Beer -- It’s what’s for breakfast for dinner

Do you think cooking breakfast for dinner is shameful? Evidently, some people at National Public Radio think it’s a prevailing attitude as they recently ran a post arguing that “Proper Adults” should no longer feel shame for making eggs and waffles at nighttime.

As one who’s enjoyed breakfast fare after the sundown my whole life, I can’t say I’ve ever felt shame for it. Certainly it’s less shameful than a beer with breakfast (and you’ll even get a pass on that from me).

Breakfast food at dinnertime is is not only a sensible, quick way to use pantry staples for a bit of delightful cognitive dissonance, it is also an excellent excuse to pair craft beer with dishes that often only see coffee and juice as accompaniments.

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Here are five of my favorite beer styles to pour when I’m shirking responsible adulthood and whipping up my favorite breakfast foods for supper.

Hefeweizen

A classic breakfast/brunch beer -- especially in its native Germany -- the bready, fruity, and slightly tart flavors of the wheat beer fit right in with breakfast fare. A light hefe also works stunningly well with a rich, spicy plate of huevos rancheros.

Stout

Stouts are another obvious choice for breakfast beers, especially those examples brewed with breakfast-friendly ingredients like oats or coffee. A flagon of Smog City’s Groundwork Coffee Porter is just about a perfect match for waffles, french toast, or a Dutch baby.

Saison

Light and lively farmhouse ales with a spicy, peppery flavor from rustic yeasts and warm fermentation temperatures are about my favorite thing to pair with a frittata (especially one with some nutty cheese and lots of mushrooms). There are few better dishes for cleaning out the odds-and-ends in your pantry/fridge than a frittata; it’s a great option to flout dinner’s conventions. Try one with a bottle of The Bruery’s Saison Rue.

Kriek

I don’t mean the overly sweetened examples most often seen, but rather the acidic and subtly funky versions from Belgium or any of the American producers with a serious barrel program. The fruity tartness will match to the sweeter dishes or anything with berries or chocolate, or cut the richness of a savory hash. Serve the sparking, pink brew in a delicate champagne flute for maximum impact, and you’ll want to have breakfast for dinner every night.

Doppelbock

All those previous suggestions work fine when you’re enjoying breakfast foods at the natural time of day, but if you’re enjoying typical morning foods at nighttime, why not take advantage with something that packs a little more alcoholic oomph? A dark, sweet, bready doppelbock is best friends to pork, and if you’ve got ham steaks, fatty pork breakfast sausages, or copious piles of bacon on your dinner plate, you can’t ask for a better match than the “liquid bread” that sustained Bavarian monks during their Lenten fasts. I recommend going with a classic import like Ayinger Celebrator, Spaten Optimator, or Salvator from Paulaner.

These suggestions just scratch the surface of breakfast-and-beer pairings, and while most of the beers mentioned above are not particularly hoppy brews, IPAs, American amber ales, and other hop-forward beers also work wonderfully with many breakfast foods.

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