Best Beer for Chili: 20 Top Picks to Pair With Your Recipe

Chili that is high in taste with hotter flavors will be associated better with just the right beer.“Fiery,” “savory,” “and sweet,” as well as the distinct features and traits of various beers combine into a duet of deliciousness, resulting in a symphony of flavors. Beer is chosen based on the level of chili heat: beef-filled, bean-filled, or vegetarian. Every beer has its particular character due to malt sweetness, hop bitterness, fruity note, and carbonation – all of which give you an enjoyable gastronomic experience.

The Top 20 best beer for Chili are:

Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale
Yuengling Light Lager
Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Negra Modelo
Victory Prima Pils
Allagash White
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’
Smithwick’s Red Ale
New Belgium Fat Tire
Anchor Steam Beer
Guinness Draught Stout
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Unibroue La Fin Du Monde
Brewery Ommegang Abbey Ale Dubbel
Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne
Dogfish Head SeaQuench Ale
ShinDigger Shingri-La East Coast I.P.A.

You’ll find different options on our handpicked list of the top 20 best pairings of beer and chili. Flavor, aroma, and the pleasure of eating form a pleasing contrast, not to mention the fun of watching movies with the best pairings of beer and chili; making friends on this culinary excursion is a life-explaining experience.

Top 20 Best Beers for Chili

Let’s explore the top Beers for Chili:

Samuel Smith Nut Brown Ale

Samuel Smith Nut Brown brew is a typical British brew with sweet toffee and caramel notes, nutty bitterness, and a savory, somewhat acidic flavor. It has been brewed since the late 1700s and is generally served in local pubs around England. The rich mahogany-colored beer has a robust, malty flavor with notes of roasted almonds and cocoa beans. Its softly bready finish yields slight hop bitterness, making it smooth, balanced, and drinking.

A.B.V.: 5%
Style: Brown Ale
Country of Origin: Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England.

This beer is excellent for chili recipes that call for beer to enhance the flavor of spicy ingredients such as chilies or cayenne pepper powder. The beer’s sweetness balances the chili’s spiciness, unveils its rich flavors. Meanwhile, the bitterness of the moderate hops in the brew cuts through the chili’s richness, refreshing your taste.

Yuengling Light Lager

Yuengling Light Lager is an excellent option with chili because of its lightness, freshness, and subtle maltiness. Its light body allows it to combine with other chili components without dominating them while providing excellent flavor. This beer contains mild overtones of sweet caramel and biscuit that do not overpower the tongue but provide diverse flavors when coupled with fiercely seasoned chilis.

ABV.: 3.8%
Style: Pale Lager
Country of Origin: Pottsville, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

The mild bitterness helps balance the spiciness in many chili dishes without the need for additional sweetness, and it provides refreshment without excessive alcohol levels.

Samuel Adams Boston Lager

Samuel Adams Boston Lager is a malt-forward lager brewed using two-row pale and caramel malts and German Hallertau Mittelfrüh Noble Hops. A sweet, malty flavor and apparent bitterness counterbalance its rich golden color and hefty body.

ABV.: 5%
Style: German-style Amber Lager
Country of Origin: Massachusetts, U.S.A.

This beer has a sweet honey welcome note on the tongue and notes of toffee, almonds, bread crusts, grassiness, toastiness, and lemon peel aromas. It is one of the most popular beers in chili recipes because it offers the perfect mix of flavor notes that complement fiery chili foods. It will also not overpower your meal, which is vital for making delicious chili while delivering textural complexity due to its higher carbonation levels, which provide a creamy foam head.

Negra Modelo

Negra Modelo, a Munich Dunkle beer manufactured in Mexico, is a favorite ingredient in chili recipes due to its distinct features. Its hop presence provides depth, while the nutty malt flavors balance the spicy chili peppers. Negra Modelo can also improve texture by lighting larger chilis while adding body to thinner ones. Experiment with numerous strategies for incorporating Negra Modelo into chili, such as beer-infused marinades or sauces.

ABV: 5.4%
Style: Munich Dunkel-style lage
Country of Origin: Tacuba, Mexico

When cooking with chili, consider how much alcohol you want to cook off and how much mouthfeel you want to leave behind since this will affect the cooking time for Negra Modelo.

