Five craft beers for summertime barbecues

July 3, 11:00 PMBurbank Food ExaminerSarika Chawla

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Vendome Wine and Spirits tasting bar

There was a time when classing up a summer barbecue meant slicing lemon wedges for the Corona. But with small-production craft beers emerging in neighborhood liquor stores, it’s easy to elevate your next backyard gathering.

The hard part is making sense of the array of available lagers and ales, especially when most of us can barely distinguish a Hefeweizen from Heineken. I enlisted the help of Scotland Stephenson, manager and resident beer guy at the Toluca Lake branch of Vendome Wines & Spirits, which features no less than 700 brands of beer.

According to Stephenson, the buzz around the craft brew industry tends to focus on the “extreme beers,” i.e. super-hoppy India Pale Ales or the now-discontinued Redhook Double Black Stout that, for a short time, was infused with coffee.

But on a hot, lazy summer days, it’s all about no-frills brews that are light, tart and crisp—and preferably with low-alcohol content so the drinking can last all day and into the night.

1. Manneken Pis—yes, that translates into “mannequin piss” —has been rebranded for Americans as the more exotic-sounding Blanche de Bruxelles (although the label still features the image of a little guy doing his business). This Belgian witbier (white beer) is brewed with unmalted wheat and seasoned with coriander and citrus flavors. Light and bright, it pairs easily with citrus-marinated grilled chicken breast or fish.

2. Stephenson’s pairing tip of the day is when balancing food and beer, first think about whether one flavor will overpower the other, and then worry about whether they complement each other. If you’re grilling burgers or steaks, a vitbier may not hold up, so try a more full-bodied lager like Keller Bier from St. Georgen Bräu. This style of German unfiltered lager is cloudy in appearance, but rich in taste and feel.

3. Pilsners are generally light and clear, but have a distinctive hoppy element that can also stand up to those heavier meats. And although it seems counterintuitive, the traditional bitterness of pilsners can actually be quite refreshing to the palate. Stephenson recommends one of his favorites of this type, Schönramer Pils from Germany’s Schönramer Brewery.

4. Also in the pilsner family is the Czech-style brew from Lagunitas Brewing. Based out of Petaluma in California’s wine country, this is a “fantastic spicier malt” that works with well spicy Asian flavors and even strong cheeses.

5. Though not ideal for summer, you’ll be the rock star of the party if you can snag a bottle of Rochefort, a deep, rich ale produced by Trappist monks at the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy. “It’s some of the best beer in the world,” says Stephenson, noting that its tremendously complex flavors and high alcohol content can be paired with a variety of foods. And despite the extremely low annual production, a bottle costs less than $10.

And for good measure, Stephenson shows off his own beer of choice for the weekend: Hot Rocks lager from Port Brewing out of San Marcos, California. Instead of heating the unfermented beer (wort) over a flame, brewers boil it by placing red-hot rocks directly into the wort. The results is a darker stein-style lager, also not a typical summer drink, but so flavorful with its chocolate-y notes and smokiness that it’s worth savoring.

Want to learn more? Vendome Wines and Spirits has beer tastings every Saturday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and wine tastings throughout the week.