Why Scotch And Steak Are A Must-Try Pairing

Red wine may be the traditional choice to pair with steak, but Scotch whisky should become your go-to instead. The flavors of whisky, both peated and unpeated, and grilled steak have a lot in common, making for a combination that's hard to beat. The char of the steak, the hint of sweetness provided by the caramelized meat, and its rich umami all find parallels and complements in many Scotch whiskies, letting the two enhance each other's flavors rather than fight for dominance.

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of peated versus unpeated and single malts versus blends, it's important to talk about the role of alcohol in food pairing. A small sip can act as a palate cleanser between bites of steak by cutting through the meat's fatty richness. And whisky's higher ABV does a great job giving your taste buds a break until the next forkful.

To start, a peated whisky is one of the best drinks to pair with ribeye since this fattier cut can stand up to fuller-bodied whiskies. The char of the steak and the smokiness of the whisky also blend nicely. Even Islay whiskies, famed for being heavily peated, offer a variety of other tasting notes that enhance a steak's flavor, whether that's a touch of sweetness or underlying flavors that tend to play well with grilled steak's inherent qualities, like dried fruit, oak, and vanilla. But that doesn't mean unpeated styles don't also pair well with steak.

Peated scotch isn't for everybody, but not all Scotch whiskies are smoky, and there are many regions that are famous for these unpeated styles, with tasting notes that lean into orchard fruit, dried fruit (from spending time in sherry casks), or spices, depending on the distillery. Something like a filet mignon, with its lack of fat, would actually be better suited to an unpeated Highland, Speyside, or Lowland whisky, which have a tendency to be lighter-bodied so as to not overwhelm the subtleness of this cut. Likewise, blended whisky, which tends toward being lighter-bodied, works well with a less fatty cut.

One distillery, Lagavulin, has even designed an expression specifically meant to be imbibed with steak. In 2022, actor Nick Offerman worked with the distiller to produce Lagavulin Offerman Edition: Charred Oak Cask, which the distillery said was meant to be paired with grilled, medium-rare steak.

If cocktails are more your thing, such whisky-based drinks as the Rob Roy, with its bittersweet profile and hint of smoke, pair with a rich steak. So does the Penicillin, with its ginger, lemon, and smoke. With all these options, it's easy to try the winning combination of Scotch whisky and steak. You may not go back to red wine.