Photo: Cavan Images (Getty Images)
Summer is here and with that comes a lot of outdoor activities. Days at the beach, afternoons spent at a lake, evenings on a deck or back patio, and for the real-deal outdoor kids: weekends spent camping. If you’re the type of person who prefers to slumber in a sleeping bag, in a tent, in the middle of the woods, while you listen to coyotes howling way closer than you’d be comfortable with, camping is for you.
And, if you’re going to go camping, you probably shouldn’t order pizza to be delivered to your campsite (at least not every night). This means you’ll have to create a menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that will last for a few days in a cooler filled with ice (and eventually just chilly water) but is also pretty simple to make. Nobody wants to make an elaborate meal after spending a day hiking in the Adirondacks (or wherever else you choose to camp).
While multiple meals take a lot of intense planning, the beverages that go with some of these meals are just as important. And no, we’re not talking about bottled water, various juices, and soda. We’re talking about the only important camping beverage: beer.
Picking the right beer to pair with camping foods isn’t easy. Lucky for you, we’re here to help. Keep reading to see all of our favorite beers paired with your favorite camping foods.
Camping Beers
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Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout With Bacon and Eggs
While we don’t often drink beer with breakfast, the rules are different when you’re on vacation. Plus, “breakfast” is in this bourbon barrel-aged stout’s name. The chocolate, coffee, and toasted barley flavors are just as satisfying (maybe even more so) as a cup of coffee with eggs and bacon.
Photo: Founders
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Jack’s Abby Post Shift Pilsner With Grilled Hot Dogs
While there’s no post-shift time during a camping trip, the same idea works for cracking open a crispy, refreshing beer after a long day spent outdoors. This thirst-quenching, crushable beer is the perfect complement to savory, salty, meaty, grilled (hopefully charred) hot dogs.
Photo: Jack’s Abby
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Bell’s Lager of the Lakes Bohemian Pilsner With Trail Mix
No camping trip is complete without trail mix. We make ours with various nuts, raisins, and M&M’s. The salty, nutty flavor, and the sweet raisins and chocolate candy pair well with the light, refreshing, sweet, easy-drinking flavor of Lager of the Lakes.
Photo: Bell’s
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Cigar City Jai Alai IPA With Ribeye Steak
If you’re upping your camping game, you’ll earmark one evening for something special like ribeye steaks. The slightly bitter, fruity, citrus-driven flavor of Cigar City Jai Alai pairs well with the fatty, savory flavor of a great ribeye.
Photo: Cigar City
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Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter With Cheeseburgers
There’s a good chance your camping menu will be littered with grilled foods. They’re easy, tasty, and pair well with beer. A cheesy, meaty, umami burger pairs well with a dark, roasted, malty, slightly sweet porter like Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald.
Photo: Great Lakes
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Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale With Campfire Chili
One of the best camping meals of all time is chili. Once your fire is crackling and burning bright, there’s no easier, more satisfying meal than a slightly spicy, meaty, bean-filled bowl of chili around the campfire. The perfect beer to pair with it is Deschutes Mirror Pond. The slightly bitter, hoppy, floral flavor helps to cut through the spicy heat.
Photo: Deschutes
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Narragansett Lager With Grilled Corn
Grilled corn, when slathered in butter and sprinkled with salt, is a magical mix of salty, sweet, and savory flavors. These flavors demand to be paired with a crisp, sweet, crushable lager. In our opinion, there are few summery lagers that fit the bill better than Narragansett.
Photo: Narragansett
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Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout With S'mores
There are few foods more synonymous with camping than s’mores. And this combination of toasted marshmallow, milk chocolate, and graham cracker goes perfectly with the malty, coffee, slightly bitter chocolate flavor of this oatmeal stout.
Photo: Samuel Smith’s
