Best Beers For Chili
Alcoholic beverages have been incorporated into dishes for centuries for their ability to create extra-sweet flavors. The same is indicated for beers in chili, adding a flavor profile that complements the richness and spiciness of the dish. In this article, we highlight and detail some of the best beers for your chili recipes. Each beer is carefully picked for its rich flavors depending on the type of chili you want
If you’re precisely looking for beverages for the Christmas season, you want to see this list of our top Christmas beers including our eggnog beer review.
From the hoppy bitterness of the beer to the malty sweetness of your chosen beer, you can make your chili recipe unique and tasty with just a can!
For the spicy and hot chilis, you want to pick the dark and rich beers, while the less spicy and mild chilis can take the pale and light beers.
You can count on the beer styles presented to help make your chili meat tender and thicken your sauce for a better mouthfeel.
What is The Best Beer For Chili?
In no particular order, we highlight our top beers for chili so that you can pick just the perfect beer chili recipe for you. The following headings highlight and detail our pick of beers guaranteed for making chili.
Full Sail Brewing Co’s Oregon’s Original Amber Ale
This authentic amber ale was the first craft beer to go in a bottle in the state of Oregon. It’s a medium-bodied ale with a flavor profile that incorporates sweet maltiness and floral hoppy spice.
The amber ale is brewed with a two-row pale, Crystal, and chocolate malts. This Full Sail amber ale contains 6% abv, has an IBU of 31, and is available all year round.
You’ll enjoy the beer in several versions of your chili dishes, from chicken to bean chilis.
Commonwealth Brewing’s Marvolo Nitro Stout
The Marvolo Nitro Stout is a delicious brew made from six carefully selected malts to give a flavor profile of toasted cocoa, dark chocolate, and coffee. With this array of tasting notes, the addition of the beverage into your chili is bound to give the dish unique, mouthwatering flavors and aromas.
The rich and creamy imperial stout has an alcohol content of 8.7% and an IBU of 40. It’s available in cans and tap and is produced as a seasonal beer.
Schilling Beer Co’s Burkhart Bock
This is a strong German-style lager, also known as bockbier, popular for its hearty and balanced malty flavors. Its taste has notes of toffee, dark bread, and toast, complementing the subtle bitterness of the hops and mild roasty hit.
The beer contains 7.0% ABV and is available during fall. So, you’d enjoy the beer in chili dishes such as Turkey chili, pumpkin chili, and vegetarian chili.
Modelo Negra
For your hot and spicy chili recipe, you want to add this rich, dark Modelo Negra beer. This beer is a Munich Dunkel-style dark lager made in Mexico with a 5.4% alcohol content. You get a delicious flavor from the beer, with distinct notes of roasted malts, hops, and non-malted cereals.
It’s one of the beers you want for a sweet chili, seeing as the beer is low on bitterness and gives a soft lingering taste. In addition to its amazing, rich flavors, the beer is vegan-friendly.
Its caramel deliciousness pairs excellently with seared meat; hence, you want to explore trying the beer in Chili Con Carne, a 3-Bean Chili, a vegan beer chili, and other variations of chili with a thick texture.
Half Acre Bodem
If you want citrusy tastes in your high-spice chili, this Half Acre Bodem is one of the American pale ales you want to explore. The beer has a complex profile of citrus, malt, tropical fruits, and earthy flavors. These flavors will definitely make your chili stand out, guaranteeing your friends and family will come for seconds.
Typically, this beer goes with grilled chicken, fish, pork, and other meaty foods. Hence, you can get this beer’s sweetness is several variations of chili.
However, if you want a keto-friendly chili, this is not the right beer for you. This is because Half Acre Bodem is high in carbs, with 14 grams of carbs and about 205 calories found in a 12-ounce can.
Guinness Stouts
Lovers of stouts prefer the Guinness brand for its robust flavors, creating a balance between sweetness and bitterness in their stouts. The flavor profile of Guinness stouts deepens that of your Chili, with its strong bitter taste that complements that of your tender meat chili.
For instance, the Guinness Extra Stout is a creamy beer that you’ll love for the smooth consistency it’ll give to your chili. There are other popular beers from Guinness, such as the Guinness Nitro IPA with its caramel and sugary notes, the Foreign Extra Stout with its nutty & toffee finish, and the Guinness Draught with the tasting notes of chocolate, coffee, and tropical fruits.
These beers make a great addition to your creamy, mild chili recipes. Guinness Stouts are extremely popular in beef stews. Hence, you can use them in many versions of your chilis.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
If you’re looking for the best beer for chili, especially the less spicy ones, this Sierra Nevada pale ale is the one for you. It’s one of the pale ales with a rich history stemming from the 1980s and sparking the American craft beer revolution.
If you drink beer for the hoppy flavors, then you’d love the hoppy spice this brings to your chili. The pale ale is brewed from the popular cascade hops, caramel malts, and yeast. It comes with rich aromas of herbal spice, pine, and tropical fruits.
You’d enjoy its addition to ground beef chili, turkey chili, and 3-bean chili. So, get your chili peppers, preferred meat, spices, seasoning, and a can of this pale ale to get cooking.
Amber Bock Beer
The golden amber color of these ales makes them popular in the alcoholic beverages world, boasting rich, malty flavors. When it comes to these amber ales, the Amber Bock beer is a perfect choice for mild chilis with some quantity of cayenne pepper.
