Beer and music pairing? Is this a joke, or is it real?

Well, yes and no. Or rather, yes to both.

In 2010 I started pairing beer with music as a joke. At the time, everyone was talking about beer and food pairing. Predictably, wine snobs laughed at the idea. But even many ardent beer drinkers dismissed it, saying beer couldn’t possibly work as a pairing for food. They said it was pretentious.

I thought: You think pairing beer and food is pretentious? Hold my beer – I’ll show you pretentious.

And so, at a literary festival, in a room above a pub, I stood in front of about thirty people with my iPhone plugged into a speaker, and made them listen to New Order and the Pixies while they drank beer.

I had my fun, and that’s all that mattered.

Then, two years later, I met Charles Spence, Professor of Experimental Psychology and Head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford University, who informed me that what I was doing was very similar to actual, serious experiments he and others were conducting around the world.

Our senses mingle and overlap, helping each other out in ways we’re not always aware of. What you see influences what you (think you) taste. And so does what you hear.

Your brain is lying to you. You have more than five senses. And you can hear the difference between IPA and Imperial stout.

I evolved my talk into a full-on multimedia show, incorporating neuroscience, video, tutored tasting, great tunes, and over three jokes. I started running experiments during my event, collecting my own data. I learned that I could change the flavour of beer by changing the music that was playing.

In 2025 CAMRA [https://shop1.camra.org.uk/product/tasting-notes] published the book of the event – Tasting Notes: The Art and Science of Pairing Beer and Music. “Side One” of the book explores the science of how we taste and how we hear, in depth, and looks at how they’re affected by context, circumstance, personal experience, and most importantly, by each other. “Side Two” gives 45 pairings of great beers and epic tracks from across all beer styles and musical genres. (You can see the playlist here. [https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5aP87pU607qOJ6dXiDJ9f5?si=e448f3915a3b45f1]

Since 2014 my show has opened the spoken word tent at the Green Man Festival in South Wales, and now attracts 1200 people each year. Now, for the first time, I’m delighted to bring it to Fyne Fest. I’ll be pairing classic songs by Scottish bands with beers available at the festival. I’m even doing it twice in case it clashes with something else you’re into the first time! So you’ve got to come.

See you there!

www.fynefest.com