Beer Tastes 10x Better Sprinkled With This Pantry Staple
With countless craft beers circulating across the nation's coolers, many of us opt for fancier microbrews over lower-quality macros. But would you be more likely to buy something cheaper if you had a hack for making it more flavorful? Hear us out: Beer often tastes better with a touch of salt.
For centuries, brewers (and imbibers) have added salt to beer to enhance its taste. The practice is colloquially known as a method to make cheap beer taste higher in quality. Just like with food, salt makes beer's natural flavors more robust. It can round out the bitterness of hoppy beers, making them more approachable. Malty beers can taste maltier with a more notable hint of sweetness. The goal is balance, though; use enough salt to make the beer's flavor more well-rounded, deep, and complex without making it downright salty. Salt can also make flat beer seem more carbonated, and some allege that it curbs bloating as you drink.
It's the same reason some folks put pickles in beer, or why bars historically serve drinks with salty snacks like pretzels and nuts. No matter the drink, salt makes the flavors that are already present shine brighter. Consider the margarita or michelada, which often come with salt on the rim.
How to pair beer and salt
Certain types of beer take to salt better than others. Mexican lagers, like Pacifico and Modelo, are no-brainers, considering it's a cultural norm to serve them with lime and salt. Salt can amplify the slight malty notes of American lagers, like Coors Banquet and Miller Lite, and round out their subtle bitterness. Similar pilsners and pale ales could work too, the latter typically being more bitter. Brewers have also added salt to stouts, porters, saisons, and IPAs. Goses, a type of sour German-style ale, typically already include salt for bright, refreshing salinity.
As for the best type of salt, sea salt is the go-to for several beer makers, but Himalayan pink salt or even smoked salt work, too. Sea salt offers minerality and brininess that adds a new flavor versus just enhancing the beer's original flavor. If you're going to coat the rim of your glass, kosher salt will stick like a charm, plus offer crunchy textural intrigue. It also dissolves quickly, so feel free to add it to your drink instead.
The practice of adding salt to beer goes beyond Mexico. In fact, some Americans and Canadians consider it a drinking tradition to sprinkle salt into a pint glass before filling it, especially when it comes to macrobrews, like Pabst Blue Ribbon, in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Texans also salt their beer; in San Antonio, many liquor stores offer salt for garnishing, sometimes even flavored varieties.
