Does beer go with food? Well, it's a traditional curry accompaniment, but otherwise posh sommeliers tend to get a bit sniffy about it. However, the Rake bar in London's Borough Market (voted runner-up best bar in this year's OFM awards) sells over 130 varieties, and manager Richard Dinwoodie and his bespoke brewer, Eddie Baines are vociferous defendants of the amber fluid's food-matching qualities. So who better to blind-test beer for us? The results were surprising: all the canned beers did so badly we haven't even included them ('metallic, over-processed'); some of the smarter bottled beers surprised our experts by not scoring too well at all, while a few scary-looking black beers turned out to be very tasty - and even a perfect accompaniment for oysters. Drink up.

12 bottled beers: what to drink with spicy food or on a hot day

Brooklyn lager
335ml, £1.21, Tesco

We're not sure if this is a session beer but it's very enjoyable. There's a bit of toffee and a bit of orange in it and it's quite dry and hoppy. It's pretty complex. Nice. 4/5

White Shield IPA
500ml, £2.09, Waitrose

This a live beer, meaning it's bottled with live yeast so it's sharper and hoppier with less malt to muddy the taste. This would taste great with spicy food, such as a fish curry. 4/5

Royal Oak traditional bitter
£12x500ml, £25
www.ohanlons.co.uk 01404 822412

This would be tasty with a good pork pie. It has a lovely copper colour and a fruity aroma. It's lightly fizzy and fruity to start, then gets more bitter. You could also use this to make decent beer batter. 4/5

Gambrinus
335ml, £1.80, Utobeer
020 7394 8601, www.utobeer.co.uk

This is the biggest-selling beer in the Czech Republic. It has light leathery notes and is golden and tasty. It's pretty complex. Amazingly good. 4/5

Kostriker
500ml, £2.20, Utobeer

Although it's very, very dark, it's not as heady as you might expect; it's much more of a lager than you'd think. Nicely carbonated and tastes great. We like this a lot. 4/5

Meantime brewery London porter
750ml, £5.50, Meantime, 020 8293 1111

This is big. There's a huge waft of coffee to it. But in the mouth it's perfectly balanced. This would be amazing with oysters or shellfish. It's too tarry to cook with - this would taste burnt in a beef dish. 3/5

Veltins Pilsner
330ml, £1.40, www.onlyfinebeer.co.uk

This keeps its head really well, which is a sign of good quality. It has a fresh clean taste that isn't overly alcoholic. It's got a nice, dry and slightly bitter finish. Balanced. 3/5

Alhambra premium
330ml, £1.60, widely available

This has a real nose. This actually tastes like beer as opposed to a few others we've tried. It's clean and crisp and malty. It ticks all the boxes - it's really good. 3/5

Cobra
660ml, £1.75, widely available

This clearly isn't a day beer to sip; this is to knock back of an evening, and it no doubt does the trick! Probably good with spicy food. Decent quality. 2/5

San Miguel
1l, £2.15, widely available

This is quite malty and nice. We're quite happy with this. It doesn't linger that long but it's got a bit of mouthfeel and a bit of taste. It would be great really cold on a hot day. 2/5

Peroni Nastro Azzurro
4x330ml, £3.99, widely available There's nothing especially wrong with this, but it's dull, so there's nothing right with it either. It would probably taste amazing in a hot country. Might be OK if you weren't that keen on beer. 2/5

Budweiser Budvar
500ml, £1.45, widely available More beery on the nose. But it tastes like an unemptied drip tray. Artificial. Horrible. 0/5