VP of libations at Colorado’s growing Wilding Brands collective offers expertise, pairings advice

By Eric Peterson

Patrick Combs is one of the world’s foremost beer experts, but he was a little late to the party.

““Beer really is this thing that can pair beautifully with just about any kind of food.””

— Patrick Combs

“I was a kid of parents who were wine drinkers, so there really wasn’t ever beer in our house, and certainly never craft beer,” he remembered. “I never had anything other than an American lager until I turned 21 and I started exploring what was out there.”

While attending Oklahoma State University in 2009, Combs first tasted craft beer.

“I had a sip of that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and that was the lightning strike moment that really changed my life forever,” he said. “It was just a symphony of flavors.”

After college, Combs worked in health care, but his passion for craft beer remained front and center. He applied for a variety of entry-level positions at breweries but found passion alone wasn’t enough.

“Nobody really took me seriously,” Combs said. “I needed to prove my passion and my knowledge by pursuing certifications that would give me a leg up on the competition, so that’s when I began my journey through the Cicerone Certification Program.”

Founded in 2007, the program is the industry standard for brewing professionals, and akin to sommelier certification programs in the wine world. Combs worked his way up the first two levels of the four-level program, then moved to Colorado in 2016 and started as a sensory scientist for Boulder’s Avery Brewing Company, his first job in craft beer.

He passed the Advanced Cicerone certification test in 2017, leaving only Master Cicerone. Preparing for that final test was “an intense process, to say the least,” Combs said. “It’s a very difficult exam. It’s two days of testing, and on each day of testing you have four different tasting exams, you have six different oral interviews, and you spend three hours writing eight different essays.”

While studying via sampling sessions of every imaginable style of beer, Combs moved from Avery to Cerebral Brewing to WeldWerks Brewing Co. to Stem Ciders. The job evolved into vice president of liquids for Wilding Brands when Denver Beer Company, Funkwerks, and others joined Stem in a broader portfolio.

Combs ultimately passed the “beast of an exam” in 2023, and joined the club of 28 Master Cicerones worldwide.

“This whole journey has just been a motivation to understand things on a molecular level and understand what makes good beer good, and what makes bad beer bad,” he said.

Three pairings from one of world’s top beer experts

“Ultimately, wine struggles to pair with food,” Combs said. “There’s a lot of clashing that happens, and it doesn’t necessarily have the same power that beer does, because beer is a carbonated beverage, and carbonation tends to scrub the palate.

“It has the ability to cut fatty richness very easily. You have a level of bitterness that you don’t necessarily see in a tremendous amount of wine, so beer really is this thing that can pair beautifully with just about any kind of food.”

Three of Combs’ favorite pairings from Wilding Brands’ portfolio are:

Funkwerks Saison + crispy fried chicken with hot honey
The beer’s dry, citrus-driven profile and subtle spice cut through the richness of the fried chicken, while the hot honey draws out its fruity, floral notes.

Great Divide Yeti + blue cheese burger

Yeti’s deep roast, dark chocolate, and bitterness hold up to bold blue cheese, while its rich body smooths out the savory depth of the burger.

Denver Beer Co. Juicy Freak + pork banh mi

Juicy Freak’s juicy hop character cuts through the richness of the pork and brings out the vibrant layers of pickled vegetables and fresh herbs.