A perfect food and beer match - I’ll drink to that

Included in the tour of Lion New Zealand’s East Tamaki plant is a food-and-beer match, designed by head brewer Dave Meads who has become a bit of an expert on the subject. First up is smoked salmon with cream cheese on rice crackers, teamed with Steinlager Classic beer, developed in 1958 in response to Finance Minister Arnold Nordmeyer’s austere “Black Budget” which cut beer imports. The beer was originally called Steinecker after a German company that made brewing equipment. But Heineken got their hops in a tangle and took New Zealand Breweries to court, claiming the name and label were too close to theirs. They won, and in 1962 the name was changed to Steinlager.

Meads swills the light lager around in a small-stemmed wine glass, holding it up to the light. You won’t catch him drinking from a beer bottle.

“The thing about beer is you want to appreciate what it looks like, a nice colour, and foam on the top.”

The glass must be clean, he says. He’s not keen on rinse-aid additives in dishwashers, which apparently leave a film on the glass that in turn interferes with the surface tension of the foam. The foam can collapse quickly as a result, leaving the beer looking more like a glass of cold tea, he says. Who knew?

After the swill comes a “gentle” sniff of the Steinlager and a taste. A little bitterness that comes from the Dr Rudi green bullet hops, Meads murmurs. He’s on a roll, talking about the “creamy, oily, unctuous” flavours of the salmon and cream cheese, and how the beer cleans the palate.

“I get more of the grassy herbaceous characters coming through from the hops.”

Next up are dainty samosas with sweet chilli sauce, paired with a low-carb Speight’s Summit Ultra. It’s Lion’s biggest seller — in cans, bottles, quarts and kegs — and the number-one seller in New Zealand. Spicy crumbed chicken is matched with Mac’s Magic Hour hazy pale ale. Meads swills the slightly cloudy ale in his glass and remarks on the “hop character”.

We sniff, gently, and he’s right. It smells like the cold-storage hop room we saw on the tour. “Beautiful,” he says.

For a bit of fun, Meads likes to finish off with a dessert course. Today it’s a rich chocolate, coconut and raisin brownie paired with Emerson’s London Porter. Specialty malts give the stout its flavours, “burnt, chocolatey, toffee, coffee”, a delicious contrast with the sweetness of the brownie.

Porters go well with fruit cake, chocolate pudding and tiramisu, Meads says. Wheat beers work well with apple tarts.

And his all-time favourite? Gingernut biscuits, blue cheese and a Porter. “Just lovely,” he says dreamily, “It goes really well.”