Super Bowl Sunday is right around the corner, and there’s never been a better opportunity for you to show your friends and family what good beer can be.
In 2018, roughly 28 million pounds (13,000 t) of chips, 1.25 billion chicken wings, and 8 million pounds (3,600 t) of guacamole are consumed during Super Sunday according to Wikipedia. That’s a lot of chips and guac, but MAN! THAT’S A TON OF CHICKEN WINGS!
The National Chicken Council estimates that in 2019, Americans consumed an all-time high of 1.38 billion wings, up 2% from 2018, or about four wings for every man, woman, and child in the United States.
With all those wings, you’ll need something to refresh your palette. Here are a handful of beers that you can find almost anywhere to please almost any palette.
Eureka Heights Buckle Bunny
This has to be one of the cleanest, most crisp, refreshing beers on the shelves at HEB. It’s at the top of the list for a reason. I’ve changed the minds of a handful of my friends with an ice-cold Buckle Bunny. Best for the BMC (Bud, Miller, Coors) drinkers in your life that aren’t adventurous. Even though I drink all the weird cupcake, watermelon, pineapple upside-down cake beer I can get my hands on, my fridge is NEVER without some Eureka Heights Buckle Bunny. It’s one of the best beers in the country according to the Great American Beer Festival gold medal that it won.
The clean, crisp, balanced flavor of this beer makes it perfect for pairing hot wings with beer.
This is a terrific option for the Shiner Bock drinker. Shiner’s craft, and we love Shiner. However, Texas Leaguer’s not only more local, it’s got a bit more robust flavor, and it’s the type of beer that might change the mind of your malty-beer-drinking friends.
The rich, malty, finish of this beer makes it perfect for pairing hot wings with beer.
A delicious Bock that packs a sneaky punch, this may be for the same friend as the last one, but this is a bit more of a sipper due to the slightly higher alcohol content. It also pairs really well with crawfish.
The light, malty, flavor of this beer makes it perfect for pairing hot wings with beer.
Loaded with blueberry flavor and aroma without being the type of beer that makes your friends question if they’re drinking medicine. The brightly colored beer is cool for the beer nerds, but those playing it safe are seeking something clear and yellow. Fetching Lab’s got the cure for their itch plus a little bit of extra sweet fruitiness.
The bright, crisp, fruitiness of this beer make it a great accompaniment to some wings!
Following in the footsteps of Fetching Lab Blue Mischief is a less clear, more blueberry-y blonde ale. This one will make your friends wonder how it’s not blue! Great for your more adventurous friends.
The bold fruitiness of this beer lends itself well to pairing with hot wings to balance out the spice.
Show me a cleaner, lighter, brighter Mexican Lager, and I’ll show you a mirror and a liar. This crown jewel of Conroe is the type of beer that’ll make even the most devout of Corona or Dos Equis drinkers do a double-take. This is that “craft” beer!?
The light, crisp, clean, finish of this beer makes it perfect for pairing hot wings with beer.
Keeping in line with the light and crisp beer-flavored beers is No Label’s ever-popular blonde. It has to be one of the most approachable craft beers on the shelves in Houston. Another light and clean ale for your BMC drinking buddies.
The light, bright, finish of this beer makes it a good accompaniment for hot wings.
This is one we’ve seen disappearing on shelves, and we’re not quite sure why. Maybe it’s because they can’t keep up with demand because this is one of the cleanest blondes out there. Yet another light and clean ale for the BMC gang, but this one’s got more flavor than most.
Much like the last, the light, bright, finish of this beer makes it a good accompaniment for hot wings.
This one’s a bit more adventurous than the others on the list. At face value it’s just a pilsner, but the dry-hopping makes it a bit more bitter, and adds a ton of hop aroma without it being the sort of IPA that makes your friends cringe. The bright, floral nature of the hops makes this pilsner the kind of beer that you offer to your curious friends looking for more than a regular ‘ol beer-flavored beer.
The super-dry, crispy finish helps make this a great one for pairing hot wings with beer, but the bright, floral aroma is really what sets it apart.
Getting a bit more adventurous than the last, SpindleTap’s hazy shelfie IPA is a banger of a beer, but it’s low enough in alcohol to enjoy a few for the game. The bold citrus and tropical flavors are the sort of thing that could potentially change the mind of a non-IPA drinker. This is only for your most adventurous friends.
The juice-like, fruity flavors help make this a good option for pairing hot wings with beer. The thick mouthfeel may make it too heavy for more than a couple.
A bit higher alcohol, and a whole lot more bitter on the finish, this tropical IPA is one that might be worth sharing with your most adventurous friends. The higher alcohol makes it a bit sneaky, but the super tropical aroma makes it the type of beer that might lure in somebody that’s unsure of IPAs.
The bright, aromatic, tropical and floral aroma make this beer a great match for some hot wings.
Finally, the dessert beer of the bunch. The game’s over. Most of your friends have left, but the real ones stay to help you clean up. This is a beer to reward only the most loyal of friends with the most adventurous of palettes. Whether you get the coffee, cocoa, coconut, the one with hazelnut, or the one without coconut, it’s the kind of beer that’ll stick to your ribs and finish off the night. Share this one cautiously.
This beer is great for after the hot wings. And the people. And the cleaning.
Every beer on this list can be found at HEB, Spec’s, and anywhere that good beer is sold. While there are dozens of other beers you could be sharing while pairing hot wings with beer, these are the most readily available.
Anthony's a Houston native, a Creative Strategist at https://ledgeloungers.com/, an adjunct instructor of Visual Communication at Lone Star College, and a UH Coog that loves good beer almost as much as he does his city. Anthony lives to help others and that's found a home helping some of the coolest breweries on earth with creative and marketing projects that can be seen on our Portfolio page. Fueled by hoppy lagers, sessionable IPAs, and gangster rap, he's ticked his way through H-Town, rocking the most unusual Nikes he can find. When he's not writing for us, he's with his family or very patiently rooting for the Rockets.
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