In my last column I proudly talked about reconnecting with our national cultural heritage and identity, about how beer can help us unashamedly hoist the flag and celebrate the wonder of Britain. And this issue’s diatribe will be no different, as I pay tribute to our favourite kind of food and to a national industry that employs more people than steel, coal and shipbuilding combined. That’s right, this month I want to talk about beer and spicy food, and in particular curry.

Our love affair with curry stretches back for decades, to just after the Second World War with the first Bangladeshi immigrants, who often worked their passage in ships’ galleys, and started basic curry houses here to cater for their communities. Even now a huge number of curry restaurants are owned and staffed by Bangladeshis, not Indians. They adapted a few things of course – you’d have trouble finding chicken tikka masala or a balti in India or Bangladesh – but now ‘Indian’ food is more popular here than fish ‘n’ chips or steak and kidney pie and there’s ne’er a town, village or hamlet in this great country that doesn’t have a local boozer with a curry Tuesday or a small Indian restaurant that allows you to Bring Your Own to accompany your lamb bhuna and garlic naan.

Of course there is also a long and noble history of Britain, beer and the Indian subcontinent. India Pale Ales got their name from the pale ales that were exported to India during the 19th century and were made stronger and very highly hopped to survive the journey (see p.88). Today’s IPAs don’t have anything like the amount of hops that the Victorian ones would have done but are still significantly hoppier than standard pale ales.

So what does all of this mean for beer matching? Regular readers will already have begun to understand the basic principles – thinking about beer’s characteristics and those of the food you’re serving it with, specifically abv, bitterness, carbonation, sweetness etc. Having said that, although people often talk about complementing or contrasting flavours with beer I think that’s an unnecessarily complicated approach. All you need to ask yourself is ‘What sort of a drink do I want with this dish or this meal?’ And that’s a question of balance.

In this case key things to remember are that with spicy foods, carbonation (which can help to cleanse the palate) and hop bitterness (which latches on to the spices) are your friends, and in my opinion if the flavours are extreme – very hot, spicy or sweet – you want a beer that offers some respite and refreshment rather than something else that might assault your delicate taste buds.

The more astute amongst you will notice that I’ve spent all of my ‘spicy food’ column thus far talking about food from the Indian sub-continent. But there are plenty of other countries and continents that regularly incorporate spices in their food. Mexico and the southern states of the US, Morocco, Thailand, China, the Caribbean – they all use spices in a slightly different way.

An interesting aspect of those countries’ cuisines is that dishes tend to be served at the same time, which makes pinpoint matching pretty difficult. Not that this matters hugely – what we’re looking for is a drink that can take on a range of different flavours, textures and temperatures.

Indian snacks

These are pretty easy to make, but also to buy in to heat up (whether you’re at home or own a pub/restaurant). Hops, spice, crispy batter, the refreshing coolness and sourness of a raita or fresh coriander chutney. Perfect. I’d go for Coopers, a naturally cloudy, bottle conditioned Australian ale said to be one of the world’s best beers.

Cooper’s Sparkling Ale, £29.92/24, Bibendum

Thai style

Not all curry is from the subcontinent of course. I know a lot of people who now prefer Thai curry, which tends to have sharper, fresher flavours like fish sauce, lime and lemongrass, and often uses coconut milk instead of yogurt or cream. As the flavour is so different the beers should be too – try a Thai green curry with a Belgian-style wheat beer. Hoegaarden is available through most wholesalers, but you could try to get something a bit more unusual from your local specialist beer seller.

Hoegaarden, £31.12/24, WaverleyTBS

Reliable curry

Everyone has a favourite curry – and from bitter experience I’ve realised that in basic curry houses it’s always best to stick with your favourite. Mine is rogan josh, which Wikipedia reveals comes from Kashmir. Whatever – it’s hot but not overpowering and really intensely flavoured. I think it’s good in curry houses, but best done at home (or a proper restaurant) with good mutton. I’d eat it with a really good American IPA like Goose Island from Chicago.

Goose Island IPA, £27.26/24, Utobeer

No spice please

There is always someone in a group that can’t cope with spicy food and, like vegetarians coming to a steak restaurant, you just have to deal with them. Just do what everyone else does and do a korma, which seems to be the name given to any pale, creamy curry. It’s not my thing, but my wife eats them whenever we eat curry. If you’re going down that route you should try a standard pale ale like Marston’s Pedigree.

Marston’s Pedigree, £19.99/12, WaverleyTBS