It’s the best beer for chili if you’re hoping for a recipe that incorporates sweet malts with low fruity flavors. The beer is medium-bodied with an alcohol content of 5.2%.
A 12-ounce can of the Amber Bock Beer contains 170 calories, a gram of protein, and 15 grams of carbohydrate.
ShinDigger Shingri-La East Coast IPA
This is virtually one of the best IPAs you can use for cooking, with its range of delicious flavors. The beer has a great flavor profile, incorporating notes of honey, brown butter, pink grapefruit, and floral notes.
You’ll enjoy the beer in a chili recipe if you want sweet aromas of tropical fruits in it. Although the beer has a great flavor profile, it doesn’t overwhelm the original taste of your chili recipes. It’s one of the best beers for chili, with a high abv at 6.5%. Add one can of it to your mild chili and have yourself a hearty, delicious dish!
Yuengling Light Lager
Your best beer for chili could be a very light one with flavors of toasted malt and caramel. Such light beer is this Yuengling Light lager, perfect for making chili that is less spicy.
The beer is perfect as a thickener and an enhancer, guaranteeing that it will not overwhelm the original taste of your chili. It’s of mild, hoppy character, and it contains only 3.2 grams of carbs, 99 calories, and 4.2% alcohol by volume.
Bells Rind Over Matter Wheat Beer
If you love wheat beers and want to incorporate them into your chilis, this is the best for you. It’s perfect for your spicy chili with its range of flavors and aromas, including grainy, zesty, wheat, citrus, and herbal notes.
This beer is medium to light-bodied, leaving you with a refreshing finish on the tongue. With its notes of plum and raisin, this beer is perfect for several versions of bean chili.
The beer contains 5% alcohol by volume, and for a 12-ounce serving, you get 160 calories and 13.4 grams of carbs. Bells Rind Over Matter was released recently in 2021 by the Bell’s Brewery in Michigan.
Allagash White
The Allagash White is a Belgian-style wheat beer with a great balance of citrus and herbal spices for your chili recipes. It’s the best beer for chili, incorporating a blend of Curacao orange peel with Coriander spices.
The beer itself is brewed from raw wheat, oats, and malted wheat, containing 5.2% alcohol by volume. It’s of low carbonation and will make an excellent addition to a spicy chili dish. Allagash White has a remarkable of being the most awarded Belgian-style witbier in the world.
Deschutes Obsidian Stout
The complicated flavors of this stout make it a perfect addition to your chili recipe. Deschutes Obsidian Stout is brewed from roasted barley, chocolate malt, hops, and water. As such, its flavors include that of dark-roasted coffee, chocolate, black licorice, notes of dried figs, and caramel.
Its aromas are also a great addition to your chili flavors, with notes of pine resin and citrus. The Deschutes Obsidian Stout has an alcohol content of 6.5% and an IBU of 55.
Heater Allen Pils
Pilsners are not left of beers that work great with chili recipes. A great pilsner you want to try is the Heater Allen Pils, a delicious beverage with balanced bitter, hoppy flavors and sweet, malty character.
The iconic Urquell inspires the beer and is usually deep-lagered for about eight weeks to give a strong malty brew. This maltiness will complement your seared meat chili, and it especially adds a hoppy character to chili dishes made with habaneros or jalapenos.
Heater Allen Pils has an ABV of 5% and an IBU of 38.
Samuel Adams Triple Bock
This is one of the stronger beers with a blend of bourbon, cognac casks, scotch, and ports. The Samuel Adams Triple Bock is a medium to full-bodied beer spiced with fresh ground cinnamon, ginger, and orange peel.
These flavors are accompanied by aromas of dried cherries and prune juice. It’s guaranteed to give your chili a thick and creamy consistency with rich, bold, deep flavors.
However, you want to be cautious of how much you use as this beer has a high alcohol content of 17.5%. Also, a 12-ounce serving of the beer gives you 340 calories.
Brewery Ommegang Abbey Ale
The Abbey Ale is manufactured by the Brewery Ommegang as amber ale with rich malt flavors. It’s also spiced with orange peel, coriander, and licorice root to give your chili robust flavors.
The Abbey Ale guarantees a thick consistency for your chili, and you get an array of amazing aromas from the beer. These include notes of plum, raisin, cloves, caramel, and banana.
Brewery Ommegang Abbey Ale comes with an alcohol content of 8.2% and an IBU of 20.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I add beer to my chili?
The addition of beer to your chili helps make the meat tender, gives you a thick consistency, and brings a residual sweetness to complement the caramelized meat.
Is beer harmful in Chili?
No, beer is safe if used in moderation in your chili dishes. Generally, the alcohol cooks off after a few hours, leaving only desired flavors behind.
What’s the best beer for chili?
This depends on the flavor you’re looking for in your chili and how spicy or mild you want your chili in the first place. The milder ones can take the pilsners and light lagers, while the hotter chilis can take the dark beers.
Related Articles
For more content on using beer to cook, you want to check out our list of the best beers to cook and this collection of the best beers for cheese dips!
Wrapping Up
With this list of beers, you know better than to leave your chili recipe bland whenever you’re in the mood for some chili! Experiment with as many of these beers as possible, and you’re guaranteed a wholesome dining experience for every Chili occasion!
