Beer with Korean fried chicken and kimchi

Chimaek is a pairing with its own name

In Korea, fried chicken and beer are so closely tied that the combination is called chimaek: chi from chikin, maek from maekju, the Korean word for beer. The usual beer is a pale, light lager, served very cold.

That is a sensible choice. Fried chicken is fat and salt. A cold, fizzy lager scrubs both away and makes you want another bite. But Korean fried chicken comes in several styles. The sauce often matters more than the chicken. Once you look at the glaze, other beers start to make sense.

Why double frying changes the pairing

Korean fried chicken is usually fried twice. The first fry cooks the chicken through. The second, hotter fry drives out moisture so the coating turns thin, glassy and crisp. It stays crunchy even under a sticky glaze.

The thin crust means less greasy batter than many fried chicken styles, so very light beers work well. A pale lager or a German Pilsner at 4.5 to 5% ABV is ideal with plain, salted chicken (often called huraideu, from fried). The Pilsner's 25 to 40 IBU of bitterness adds a clean edge that a mass market lager lacks.

Yangnyeom glaze wants malt or wheat

Yangnyeom chicken is coated in a sticky sauce of gochujang (fermented red chilli paste), garlic, soy and sugar or rice syrup. It is sweet, hot and savoury at once.

Sweetness in food makes beer taste more bitter. Chilli makes bitterness feel harsher. So with yangnyeom, we move away from hoppy beers. A Vienna lager or an amber lager brings caramel malt that matches the glaze. A hefeweizen at 8 to 15 IBU is excellent if the sauce is very hot. Soy garlic chicken, sweet and savoury without the chilli, suits an amber ale nicely.

Kimchi and the fermented side dishes

Kimchi is napa cabbage salted and fermented with chilli powder (gochugaru), garlic, ginger and often fish sauce or salted shrimp. Lactic acid bacteria sour it over days or weeks. Fresh kimchi is crisp and spicy. Older kimchi is much sourer.

Sour food and very bitter beer clash. A tart beer can echo the sourness: a gose, lightly salted and sour, is a fun match with kimchi. A Belgian witbier works too, with soft wheat and citrus. Pickled radish (chicken mu), the cubes served with fried chicken, is sweet and sour and refreshing on its own, so it pairs with almost anything.

Kimchi also changes with age, which changes the pairing. Young kimchi, a few days old, is crunchy, garlicky and only lightly sour. A Pilsner handles it well. Well aged kimchi used in stews and fried rice is far sourer and more pungent. That is where the gose or witbier earns its place, because a bitter beer next to strong lactic sourness tastes thin and sharp.

Tteokbokki, Korean barbecue and jjigae

Tteokbokki, chewy rice cakes in a sweet and spicy gochujang sauce, is a common partner for fried chicken at Korean restaurants. Treat it like yangnyeom: low bitterness, a wheat beer or a malty lager.

Korean barbecue is different. Samgyeopsal (pork belly) and bulgogi (marinated beef) are grilled at the table. The char and the fat suit a Vienna lager or a schwarzbier, whose light roast echoes the grill without heavy body. Kimchi jjigae, a sour, spicy stew, goes back to wheat beer territory. Our guide to beer with spicy chicken wings covers similar sauces.

Where IPA fits with Korean fried chicken

A pale ale or IPA with citrus hops can be very good with plain fried chicken, much like lemon on fried fish. The hop aroma cuts through the fat and the bitterness cleans up. It is less happy with yangnyeom or very spicy sauces, where bitterness and chilli stack up.

If you order a half and half box, plain and glazed, a pale ale at 30 to 40 IBU is a reasonable middle ground. If heat is the point, choose a wheat beer. Our guide to beer with fish and chips covers more on fried food and hops.

Keep it cold, keep it moderate

Serve lagers at 3 to 6 °C with fried chicken, since cold sharpens their crisp, refreshing edge. Wheat beers are best at 5 to 7 °C. Chimaek is usually a sociable, late evening habit, so pace yourself, drink water and arrange a ride home.

Try a small test. Order plain fried chicken and yangnyeom chicken together. Pour a Pilsner and an amber lager. Taste each beer with each chicken. You will likely find the Pilsner suits the plain chicken and the amber suits the glazed one. That is sweetness in the food changing how bitter the beer tastes.

Your first step: next time you order Korean fried chicken, get a half and half box and two different beers. Note which beer you reach for with each piece.

Common questions

What is chimaek?

Chimaek is the Korean term for fried chicken with beer, from chikin (chicken) and maekju (beer). The classic pairing is a pale, cold lager.

What beer goes with yangnyeom chicken?

A Vienna lager, amber lager or hefeweizen. Their malt or wheat softens the sweet and spicy gochujang glaze better than a hoppy beer.

What beer suits kimchi?

A tart gose or a Belgian witbier. Avoid very bitter beers, which clash with the sourness of fermented kimchi.