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Over the past few months I have been travelling around Sweden slugging it out with one of the country’s leading wine experts (and jolly nice all-round bloke) Henrik Stenberg to determine which drink goes better with food – beer or wine.

From the frozen north to the deep south (and most places inbetween) we’ve taken over pubs and restaurants for an evening, presenting a three course meal for guests in which I suggested two beers for each course and Henrik selected the grape juice.

The whole experience has been a fantastic voyage of discovery for me, having gone into it with the huge chip on my shoulder so many ‘beer people’ have after having had their drink overlooked for so long as a credible partner to food.

Adamant that beer was better I deliberately went straight for wine’s jugular by ridiculing the pomp and pretentiousness that it invariably comes with. This tactic was actually pretty successful, winning me all of the early events (in my opinion) just because I made beer more of the underdog, more fun, less complicated and more accessible.

The danger of this strategy was that the answer to the question does beer or wine pair better with food somehow got lost in all the hyperbole.

That’s why very early on I started listening to what Henrik was saying about the science of why wine works (or doesn’t) with food. What I learnt has changed my views forever on food and drink pairings.

I always knew beer could turn a good meal into a great one – I just never properly understood why. After months of raging debate comparing and contrasting flavours, which looking back now included unhealthily lengthy discussions about how, for instance, a squeeze of lemon could alter the flavour profile of a crisp Riesling or a zingy wheat beer, I’ve finally concluded the following:

Both wine and beer equally deserve their place at the dinner table. Because at the end of the day they’re really not all that different. After all they’re trying to do exactly the same thing, and that’s to be the ideal partner to good food.

So to my old sparring partner Henrik I salute you. Over the 14 matches we slugged it out I had you up against the ropes and down on the canvas more than once. Going into the final round I was undefeated but you managed to land the knockout blow seconds before the bell, beating me by one vote.

Typical that the bloody newspapers were there to record it…..