl of very red, cuminy meat with the dark, rich flavors would drown these whites, I would think. You never know until you try-sometimes there are amazing surprises with wine.

Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock, the one with the little plastic goat hanging around the bottle. Perfect match for venison, rich and malty, alcoholic enough to cut the spice.

ksbeck wrote:As far as wine goes, I'd agree with d4v3: Go with a white, like an Alsatian riesling or guwurtztraminer.

Actually I was thinking something more dry and tart like a SB, to wipe the palate clean. However, the more I think about it, a zinfandel with berry flavors would indeed work well with the game meats. Recently I had a Spanish Ribera del Duero, made with 100% Tempranillo grapes, which had a big blackberry and plum flavor, but a fairly light body and went very well with the rare lamb I was eating. Aside from the fruit, it had a refreshing touch of acidity and a slight oakiness that cut the "lamby" flavor (sorry, I couldn't think of a better word). A similar wine might work well with deer and boar meat.

aceking wrote:Ok, making a pretty spicy Boar and Venison chili for the superbowl. I'm looking for suggestions for decent, and not too expensive, beer and wine that will go well with it.

Good Lord, has there ever been a more perfect-sounding comestible for this event?

I usually drink the same beer that I put in the chili.

stewed coot wrote:I'd be surprised(and delighted since gerwurtz is one of my faves) if the whites would work with this dish. I know they are well matched with spicy foods, but in my experience they are best with the Asian spicy cuisines, which somehow maintain a delicate nature even when spicy. A big bowl of very red, cuminy meat with the dark, rich flavors would drown these whites, I would think. You never know until you try-sometimes there are amazing surprises with wine.

Honestly, the more I think about, the more skeptical I am with my own suggestions (especially the gewurtz since it really isn't one of my favorites - usually a bit too flowery). Really, I'm hard pressed to think of a wine that would go with what sounds like a delicious (but potent) chili. Sigh...

To echo David's point-this truly is an uber-manly dish for this most masculine event- All of the above suggestions, including mine, are way too femmy. Go with a cocktail of one part Jagermeister, one part deer's blood, and one part distilled testosterone. Shake violently.[/quote]

Excellent, excellent responses. I feel like I should get all of the above wines and beers and make everyone try all of it. Price may be a deciding factor. I'll probably head over to Binny's today and make some tough choices. Thanks for all of the input. I'll let everyone know what works and what doesn't.

Oh, and keep the suggestions coming. I know I'll have to make an emergency run out on saturday to get stuff that I have forgotten.

Thanks everyone!

I'm partial to Three Floyds Alpha King....goes well in your mouth and in your chili.

I find that my favorite wine to have with spicy "beer" food is a dry rose. There are lots of them available now, and almost all of them from spain and france are decent. You should be able to find one for 6-9 bucks.

-Will

For a different type of beer that will be a great complement, try Schlenkerla Marzen or Alaskan Smoked Porter. I love smoked beers and these would work well.

I find that PBR goes well with about anything. Seriously...

I agreed with EvilUs, a pale ale like the Alpha King will do the trick. For pairing with chilli, I would stay away with IPAs that have too much floral taste instead of more bitterness.

With chili, the darker the better when it comes to beer. I always find that light colored beer doesn't counter the spice as well as darker beer. I like the Doppelbock suggestion.

Same with wine. Something with some weight, like a hearty merlot or zinf.

So, the chili was good. Took some advice from all of you friendly folk who responded. My household had a party Friday night unrelated to the super bowl chili party, so we were getting a keg for that. I got a keg of Goose Island Honker's Ale, and we had half of it left for the game. So that was a decent example of an American-style ale, and it went very well with the chili, cooling the heat a little and complimenting the chili flavor. It probably helps that I used some of the Honker's in the chili to deglaze after browning the meat. I also got 12 bottles of the Anchor Bock beer, as recommended. It was good on it's own, but seemed to be kind of fighting with the chili flavor the combination seemed rather dull.

As much as I like beer with chili, the real winners were the two wines I picked up from Binny's. I talked with an associate there about what inexpensive wines to match with this, bringing up Zinfandel as a possibility. We talked a little about some of the zins that would work, but after talking about how the wine should have some good fruitiness to it, and not having any harsh tannin action, he pointed me at a rack of California field blends. He suggested two in particular, Rosenblum Cellars 2004 Chateau La Paws, a blend of Carignane, Syrah, Zinfandel and Mourvedre, and one known simply as Ten Mile, a blend of Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Barbera, Malbec, and Carignane. I bought two bottles of each, knowing that the beer would be in high demand, not the wine. I tasted both wines with the chili, and they both went really well. I'm not a wine guy who can describe the bouquet or the nose or detect the spices and fruit that consume my palate, but I can tell you that both wines really highlighted the flavors of the chili. They were both quite different, but both were good. And I can tell you that they are both quite drinkable without the chili present. (I had to kill both bottles later that night). And both were inexpensive. The Ten Mile was 9.99 a bottle, and the Chateau La Paws was like 13.99 or so.

To sum up:
The chili was good, moderately but not deadly spicy. It had of boar, venison, and beef in different combinations depending on which crockpot you dug into.

Honker's ale went well with it, Anchor Bock less so.

Two California blends went VERY well with it.

Everyone had a good time.

Thanks to the lth'ers who had some great advice for what to drink with it.

aceking wrote: I also got 12 bottles of the Anchor Bock beer, as recommended. It was good on it's own, but seemed to be kind of fighting with the chili flavor

I was afraid that might be the case with a malty dark beer. Actually, as far as Bocks go, Anchor is much less overwhelming than most.

Honkers is always a good party choice, I think I wrote in another thread that it is my default party beer. It is inoffensive to the Bud crowd, yet interesting enough for more sophisticated palates.

So I guess the rule of thumb for game-meat chili, is to go with something medium colored and light bodied with a slight hopiness like an amber ale or a good lager.

The info on the wines is good, since I usually stay away from blends. The Ten mile is interesting because it contains petite sirah, which on its own has a big fruity flavor but also mouth numbing tanins. The blend must tone down the astringency while preserving the berry flavors.

Thanks for the update.