What to have with beer: 12 snacks from classics to cheese snacks

Short answer: the best beer snack is salty, crunchy, doesn’t need a plate and doesn’t leave your hands greasy. The classics: salted nuts, croutons, jerky, cheese. Dried cheese offers the best balance of flavour, satiety and convenience: salty, crunchy, 13 g of protein per pack and not a drop of oil. Below are 12 options, from traditional ones to those you haven’t tried yet, and how to match them to a specific beer.

12 beer snacks

1. Dried cheese. Crispy bites and sticks made from 100% cheese. Smoked Sulguni goes with dark beer, Cheddar with IPA, Gouda with lager. Doesn’t melt, doesn’t leave your hands greasy, and has as much protein as two eggs. See cheese snacks for beer.
2. Salted nuts. Peanuts, almonds, pistachios. Filling and salty, but mostly fat and frying oil. The mix Sulguni + Peanut — the same pairing, only with cheese instead of oil.
3. Croutons and toasts. A bar classic. Plus: the crunch; minus: flour, oil and flavour enhancers, and zero satiety.
4. Jerky, cured meat. Lots of protein and salt, expensive, often with sugar in the marinade.
5. Cheese braids, smoked cheese sticks. Tasty, but a moist product: it lives in the fridge, sticks to your fingers and dries out within an hour on the table.
6. Dried and salted fish. Traditional, but it makes the whole flat smell and needs a newspaper.
7. Olives. For pale and wheat beers. crispy dried olives — the same taste without brine or a jar.
8. Pretzels, salted sticks. Light and salty, for those who want “something to crunch” rather than a meal.
9. Wings, nuggets. A hot snack for a group, but it takes a kitchen and time.
10. Nachos with cheese sauce. For watching a match. Dried Primaggio grated on top will replace cheese powder.
11. Salted popcorn. Cheap and plentiful, zero protein.
12. Cheese board. For a craft beer evening: 3–4 cheeses of different intensity + nuts + honey. With dried cheese it comes together in 2 minutes — how to put together a cheese platter.

Which snack goes with which beer

Why dried cheese wins in most situations

It combines the advantages of other snacks without their drawbacks: crunchy like croutons, salty like nuts, filling like jerky — yet the only ingredient is cheese, with no oil or flour, and it doesn’t leave your hands greasy like a cheese braid. A 28 g pack keeps in the cupboard for 18 months, so there’s always “something for beer” at home, not just when you’ve managed to buy it. How much to get: 2–3 packs for two, and for a group — a 500 g pack.

Beer snacks at home in 5 minutes, no frying

• Three bowls of dried cheese in different flavours — Gouda, Cheddar, smoked Sulguni.
• Crispy olives and salted nuts alongside.
• A board with sliced dry-cured sausage or jerky.
• Bread or pretzels for those who need “something neutral”.

None of this needs a kitchen, and it all disappears from the table. Ideas for wine and whisky — in the articles Wine snacks and Whisky snacks.

Questions and answers

What is the best beer snack?

Salty, crunchy and convenient: dried cheese, salted nuts, croutons. For the balance of flavour, satiety and ingredients, dried cheese wins — just cheese, 13 g of protein per pack.

What goes with pale beer?

Gouda, Mozzarella, olives, pretzels — something mild and salty that won’t overpower a light beer.

What goes with dark beer and stout?

Smoked: smoked Sulguni, smoked Emmental, cured meat.

What to try

Dried snEco Cheese “Sulguni”, 28 g €3.13 Dried snEco Cheese “Cheddar”, 28 g €3.30 Dried snEco Cheese Mix “Sulguni + Peanut”, 20 g €1.97

Author: Vadym Gryshyn, co-founder of snEco