San Miguel Beer redefines ‘inuman, pulutan’ with beer-infused dishes 

MANILA, Philippines — Which beer tastes better with what food?

To give one an idea, Filipino beverage label San Miguel Beer recently unveiled new dishes infused or paired with beer as new staples in the menu of Draft Restaurant & Brewery in Makati City.

A popular watering hole in Powerplant Mall, Rockwell, Draft Restaurant & Brewery pitched and presented the dishes to San Miguel, which then made some suggestions on the pairing, said San Miguel Beer Brew Master Alan Sienes.

According to Sienes, the restaurant replaced some of the beers in some dishes with San Miguel.

“When you talk about a food pair, you have to take a systematic approach so that you come up with the desired flavor. You look at the taste and also the aroma,” he explained. “Aroma is something suggestive; it’s coming from the brain. Even if it something that is just smell, you can actually taste the aroma. It’s coming from the nose and when you take the food, it suggests to the brain that this is the impression. It is something that we feel that we tasted. You can’t taste, for example, the pineapple, but you can sense the pineapple because of the aroma.”

Apart from taste and aroma, the food and the beer’s textures should complement, he noted. He suggested downing food with beer after tasting the food for better appreciation.

“(Beer) enhances the food. You get to appreciate the food more… Take the food and while it’s still in your mouth, take the beer. Like how tuyo or dried fish complements with vinegar, beer is like seasoning, umami,” he said.

For starters, there is Spicy Blanca Shrimp with a fiery kick and a zesty infusion of San Miguel Cerveza Blanca.

Draft Restaurant & Brewery Head Chef Bernadette Unigo is particularly proud of Spicy Blanca Shrimp, her own invention and take on the Filipino dish Nilasing na Hipon.

“Before, ang ginagamit namin is ‘yung imported na brand. So ngayon, since nakipag-collaborate sa’min si San Miguel, ginamit na namin ‘yung brand ni San Miguel instead of ‘yung dati naming ginagamit. Pero ‘yung kay Blanca, special dish ko… Sa’kin nanggaling ‘yung (recipe),” she told select press, including Philstar.com.

“‘S’ya ‘yung local version ko ng Nilasing na Hipon,” she said of Spicy Blanca Shrimp, the unique recipe among the three new dishes introduced, making it exclusive to the restaurant.

“‘Di ba ‘yung Nilasing na Hipon, nilalagyan natin ng beer? So this one naman, ginamitan ko rin s’ya ng beer pero mas high-end ang style n’yan then spicy pa s’ya, so homemade talaga s’ya.” 

The dish has a slight spicy kick, but the spiciness level can be adjusted to one’s liking, said the chef.

For those looking for something cozier, Midnight Melt Cheesy Onion Soup is an onion gravy soup dish with a broth base made richer with San Miguel Cerveza Negra.

“If you try it, it’s quite a good blend,” Sienes attested. “Because if you pair food and beer, there must be balance between the food and the beer. The other must not dominate the other. It complements…“

The classic fish and chips combo gets an upgrade into Brewer’s Catch, which uses San Miguel Premium All-Malt into the batter mix, making the deep-fried fish crispier with added malty flavor.

In addition to these special beer-infused dishes, Draft Restaurant & Brewery also offers a lineup of beer-match items on their menu, including Pork & Fennel Sausage, Buffalo Wings, Chicken Skewers, Pork Schnitzel, Pork Skewers, and the signature and bestseller Sisig Pizza.

Skewers always go well with any beer, said Chef Bernadette, but she specifically vouched for Pork Skewers paired with San Miguel Super Dry as “pantanggal ng umay… So nililinis n’ya ‘yung palate mo,” she said. For seafood, she recommended Cerveza Blanca as a match.

“You know that the beer complements a certain dish if you drink it and the flavor of the dish floats even more,” she enthused, “Parang mas gugustuhin mo pang kumain nang mas marami, mapaparami ka ng kain.”

She drinks a little beer then tastes the food – that’s how she pairs food with beer, she said: “Tikim ka muna, lasahan mo muna (‘yung beer) then saka ‘yung pulutan.”

As a drinker, she is fond of pairing food with San Mig Light. According to her, cooking using the brand’s beers was as easy as pairing them with dishes. 

“Sa cooking, ‘di naman talaga s’ya mahirap i-adjust sa pagkain. Like nu’ng ginawa namin ng one time, nakuha na agad namin ‘yung recipe,” she said, “So hindi ka mahihirapan na gawan s’ya ng menu talaga.”