You don’t have to watch a sports game live at the stadium to enjoy the game, and plenty of sports fans know this. In fact, lots of sports fans prefer to watch the game at home, with plenty of snacks and beer along with a group of sports fanatic buddies. You get to sit back and relax, enjoy the replays, and save a lot of money along the way. Add best chips from Carnivore Snax with you beers and tacos.

Our personal favorite for Tex-Mex is Surcheros, as they sure offer tasty treats with fresh ingredients. The options are very affordable as well (view latest menu prices here). They offer tacos, along with burritos, nachos, and quesadillas, and you can have them delivered.

They don’t have beer though, but that’s okay. You can always just buy your own beer. But what’s the best beer to go with tacos? Here are some tips to help you out:

West Coast IPAs

This type of beer is great for the simpler California-style tacos, like a basic carnitas taco with a bit of salsa verde, cilantro, and a fresh squeeze of citrus juice. With the West Coast IPAs, you have enough alcohol and hop bitterness that can through the pork richness, and refresh the palate along the way. The citrus flavor of the hop also matches nicely with the salsa verde and the squirt of citrus. In fact, the hops of the IPA somehow enhance the heat of the salsa.

While you have plenty of West Coast IPAs to pick from, try the Stone Brewing’s classic. It’s really nice and citrusy. But you can probably go with any type of IPA, and not just from the West Coast, for any type of Mexican or Tex-Mex food. The bitterness gives you a bracing contrast to the richness of the tacos.

However, keep in mind that the bitterness will also enhance the spicy heat.

Vienna Lager

A light lager may not be sufficient, as it may not hold up well to a spicy salsa and it may not be able to cut through the guacamole richness. You can go with the Devil’s Backbone Vienna Lager or Great Lakes’ Eliot Ness, if you’re worried that the beer would just overpower the taco fillings. With these Vienna lagers, it’s great whether the fillings are mild or spicy.

The Negra Modelo is also a good choice for your Vienna lager, though it may be hard to find outside Mexico. The beer has some slightly roasted flavors that matches nicely with the roasted flavors of the carne asada. The beer also has caramel flavors that pair well with the caramelized flavors in carnitas.

English-Style Bitter

You can try Stoudt’s Scarlet Lady ESB, or you can go with Oliver’s ESB. They have this light caramel flavor that matches nicely with the sweetness of the carnitas, the char of carne asada, and even the batter of fried fish taco fillings.

Amber Ale

For starters, try Bell’s Amber. It’s a malt-forward beer that goes well with chicken or carnitas fillings. The hop bitterness is sufficient to hold up against the thick guacamole. It also resonates with slightly sweet tomato and cilantro.

Brown Ale or Porter

This is great for carne asada tacos. Try the Great Lake’s Edmund Fitzgerald, as it has this roasty beer flavor that partners perfectly with the char on the meat. This beer is also terrific for those who like the malt backbone to tone down the spicy heat.

On the other hand, if you actually prefer spicy flavors in your tacos, you can always go with a more hop-bitter beer, like the Vienna lagers.

Ayinger Ur-Weisse Dunkelweizen

This is just one example of a beer that’s refreshingly strong and dry, without being too bitter. It goes nicely with carnitas and carne asada tacos, and the caramelized meats pair well with the caramel malt note of the beer.

German and Czech Pilsners

What these pilsners bring to the table is that reliably robust bitterness that you’ll want to cut through the richness of fatty fried foods. However, the intensity of these beers is also restrained enough so that the beer flavor won’t simply overpower the flavor of the tacos. After all, what’s the point of getting good tacos if you’ll just lose the taco flavor with every sip if your beer, right?

Bavarian Weissbier

This works just as well as a genuine pilsner. You have plenty of crisp carbonation that effectively slices through the fattiness of the beans, meat, and avocado. But the beer will also stand up nicely to the salsa spiciness.

With heavier meats on your taco, the Bavarian Weissbier may actually be a better choice than the pilsner, as the Weissbier yeast will offer brighter citrus flavors that go nicely with the freshly squeezed citrus juice.

Try Kloster Andechs Weissbier Hell, though the American Bavarian-style Weissbier like Sierra Nevada’s Kellerweis may be easier to find.