There’s more to curry night drinks than lager

Having attempted to persuade you of the virtues of drinking wine with curry on a number of occasions in the past, I'm going to give it a rest this time and stick to beer – and cider, an underrated partner for a takeaway. That doesn't just mean lager, though you'd be forgiven for thinking so, judging from the average curry house drinks list. But curry has moved on, and Indian restaurants have much more to offer these days than an eye-wateringly hot vindaloo.

Take a look at the list at Soho's Kricket, for example, which includes a lemongrass saison from Partizan Brewing and Wild Beer Co's Sourdough; or Dishoom, which lists Beavertown Gamma Ray pale ale and a Belgian wit. Hops work with spice, as do beers with a touch of fruity sweetness.

I wouldn't have picked it off the shelf, but I really loved Wild Card's Passionfruit Gose, a fruit-flavoured sour beer from brewer and TV presenter Jaega Wise and her team in Walthamstow, east London. The Danish brewery Mikkeller also has a refreshingly sharp-flavoured passionfruit Berliner weisse called Wood Will Fall Down (4.2%), which has been enterprisingly taken on by Marks & Spencer at £2.50 for a 330ml can and which would suit a mildish veggie curry. (If you're a Mikkeller fan, you may also like to know they've opened a bar – in Shoreditch, east London, of course.)

Although I'm not a big fan of fruit ciders, I have to admit that Peacock's Mango & Lime Cider, despite being bizarrely described as an Asian cider, is bang on the money. Given that it's made by Kingfisher, in collaboration with Aspall, you might even find it in your local Indian.

Hoppy pale ales, however, are my normal go-to with a curry (rather than IPAs, which are often too alcoholic). Mikkeller (again) delivers the goods with Stick a Finger in the Soil Pale Ale, which is stocked by Majestic as well as Marks & Sparks, as does Duration with its Turtles All the Way Down American Pale Ale (5.5%), brewed at Amundsen in Oslo. OK, it's not cheap (at £5.55 for 440ml from Hop, Burns & Black), but it's still brilliant value compared with most wines of that price.

Not that I'm averse to lager with a curry, but there's no more reason to drink a bog-standard one than there is to sip a flavourless pinot grigio. Just a word of warning, though: some pils I've been tasting recently are, in my opinion, too dry and bitter for Indian food and would be better with pickles than spice.