OK, it's Memorial Day weekend, and your main ambition is to fire up the grill toward evening when the day cools off, toss some juicy burgers on and crack open a can of light lager.

Bo-ring!

Fizz and rice (Bud, Coors and their light-beer clones) or fizz and corn (Miller's) are a poor match for a hearty, succulent hamburger, its toasted bun and spicy condiments.

That was your grandfather's choice. This is a new century and there are great craft beers at your local supermarket that will make that burger sit up and salute.

As the craft beer revolution has blossomed, serious chefs have begun to include beer in their menus. One of the pioneers is Milwaukee-based Lucy Saunders, author of several books on beer and food including "Grilling With Beer" (F&B Communications, 218 pp., 2006).

There are some simple rules, Saunders explains.

"Shoot for something that's a direct complement to a hamburger, like a nice brown ale - the malt of beer complements the juicy meat. If it's really hot out, I'd go with something crisp, like a craft beer, all-malt pilsner," she said.

But one thing to remember, Saunders adds, is that American beef is increasingly bland. It isn't aged as long as it once was, and the taste can be pretty subtle with just a smoky edge.

While you don't want a light lager whose feeble taste is overpowered by the meat, you also need to avoid a strong, hoppy beer that won't work well with the meat.

On the other hand, if you're piling chilies onto that burger or a spicy condiment, go for a hoppy beer. The more chilies, the more hops.

A hoppy India Pale Ale works well with spice, she says.

If the meat on your grill's a steak with, say, a spicy rub, a good choice might be a Dunkelweizen, a dark wheat beer. Throw on a couple of portobello mushrooms, too. They're just about a perfect match for both a spicy-rubbed steak and a Dunkelweizen.

Over in San Francisco, beer chef Bruce Paton, whose breakthrough dinners pairing great beer and food at the Cathedral Hill Hotel have become legendary, believes burgers and a hoppy India Pale Ale make a perfect pair.

"You've got a lot going on in a grilled hamburger," Paton says. "You've got the bread, the grilled meat with its caramel and umami flavors, perhaps cheese and mayonnaise.

"The maltiness of the IPA deals with the bread in the hamburger bun and the roast quality of the burger. The hops help cleanse the palate of the taste of cheese and fat and mayonnaise.

"If you're grilling brats or whatever, depending on the sausage, you might want something a little lighter, maybe a pale ale or even a pilsner," he says. "But again, a hoppy IPA goes well with a nice, spicy sausage. The malt cuts through the fat, and the hops deal with the spiciness; they cool off the heat."

Following Saunders and Paton's ideas, here are some burger and beer suggestions:

BROWN ALE: This is an English-style beer, made famous in England's midlands, and Newcastle Brown (**) is a top-selling import. If full-flavored, hoppy American craft beers aren't your preference, go with Newcastle Brown - it's dry, but a big leap ahead of light lager.

If you eschew bland, Downtown Brown (***) from Lost Coast Brewing, Eureka, is a maltier, hoppier version of the style, with enough malt to stand up to the biggest char-broiled burger and hops to slice through the fat.

Another excellent brown ale is Dread Brown Ale, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, Santa Cruz. Bigger still with notes of caramel, chocolate and coffee and a hoppy finish, it's available in bottles in good beer stores around Santa Cruz, but unfortunately rarely reaches San Jose. Also, don't overlook Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale, an English import. It's smooth and malty with restrained hops in the English fashion.

BARLEY MALT PILSNER: This is a style that originated in the Czech Republic, and there are two excellent imported example that are widely available, Pilsner Urquell (****) and Czechvar (****). Czechvar in most of the world is known as Budvar Budweiser, but because of trademark restrictions is sold here as Czechvar.

Nearly every American craft brewer makes a pils. Two excellent and completely different examples are Lagunitas Pils (***), a malty beauty with a walloping hoppy finish from Lagunitas, Petaluma.

The other is Trumer Pils (****), crisp and malty with a bit of a hoppy zing, made by Brewery Trumer in Berkeley. It's an exact copy of a beer of the same name made in Austria.

DUNKELWEIZEN: This is a German-style beer that originated in Bavaria. Basically, it's a beer made with a high percentage of dark-roasted wheat, mixed with the malted barley. It's rarely imported, but Gordon Birsch, the brewery right here in San Jose, has just released Gordon Biersch Dunkelweizen (****). It's a stunner; the taste is complex, with different kinds of malt weaving in and out with a fine, spicy finish.

PALE ALE: This is another ancient English style. Two widely available English pale ales, both with emphasis on malt, not hops. are Fuller's London Pride (***) and Young's Special London Ale (****), quite a bit stronger, 6.5 percent, with a silky, malty taste.

The No 1 American pale ale is Sierra Nevada. This is a great beer, utterly unlike English pale ales. With a citrusy, piney nose from the signature Cascade hops, but balanced by a full, malty backbone, this is the beer that set the craft beer movement on fire. It's one of America's bestselling craft beers and balances a smoky, meaty hamburger perfectly.

There are many other American pale ales. Try Poleeko Gold Pale Ale (***), from Anderson Valley, Boonville, and Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Deschutes, Bend, Ore.

INDIA PALE ALES: Moving up the hoppy and strength spectrum, there are many IPAs, and we all have our favorites. A new one from Firestone Walker in Paso Robles is Union Jack. It's big and malty with enough hops to satisfy even the most rabid hop lover.

• If the idea of beer and food interests you, check out my blog: www.ibabuzz.com/beer. I've just returned from an event in Washington, D.C., called "Savor: A celebration of beer and food," at which beers from 48 craft brewers across the country were paired with all kinds of food at three fascinating dinners.

Also, I'm starting a live chat on my blog. The first one's set for this Thursday at noon. Log on and fire away.

Beers are rated on a five-star scale: five stars (world classic), four stars (don't miss it), three stars (very good), two stars (good beer) and one star (demand a refund).

Contact William Brand at whatsontap@sbcglobal.net, (510) 915-1180, or What's on Tap, Box 3676, Walnut Creek, Calif. 94598. Read more by Brand at www.beernewsletter.com/blog. Can't find a beer? E-mail, call or write Brand and ask for his 2008 Retail Beer Store List.