A recent report has shown many people are now choosing beer to accompany meals when eating out rather than wine.

This is for a number of reasons; lower alcohol content and cost being just two of them.

But where to start? I want to guide you through a few beer styles and the foods to pair with them. And if you really get the bug for matching food with brews, then The Beer Academy in London has a whole range of courses from complete novice up to Beer Sommelier (further information on www. beeracademy.co.uk).

You'll be amazed at how often a beer works better than a wine with certain dishes.

Let's take a look at beer itself. Often regarded as the poor relation to wine, it's actually a very complex drink involving up to 12 ingredients.

For a start there's a whole range of different malts (that's the dried, kilned part-germinated barley grains) which give both colour and flavour.

There are the wonderfully aromatic hops; the herbs and spices if you like.

Finally, but by no means least, both the yeast and the water used for brewing contribute greatly to flavour.

All of these add differing depths and dimensions to the flavour of beer. You might be surprised to learn there are now some 130 recog- nised beer styles today.

I'd implore you to ditch the pint glass and go for something a bit more special for your beer and food matching.

Think of the theatre and sense of occasion when we see the fantastic array of glasses used for serving Belgian beers.

So next time why not use a stemmed wine glass for your beer and see for yourself how something so simple changes the perception of beer served with a meal.

What are the basic principles of food and beer pairing?

First of all treat blonde/golden beers and lagers as you would white wines and the darker, stronger bitters and porters as reds.

Secondly we need to understand what we're looking for in any food/drink pairing and that is one must enhance the other: thus the drink enhances the food and vice versa.

How does that work exactly?

It's time to introduce the three "C"s: we want to complement, contrast or cut the various food flavours.

By way of brief explanation: complementing uses a similar flavour or characteristic in both beer and food; contrasting places the food and beer on opposite sides of the palate; and finally cutting lifts and slices through rich fatty or oily dishes.

Here's a simple idea for you to try until the next in this series when I will be exploring golden ales and lagers along with their best food matches.

Seek out a good quality dark chocolate and enjoy it with a glass of Belgian Cherry Kriek beer.

The combination of flavours here is almost overwhelming; Black Forrest Gateau springs to mind!

Finally, I shall be hosting a Food and Beer Evening at The Axe & Compasses, Aythorpe Roding, on February 29. More details at www.theaxeand compasses.co.uk or call 01279 876648.

Nigel Sadler is commercial manager of Wibblers Brewery, and owner/director of Learn2Brew Ltd.

He is an award-winning brewer, one of the country's first accredited Beer Sommeliers and has just been made vice chairman of SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers.