The best beer to showcase food matching? The answer isn't Clear.

Coopers’ Brewery has announcedit has signed on to sponsor the inaugural Adelaide Good Food & Wine Show.

In what seems a bizarre twist to the sponsorship Coopers, which makes several beers that offer excellent food matching potential, has elected to base the sponsorship around hosting the Coopers 1862 Clear Bar. The brewery says the bar will see leading food producers matching dishes from their menus with Coopers Pale Ale, Sparkling Ale as well as Coopers Clear.

Identifying the sponsorship so closely with Clear is interesting in that, while Coopers Clear is a perfectly competitive beer within its class, it is a style of beer with a very low flavour profile that even Coopers’ Chairman Glen Cooper admits is “dumbed down”. To suggest it as a serious food match makes a mockery of the growing interest in — and respect for — beer and food matching. The move is analogous to winemaker Penfolds attending the show and trumpeting a tasting of foods matched to a wine cooler.

Such is the nature of modern brand marketing.

Coopers advise in their media release that celebrity chefs will also be matching dishes prepared from Adelaide Central Market’s produce with a stable of Coopers’ beers during the live Celebrity Theatre sessions, though there is no suggestion of what specific matchings will be shown.

“Coopers is thrilled to be a sponsor of the inaugural Good Food & Wine Show Adelaide. We believe that this show provides an impressive platform to showcase South Australia’s best food and beverage producers, and enables customers to get up close and personal with the makers and their products,” Glenn Cooper said in the media release.

“The Coopers’ 1862 Clear Bar is a unique feature to the Adelaide show providing an experience for customers to match our beer with some of the state’s best food products.”

While Mr Cooperacknowledges the show as animpressive platform to showcase the best food, the form of their sponsorship seems a wasted opportunity to highlight the best of beer.

As part of the sponsorship, Coopers’ beers will also be paired with gourmet canapés by The Lion Hotel’s Executive Chef at a media launch on September 7 where they plan to utilising the flavours of the hops and key canapé ingredients to develop a complementary match. This will be an interesting experiment with Clear, which itself is not notable for hop character.

Coopers’ is offering the chance to win one of three Coopers/Good Food and Wine VIP Experiences for themselves and three mates. To enter, book tickets through Ticketek before 6 September 2010 and quote ‘ADELAIDE.’ Your prize includes one hour in the Coopers 1862 Clear Bar VIP Lounge with free Coopers beer and food, plus a meet and greet with a celebrity chef.

www.coopers.com.au