Which Beer Goes Better with this Chopped Greek Salad? White Hawk India Pale Ale or Butte Creek Pilsner?

The school of thought that I’ve always been taught is that pilsners or IPAs are great pairings
with Mediterranean meals. Unfortunately for us, we
sort of have to guess what people mean by Mediterranean food. It’s a big region filled with lots of options. Kabobs? Lamb gyros?

In my case, today I’m making a Hello Fresh’s Chopped Greek Salad because I’m not heavy on eating meat, and it’s a light lunch meal.

It’s not day drinking if it’s for work.

Right?

While enjoying the salad, I’ll be comparing two separate but common beers, the fuller bodied White Hawk India Pale Ale versus the lighter and crisper finishing Butte Creek Pilsner. But first, the recipe is found here at Hellofresh.com.

A Blurb About White Hawk India Pale Ale

A traditional IPA battered with an array of American West Cascade hops and English Fuggle Hops, the White Hawk India Pale Ale is a complete classic. It has an English flavor with hoppy aromatics to the extreme. It’s a “hophead’s” beer without the redundancy of  the semi-popular double IPAs.

Paired with our Chopped Greek Salad, this beverage was perfect. It enhanced the strong Mediterranean flavors of the black olives, red onion, and feta, while the salad’s ingredients (especially the lemon zest) seemed to balance the bitters in the IPA. It had an excellent crisp flavor but with a soft, smooth finish.

Butte Creek Pilsner: Your Every Day Brew

A balanced mix of malt and hops, this standard pilsner felt like the perfect beer to just sit down and sip for the hell of it. I was nervous about how its light malt flavor would react with the red onion and feta cheese of the Chopped Greek Salad, but it turned
out that this pilsner merely washed out the strong flavors with a crisp, refreshing aftertaste.

What I did find with the Butte Creek Pilsner was that while it worked just fine with the meal, it didn’t add anything special to the taste like the White Hawk IPA did. This was a bummer. I was really rooting for this one.

White Hawk IPA Lands on Top

It definitely was what I expected, but I was really hoping for a little more surprise with the pilsner and our flavor-rich salad. The Butte Creek Pilsner was excellent beer and perfect for everyday sipping and is one of my favorite go to brews. But, if you’re hoping to impress house guests with your ability to pair foods and beers, pick up a six-pack of the White Hawk IPA for your fresh Mediterranean dish.

 Give it a try and test for yourself? Which brew is best?