For some people the idea of pairing fine cuisine and cheese with wine makes perfect sense while pairing with beer seems unappealing or pretentious. The fact is that wine enthusiast have acknowledged for years that their are certain flavors that wine can neither resonate or contrast due to the relatively small range of wine varieties. Beer, on the other hand, has such a wide range of styles and flavor compounds that it is actually much more effective for food pairing.
When you consider the flavors that malted grain, yeast, hops, and occasional adjuncts can lend to beer (fruity, grainy, toasty, cocoa, herbal spice, etc) and follow a few basic rules it is easy to do a multi-course beer dinner.
The Rules:
1) Match intensity of food and beer: In beer, "intensity" can reflect the alcohol content, the esters and phenol content (ie the unique spice character you get from rye beers), the bitterness of the beer, the maltiness, and the overall flavor content.
If you were to serve a rich carrot cake with very sweet cream cheese frosting... it would totally overshadow a Pilsner. A Barley Wine or Russian Imperial Stout would be a better choice.
2) Increase intensity as you go: If you are serving a 3 course meal and blow out your palate with a Double IPA during the appetizer you may not pick up on more subtle flavors later in the meal.
3) Pairing should have elements of both contrasting flavors and complimentary flavors: Perhaps the crisp dry finish of a German Hefeweizen will help cut the butter and fat content of a particular dish on the palate (Contrast), you would also want to consider using citrus flavors in the dish to compliment the beer.
That should get you started. Click here for a chart showing a variety of beers, their flavor parameters, recommended pairings, serving temps, and glass courtesy of the Brewers Association. Also, Sean Paxton, host of The Home Brewed Chef on The Brewing Network, has an episode here on planning a beer dinner.
If you want to see a tasting in action check out this video at the well known Chicago restaurant The Publican.
