Beer, chicken wings, and football pair perfectly together, and with the "The Big Game" coming up this weekend, we thought it would be fun to do a Deschutes beer and wing pairing that you could mimic at home.
Everyone has their favorite wings and their favorite wing spot and these spots almost always have beer! When we asked Central Oregon fans on Facebook to list their wing favorites, the recommendations were far and wide from fried to baked and from regular Buffalo Hotwings, to Honey Cajun BBQ.
With a little help and some recommendations from The Wing Woman herself, Ashley Rouston (The Beer Wench), out of Northern California, we came up with some great pairings.
You may not be able to find these exact wing varieties in your town, but we're sure you can get pretty close to these flavors and sauces.
Inversion IPA paired with Thai Wings
Fresh Squeezed IPA paired with HOT Wings
Black Butte Porter paired with Honey BBQ Wings
Mirror Pond Pale Ale paired with Cajun Wings
Chainbreaker White IPA paired with Garlic (Lemon) Tahini Wings
Our original Deschutes Brewery and Public House on Bond Street is known for their hot wings so we ordered up a half dozen of our straight Buffalo Wings and a half order of our ever-so-popular Thai Wings (OF FIRE)!
To balance the hot flavors of the Buffalo wings, we paired them with a simple sessionable 4% ABV Deschutes River Ale. We could have a couple of these beers to quench our thirst and to balance the flavors of the sauce. (photo above)
The Thai Wings (OF FIRE) are a bit more complicated made with red peppers, ginger and soy sauce and served with a tasty Vietnamese sauce. We found that the malty and bitter flavors of Inversion IPA balanced the spicy flavor from the wings and the saltiness from the sauce.
Hardy's Hotwings, Burgers and Ice Cream diner in Bend is KNOWN for their wings. They have a huge variety and you can buy them to eat there or to go. Their milkshakes are killer too! Their most famous wings are their Hotwings. You can order them with various degrees of heat: mild, medium, hot, Xtra hot and Freakin' Hot! If you can eat 10 Freakin' Hot wings in 10 minutes, you get your photo on the "Wall of Fame." They even make their own ranch and bleu cheese dipping sauces. We tried their "Hotwings" which paired perfectly with the juicy and citrusy flavors of Fresh Squeezed IPA, and we then paired Black Butte Porter with their Honey BBQ wings to balance out the sweetness and loved the Mirror Pond Pale Ale/Cajun Wing combo.
Last but not least, we heard that Broken Top Bottle Shop had some tasty baked wings, that were also Gluten Free made with a Garlic Tahini sauce that was slightly tangy with a hint of added lemon. These wings paired perfectly with the sweet orange peel and citrusy flavors in Chainbreaker IPA.