Few combinations work quite as naturally as burger and beer.

A juicy burger brings fat, salt, char, sweetness and often plenty of cheese or sauce. The right beer can cut through that richness, refresh your palate and even bring out flavours in the burger that you might otherwise miss.

For me, the classic combination is hard to beat: a cheeseburger with Pabst Blue Ribbon. Pabst is crisp, refreshing and light enough not to overpower the burger, while its gentle hop character helps cut through the beef and melted cheese. It's simple, but it works.

The good news is that there's no single best beer for burgers. Change the toppings, meat or sauce and suddenly a different beer style can be the better match.

In this guide, we'll pair eight popular burger styles with beers available from Beerhunter and explain exactly why each combination works, in conjunction with National Burger Day.

Why Do Burgers and Beer Work So Well Together?

Good food and beer pairing normally comes down to three principles: contrast, complement and intensity.

Carbonation Cuts Through Fat

Burgers are naturally rich, especially once cheese, bacon and sauces are involved.

Beer carbonation helps cleanse the palate between bites, which is why crisp lagers and pilsners work so well with cheeseburgers.

Bitterness Balances Sweetness

Sweet BBQ sauce, caramelised onions and burger relish can quickly dominate a dish.

The bitterness from hops can counter that sweetness and restore balance.

Malt Complements Grilled Flavours

Grilling beef creates toasted, caramelised flavours.

Beers with bready, biscuit or caramel malt characteristics naturally complement that char.

Match the Intensity

A delicate lager can disappear alongside an enormous blue-cheese burger, while an aggressive double IPA could overwhelm a simple chicken burger.

The more intense the burger, the more character you generally want from the beer.

The Best Beer Styles for Burgers

Before getting into individual pairings, these are some of the beer styles I find particularly reliable with burgers.

Lager

Probably the most versatile option.

Crisp carbonation and restrained bitterness make lager particularly good with beef, melted cheese and salty chips.

If you're unsure what beer your guests like, lager is usually the safest starting point.

Pilsner

Pilsner takes that refreshing lager character and adds more noticeable hop bitterness.

It's excellent with fatty burgers because that dry, bitter finish cleans up the palate beautifully.

IPA

IPAs really come into their own when spice or sweet sauces are involved.

Citrusy, tropical hops can complement chilli while bitterness balances BBQ sauce and caramelised toppings.

Pale Ale

A good middle ground between lager and IPA.

Pale ales tend to have enough hop character for a flavour-packed burger without overwhelming the food.

Helles

German Helles brings soft bready malt and relatively restrained bitterness.

It's particularly good with chicken, cheese and simpler burgers where you don't want the beer taking over.

Stout

Dark roasted flavours can work brilliantly with intensely savoury toppings, mushrooms, blue cheese and smoky beef.

1. Classic Cheeseburger + Pabst Blue Ribbon

My personal favourite.

Sometimes the obvious pairing is obvious for a reason.

A classic cheeseburger doesn't need an enormously complex beer. You've already got beef, melted cheese, ketchup, mustard, pickles and a toasted bun competing for attention.

Pabst Blue Ribbon American Pale Lager keeps things simple.

It's crisp and refreshing with a delicate hop character and enough carbonation to cut through the cheese and beef without masking either.

Beerhunter's Pabst Blue Ribbon is a 4.7% American pale lager brewed with pale malt and Styrian hops.

Why it works: Crisp carbonation cuts through the cheese, while its light bitterness refreshes your palate after each bite.

Best burger: Beef patty, American cheese, pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard.

Shop Pabst Blue Ribbon at Beerhunter

2. Bacon Cheeseburger + Samuel Adams Boston Lager

Add bacon and suddenly your cheeseburger becomes richer, smokier and saltier.

That's where Samuel Adams Boston Lager works particularly well.

Its caramel malt character complements the toasted bun and browned beef, while the crisp finish prevents the whole combination becoming too heavy.

Having tried Boston Lager myself, it's that combination of caramel character and crisp finish that I think works particularly well with food.

Why it works: Malt complements smoky bacon and grilled beef while the lager finish refreshes the palate.

Best burger: Beef, mature Cheddar, crispy bacon, onions and burger sauce.

Explore Samuel Adams at Beerhunter

3. BBQ Burger + Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

BBQ burgers can be surprisingly difficult to pair.

You've normally got sweetness from BBQ sauce, smoke from the meat and potentially bacon, cheese or caramelised onions on top.

For that, I'd reach for something with more hops.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA delivers enough bitterness and hop character to stand up to a full-flavoured BBQ burger.

The hops help balance the sweetness of the sauce rather than adding even more richness.

Beerhunter currently carries Sierra Nevada's American craft range, including Torpedo Extra IPA.

Why it works: Hop bitterness cuts through sweet BBQ sauce while the beer has enough intensity to stand alongside smoky beef.

Best burger: Beef patty, smoked cheese, bacon, BBQ sauce and crispy onions.

Explore Sierra Nevada Torpedo and other American beers at Beerhunter

4. Spicy Chicken Burger + Erdinger Weissbier

Spicy chicken works brilliantly with a wheat beer because the softer, fruitier character helps balance the heat rather than adding even more bitterness.

Erdinger Weissbier is a great match, with its classic banana and clove notes, smooth wheat body and lively carbonation complementing spicy sauces while keeping the pairing refreshing.

Why it works: The soft fruity wheat-beer character rounds out the heat, while the carbonation cuts through crispy coating and spicy mayo.

Best burger: Crispy chicken, hot sauce, lettuce, pickles and spicy mayo.

View Erdinger in our Weissbier collection at Beerhunter.

5. Crispy Chicken Burger + Augustiner Edelstoff

Not every burger needs a massive IPA.

