Drink beer with your dinner

Italian

Convivio (45 Tudor City Pl between 42nd and 43rd Sts, 212-599-5045)

THE BRIEF: To complement Michael White’s refined Italian menu, Philips feels that Convivio’s mostly Italian beer list is just as good as wine. He reasons that the young Italian craft-beer movement’s restrained approach to oddball accents like chestnut, gentian and myrrh perfectly suits nuanced Italian food. “A lot of Italian brewers focus on subtle flavors that aren’t in your face, but also have delicate balance,” says Philips. (Aside from Peroni, your local Key Food likely doesn’t carry Italian beers; to try this at home, hit the specialty stores.)

Italian food has us thinking red sauce. Philips wants a lighter beer that won’t mask the bright tomato flavor, but something equally acidic to create balance. He suggests a saison, a dry, bubbly Belgian-style ale with hints of lemon. Saisons can also work well with seafood—they won’t overpower the protein. And with rich, creamy Italian? Something creamy. Try a stout, or better yet, per Philips’s recommendation, a doppelbock,—a rich and smooth German-style lager with intense maltiness (the beer-geek term for the sweetness provided by malted barley).

THE MEAL: Marinated sardines with mozzarella and roasted peppers ($14), guanciale (pork cheek) tortelli with a Parmesan-caciocavallo and black-pepper sauce ($23); East Coast halibut alla puttanesca ($26)

THE PAIRING: Philips looks to the Piccolo Birrificio saison (Liguria, Italy; $11) to drink with the sardines, because “it’s super bitter but light, clean and tart,” and should match the acidity of our vinegary cured fish. Plus, the juniper, chinotto peel and coriander infusion should provide oomph to counter the oily flavor. Indeed, the sardines tease out the beer’s bitterness, making for a suitable match.

To go with our cheesy tortelli, we choose the rich and silky Birrificio del Ducato Verdi (Emilia-Romagna, Italy; $13), a chili-spiked stout. Creaminess goes with creaminess; pepper with pepper. Philips flashes a smile.

Onto the halibut with puttanesca. Remember our tomato tip? Acidity! Once more a saison would work, but we go for an even stronger pucker: the Torrechiara Panil Barriquee Flanders red ale (Emilia-Romagna, $17), a Belgian style that picks up extreme tartness thanks to the addition of wild yeast. Its bright tang plays nicely off the puttanesca.

THE TAKEAWAY: Acid needs acid, as does light seafood—think saison or something equally sour. Creaminess calls for more body, like our Verdi or a classic German doppelbock.

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