Victory Prima Pils

Victory Prima Pils has a golden color and a light finish. They are distinguished by an enhanced hop presence, which provides a pleasant bitterness and sweetness. Because of its highly perfumed flowery and citrus hop fragrance, it is excellent for making chili. These flavors balance chili’s sweet and spicy characteristics, adding an earthy accent.

ABV: 5.3%
Style: German Pilsner style
Country of Origin: Downingtown, Pennsylvania U.S.A.

The beer is not robust enough to significantly alter the flavor of the chili, but it does enhance the flavors provided by the other components. This is especially useful when using hot peppers like habaneros with fruity flavors and substantial heat.

Allagash White

Allagash White, a Belgian-style wheat beer, goes nicely with chili meals. It is brewed with oats, red, and white wheat and has a distinct flavor profile with coriander spice. The blend of malted and uncooked wheat causes the hazy “white” look. Its blend of fragrances, including citrus and paper, makes it a perfect choice for moderate to medium-spice chili dishes. Its strong herbal and citrus overtones highlight the peppery flavor of medium-spiced chilies.

ABV: 5.2%
Style: Belgian-style wheat beer
Country of Origin: Maine, U.S.A.

The thick body of wheat beer adds structure to the chili, making it chewier. It’s ideal for white bean chicken chili dishes or hot chilis since it adds a nice balance of flavors.

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier

German hefeweizens, like Belgian-style wheat beers, have a creamy texture and are great for cooking due to their high wheat content. Whereas witbier has a spiced orange flavor, Hefeweizen yeast adds overtones of banana and clove, making it an excellent match for hot chilis. Hefeweizen pairs nicely with spicy foods like jalapeños or habanero.

ABV: 5.4%
Style: Bavarian style
Country of Origin: Freising, Germany

The banana-forward flavor of Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier balances out the chili’s robust flavors. Cooking with beer from the world’s oldest brewery may help spark conversations with visitors.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is famous for adding flavor, depth, and character to chili dishes. Its hops, notably Cascade hops, produce bitter aromas that range from citrusy to piney, resinous, or peppery. The beer has a grapefruit-forward scent and a mild fruity flavor. Dry-hopping enhances its powerful scent, which adds to its malty sweetness, making it ideal for crafting balanced recipes. It produces powerful smells that stand out even with intense spice mixes in chili.

ABV: 5.6%
Style: Classic pale ale
Country of Origin: Chico, California

It may offer a hint of sweetness to chili dishes but use caution when pairing it with hot foods. Start with a splash and work your way up since the end meal may be more spicy than you thought.

Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale

Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale is a popular beer to add to homemade chili. Its powerful and assertive flavor complements the chili’s, and its hoppy and bitter features make it an excellent choice for dishes that call for a robust beer.

Beer enthusiasts enjoy this exceptionally distinctive beer for all events, especially homemade chili, because of its entire body taste and subtle undertones of cherry, apricot, and peaches.

ABV: 7%
Style: American-style India Pale Ale
Country of Origin: Michigan, U.S.A.

The robust hop profile results in a slightly dry finish with an astounding balance of bitterness and delightful malt flavors. When used as an ingredient in chili, these characteristics combine to give complexity and layers of flavor, making it ideal for any budding home cook looking to achieve outstanding outcomes with their creations over time.

Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’

Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Ale is an American wheat beer with a fruity and hoppy flavor profile. It has proven to be a favorite among homebrewers at Lagunitas, with the unfiltered version being hoppier and having a distinct mouthfeel than the filtered counterpart. The filtered form of the beer has 50% wheat malt and 50% barley, resulting in fruity aromas like bubblegum, pineapple, mild cedar, and pine.

ABV: 7.5%
Style: Pale wheat ale
Country of Origin: California, U.S.A.

Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’s velvety smoothness will give the chili an incredible body. The hop bitterness is still noticeable enough to highlight spice, so plan on pairing this one with mild chilis.