For a crispy chicken burger, I'd choose something cleaner and more delicate.

Augustiner Edelstoff is a beautifully balanced Munich lager with soft malt sweetness, a clean profile and refined hop finish. Beerhunter currently stocks Augustiner Edelstoff at 5.6% ABV.

That elegant lager character lets the crispy chicken remain the star.

Why it works: Crisp carbonation cuts through fried coating while soft malt complements the bun and chicken without overwhelming them.

Best burger: Crispy chicken, lettuce, mayo and pickles.

Shop Augustiner Edelstoff at Beerhunter

6. Veggie Burger + Krombacher Pils

Veggie burgers vary enormously, but anything based around grilled vegetables, beans or a lighter plant-based patty generally benefits from a crisp beer rather than something overly heavy.

I'd go with Krombacher German Pils.

It's a classic 4.8% German pilsner with a crisp profile and clean finish.

That extra pilsner bitterness is particularly good with grilled peppers, onions and savoury plant-based patties.

Why it works: The clean lager profile doesn't dominate delicate vegetables, while hop bitterness balances cheese and sauces.

Best burger: Plant-based patty, grilled peppers, red onion, lettuce and burger relish.

Shop Krombacher German Pils at Beerhunter

7. Mushroom & Swiss Burger + Augustiner Dunkel

Mushrooms bring deep earthy and savoury flavours, so this is where I'd move away from pale lager and towards something darker.

A German Dunkel is ideal.

Augustiner's range at Beerhunter includes its traditional Dunkel alongside Helles and Edelstoff.

Dark lager brings toasted malt and bread-like flavours without the heaviness you might expect from a stout.

That complements mushrooms beautifully while still remaining refreshing enough for a burger.

Why it works: Toasted malt mirrors the earthy, browned flavours of mushrooms, while the lager fermentation keeps the pairing clean.

Best burger: Beef, sautéed mushrooms, Swiss cheese and caramelised onion.

Explore Augustiner beers at Beerhunter

8. Blue Cheese Burger + Guinness 0.0

Blue cheese changes everything.

It's salty, creamy, tangy and powerful, so a delicate lager can easily disappear.

Instead, I'd pair it with Guinness 0.0.

It might be alcohol-free, but its roasted malt, coffee and chocolate character provides enough flavour to stand up to blue cheese, while its creamy texture matches the richness of the burger. Beerhunter currently stocks Guinness 0.0 in both 12- and 24-can formats.

It's also a good reminder that a great beer and burger pairing doesn't have to involve alcohol.

Why it works: Roasted malt contrasts with salty blue cheese while the creamy stout character complements beef beautifully.

Best burger: Beef patty, blue cheese, caramelised onions and crispy bacon.

Shop Guinness 0.0 at Beerhunter

Burger and Beer Pairing Cheat Sheet

How to Build Your Own Burger & Beer Night

One of the best ways to understand beer pairing is to try several combinations side-by-side.

You don't need eight different burgers.

Get a few friends together and create three or four smaller burgers with different toppings, then pour several beers into tasting glasses.

I'd start with:

Round 1 – The Classic

Cheeseburger + Pabst Blue Ribbon

This establishes the benchmark: crisp lager, beef and cheese.

Round 2 – Turn Up the Malt

Bacon Cheeseburger + Samuel Adams Boston Lager

Notice how the caramel malt works with the bacon and browned meat.

Round 3 – Add Heat

Spicy Chicken Burger + Erdinger Weissbier

Compare how banana and clove character interacts with chilli and spicy mayo.

Round 4 – Go Dark

Mushroom & Swiss or Blue Cheese Burger + Dark Beer/Stout

This demonstrates how roasted and toasted malt flavours work with much richer toppings.

Serve the beers in smaller tasting portions rather than full bottles or cans so everyone can compare the combinations properly.

Five Quick Rules for Pairing Beer With Burgers

If you want to create your own combinations, remember these:

1. Rich burger = refreshing beer.
Carbonation is your friend when dealing with beef, cheese and bacon.

2. Sweet sauce = more bitterness.
BBQ sauce and caramelised onions pair particularly well with pale ales and IPAs.

3. Match intensity.
Don't put your lightest lager against your strongest blue-cheese burger.

4. Look for similar flavours.
Toasted malt works with toasted buns, grilled beef and mushrooms.

5. Drink what you actually enjoy.
Food pairing rules are useful, but they're not laws. If you love lager with everything, drink lager.

What Is the Best Beer With Burgers?

If I had to recommend one all-round style, I'd choose lager or pilsner.

They're crisp enough to refresh the palate, versatile enough to work with most toppings and unlikely to overpower the burger.

And if you want one specific pairing to start with, I'd keep it simple:

Classic cheeseburger + Pabst Blue Ribbon.

It's the combination I'd choose myself. There's enough flavour from the burger already; what you need from the beer is refreshment, balance and something that makes you want to go back for the next bite.

For stronger toppings, however, don't be afraid to experiment. BBQ sauce can handle IPA, mushrooms love darker malt, and strong cheese can completely transform what you want from the beer alongside it.

That's the fun of pairing.

Conclusion

The best burger and beer pairing isn't necessarily about finding the most expensive beer or creating the most complicated burger.

It's about balance.

A crisp lager can cut through melted cheese, an IPA can tame sweet BBQ sauce, and darker malt can bring out the savoury flavours in mushrooms and grilled beef.

My own starting point will always be a classic cheeseburger with Pabst Blue Ribbon, but that's only the beginning.

Use the combinations in this guide as inspiration, experiment with different toppings and beer styles, and you'll quickly discover how much the right beer can change something as familiar as a burger.

Beerhunter stocks beers from across the USA, Germany and beyond, making it easy to savour the National Burger Day