The Absolute Best Beer Pairing For Pub Soft Pretzels

If you've ever found yourself tossing back pints of frothy at the pub with your friends, odds are you've experienced a serious case of the drunchies before. Nothing soaks up that hunger like a pub soft pretzel, but if you want to keep the party going, you ought to get a good beer to match it. We recently had an exclusive chance to talk with Chef Jessie Massie, Executive Chef at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Taproom in Mills River, North Carolina about the topic.

"I always suggest that folks pair [a pub soft pretzel] with our Hazy Little Thing IPA," Massie told Tasting Table, referring to Sierra Nevada's most popular hazy IPA. There are a lot of different types of pretzels out there, but a soft pretzel like this has a number of unique characteristics we ought to be considering when pairing it with a beer. "The light malt character and smooth mouthfeel of [a hazy IPA] complements the chewy, golden baked pretzel," said Massie. "And contrasts the buttery, salty flavors adding a pop of flavor." She's got our mouths watering just thinking about it.

Hazy IPAs are a relatively new contender in the beer arena. Alternatively known as New England IPAs, this style of beer is iconically opaque due to the fact that the beer is unfiltered. Normally, breweries will filter their beer after fermentation to remove any grain particles and leftover yeast. Hazy IPAs purposefully skip this step to achieve a golden-yellow color with big, bold flavors.

The first thing most people notice about hazy IPAs is how citrusy they are. On the nose you get a big whiff of tropical fruit aromatics and the flavor tends to be bright with notes of citrus and a pleasantly full-bodied mouthfeel. It's the mouthfeel that really ties hazy IPAs and pub soft pretzels together, as Massie mentioned, but those citrus notes pair nicely with popular dipping sauces like honey mustard, too.

It's worth mentioning that hazy IPAs are not universally loved. We're not about to crack open the can of worms on why the genre of beer gets so much hate (personally speaking, hazy beers give us wicked heartburn), but that doesn't mean you're out of luck in the pretzel department if hazy IPAs aren't your thing. Many wheat beers have a similarly sweet, citric flavor and full body which makes them a great substitute. Alternatively, you could go for an amber or pale ale, but we're getting farther from what makes hazy IPAs so great for the job at this point.

You don't have to wait until you're at the bar to enjoy this matchup, either. Put your poofy baker's cap on and make your own soft baked pretzels at home, just make sure you know what you're doing if you want the most glorious soft pretzels you've ever had in your life.