Smithwick’s Red Ale

There are various red ales, but Smithwick’s is recommended for its sweet flavor and smooth finish. The use of roasted barley in this beer lends an almost coffee-like finish that complements the earthy flavors of the chili, which pairs nicely with smokey spices like cumin or paprika. This beer also lacks a strong hop presence. Thus, chili peppers may be added with moderate ease.

ABV: 4.5%
Style: Irish red ale
Country of Origin: Kilkenny, Ireland

Pouring a lavish deep red color with orange accents, this brew has scents of roasted malts complimented by sweet notes of caramel and fruit flavors, making it one of the most preferred beers for chili recipes.

New Belgium Fat Tire

Relaunched in 2023 with a cleaner and brighter flavor, New Belgium’s Fat Tire is a typical American Amber Ale. This Colorado-brewed beer has a sweet, cereal-like flavor that pairs well with the other components in homemade chili.

ABV: 5.2%
Style: Amber Ale
Country of Origin: Fort Collins, Colorado

The sharp finish does not overpower the meal, although cayenne pepper is advised to counteract the sweet undertones. The beer’s roast, the toasted flavor, is ideal for homebrewers looking to experience biscuit malt.

Anchor Steam Beer

Anchor Steam Brewing, a San Francisco institution, has been brewing steam beer since the late 1800s. Despite being produced indoors, Anchor Steam employs shallow, open-air fermenters. The beer also contains lager yeast produced at warmer ale temperatures, which combines ale and lager flavors.

ABV: 4.8%
Style: Steam Beer
Country of Origin: San Francisco, California.

Anchor Steam Beer may first taste similar to an American amber, but it has a notable herbaceous and spicy hop profile. That complements chilis with a balanced spice from chiles such as ancho or pasilla peppers.

Guinness Draught Stout

Guinness Draught is a favorite chili dish beer with a roasted flavor and creamy texture. It features roasted malted barley, bittersweet chocolate flavors, and creamy smoothness. This flavorful beer complements chili’s full-bodied flavor and adds depth to it.

ABV: 4.2%
Style: Irish Dry Stout
Country of Origin: Ireland

The buttery maltiness of Guinness tempers the heat of chili peppers while providing richness to meat recipes such as chili con carne or white chicken chili. Furthermore, its solid consistency adds richness and body to the meal without dominating the other components in the recipe.

Deschutes Black Butte Porter

Deschutes Black Butte Porter is a dark, fragrant brew that complements chili dishes. This stout boasts rich flavors of coffee, chocolate, and roasted malts, complemented with hop bitterness for a memorable experience. The thick body gives the beer a gentle sweetness that helps balance the heat from more spicy meals like chili while deepening the warm and savory flavors in traditional recipes.

ABV: 5.5%
Style: American Porter
Country of Origin: Oregon, United States

Its nearly dark shade gives this essential chili spice depth, making it visually appealing in any recipe. It has only the faintest bitterness (from the malt, not the hops), so it won’t do anything to enhance spice. Instead, the robust flavor can withstand intense peppers, so now is the time to get out that ghost pepper you’ve been saving.

Unibroue La Fin Du Monde

Unibroue La Fin Du Monde is a Belgian tripel that is light in color yet full of flavor. When first tested, the beer shocked it with its smoothness, which is why it is especially well-suited for cooking. Despite its high alcohol level, it lacks the alcohol-related heat found in other high-ABV beers.

ABV.: 9%
Style: Belgian-style tripel ale
Country of Origin: Chambly, Quebec, Canada

It also provides a wonderfully spicy, faintly fruity flavor to the chili, balancing and emphasizing the other sweet elements in the dish.

Brewery Ommegang Abbey Ale Dubbel

Ommegang Abbey Ale is a Belgian-style dubbel with toasted and dark fruit flavors, making it ideal for chili fans. This creamy, malty beer has a big body, pleasant flavors, a modest hop profile, and a higher alcohol level. Its excellent mix of malt sweetness and hop bitterness produces rich smells reminiscent of honey, caramel, date raisins, nutmeg, and molasses carbonation.

ABV: 8.5%
Style: Belgian Ale
Country of Origin: Cooperstown, New York, United States

Brewery Ommegang Abbey Ale adds a lovely fruity touch to chili, with juicy cherries and figs aromas. It also has some pleasant soil and wood notes that go nicely with roasted meat or game. You will prefer this one for chilies with bits of stew meat instead of ground beef, but you wouldn’t use it for chicken chilies since the flavors can overwhelm the delicate white meat.

Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne

Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse De Bourgogne works perfectly with chili. The beer’s sharp acidity complements the other ingredients: acid decreases bitterness in food. It brightens other flavors, balancing out any bitter notes brought by dried, smoked chiles or caramelized beef. The beer’s oaky essence adds woody flavors and a sweet-tart finish to a well-balanced chili.

ABV: 6.2%
Style: Flanders red ale-style
Country of Origin: Vichte, Belgium

Duchesse De Bourgogne’s flavors make it an excellent ingredient for creating chili, not only because it is tasty but also because it may help complement the heat of the chili while balancing out flavors from other components like tomatoes or onions.

Dogfish Head SeaQuench Ale

Dogfish Head Brewery defines its SeaQuench Ale as a hybrid of Kölsch, Gose, and Berliner Weiss flavors. This results in a low-alcoholic beer with a crisp texture and a salty, sour flavor. It’s pleasant to drink on a hot day and adds a great surprise to a bowl of chili.

ABV: 4.9%
Style: Kolsch, Gose, and Berliner Weiss
Country of Origin: Delaware, United States

Tasting the ale before adding it to the chili is recommended to ensure it fits your liking. If it is, you’ll enjoy how the tangy citrus aromas linger on your tongue before being smacked with an unexpected saltiness. When combined with a sweet malt presence, this beer may achieve an outstanding balance of flavors ideal for a medium-spiced bowl of chili.

ShinDigger Shingri-La East Coast I.P.A.

The scent promises a rich combination of citrus and tropical flavors, and you will be welcomed with them upon tasting. The initial sweetness on your palate, which is a unique twist for an I.P.A., is immediately swamped by a blast of bitterness, and you can sense The Shangri-La East Coast I.P.A. combines delicious flavors of pink grapefruit, honey, and brown butter with floral overtones. With significant hop additions and an exceptionally modest malt backbone, it packs a solid tropical and citrus punch while keeping a moderate bitterness.

ABV: 6.5%
Style: American-style I.P.A.
Country of Origin: Manchester, England

It has a moderate, well-balanced flavor, with no single flavor overwhelming the others. White peach and pineapple aromas will also give your mild chili a sweet flavor.

FAQs

What kind of beer is best for chili?

One often chooses a darker lager or red ale. If you pour the beer into the chili while it's cooking, the hops in a strong I.P.A. bring out the flavors in the tomatoes and spices, giving it a more zesty flavor. It's the way to go if you want it scorching hot.

What alcohol pairs well with chili?

For example, if your chili is meaty and heavy on red peppers, a full-bodied red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot is ideal. However, if your chili has lighter components like chicken and white beans, seek a white wine with crisp acidity like Pinot Gris or Chardonnay.

What beer is best for spicy food?

A light-bodied beer, such as a light lager, pilsner, or cream ale, pairs well with a gentle pepper burn. When eating more powerful chiles, switch things up and drink a bolder beer, such as a bitter I.P.A. or a rich, black brew with caramel undertones. Play with bitter, sweet, and spicy.

Is chili better with beer?

The beer's creamy, buttery flavor enhances chili greatly. When it's put to the meat and veggies while they're sautéing, it deglazes the pan, and as it simmers, most of the alcohol evaporates. When combined with chili, beer imparts a more robust, cozy flavor that elevates everything to the next level.

Conclusion

The beer you decide to pair with chili can be the difference between just a meal and a memorable dining experience that will not only tantalize the palate but also provide a contrast. Whether you want a full-bodied sweetness and maltiness or something hoppy, bitter, or fruit-like, several kinds of beer are listed here, and there is something that will suit you. Test, have a great time, and determine what works best for you by finding the best beer-chili combination that suits your taste buds. Toast to beverages that are not only vigorously nutritious but also enhance a harmonious environment.

Kendall Jones

Kendall Jones: Seattle journalist, freelance writer, and top contributor to Washington Beer Blog. Published 5,400+ stories on beer and brewing.