The “core” beers on your beverage menus. These mass market, mass consumed brands, offered by domestic producers such as Budweiser and Miller, sell not just thousands, but millions, of cases. What drives guests to ante up for buckets of suds and grab on the tall neck blonde brews? What is that recipe for success?

For me, it must be the taste and how it works with food. When creating these pairings, I chose myriad ethnic small plates, as well as the venerable hot dog and hamburger. The beverage list is a variety of popular domestic beers with distinguishable branding, many of which are featured on every hotel menu.

I have the ingredients and consider what I am about to learn from the Mexican Mariscos (shellfish), mini double tacos of aguacate (avocado), pierna (pork), al pastor (beef and pork), pot pie, corned beef and cabbage, mustard, hot dog, hamburger, and brioche bun. What do the Sichaun green beans with spicy chili sauce, the chicken lettuce wraps, the bbq pork bao, and the Thai herbed calamari want me to know? I look to my scrawled notes for inspiration and see observations I have made, including “beer good with green sautéed veggies like brussel sprouts, fresh spicy tomato salsa, citrus overtones.”

Okay, hit the mini alouette and provolone cheese pizza. Surely the sundried affinity is a clear giveaway insight. No.

Well, maybe it’s the teriyaki fried chicken, the fried eggplant and tomato cumin mozzarella, the slivered octopus with herb salad.

I look at my scratch pad. I stand in my tiny test kitchen feeling bloated and crazed. Bottles of Bud Select, Corona Extra, Moretti, Peroni, Tecate, Modelo, Miller Draft, Kirin, and Coors stare at me. Herbs, spices, pots, and pans are strewn everywhere.

I think of Anheuser-Busch’s new Michelob Commercial for Ultra where the golfer Sergio Garcia reaches a party in progress with the moves of James Bond. He heads straight to a beautiful babe, cracking open a tall neck with the words, “tough drive.” She swoons. I see that Corona Extra commercial from the beach, the campaign for Moretti, “Have you seen Moretti today?” I have visions of volleyballs, sleek Italian partially clad men and women, speedboats, baseball, moonstruck dance floors. Suddenly, I get it. Beers like Corona Extra, Bud Select, and the rest are like the commercials. They are fun. Yes, they are tasty. Yes, they are made well. But, like the commercials tell you, it’s about the fun and the flavor.

So, if you want to have fun with what my English buddies call “session” beer, beers they drink in multiples at the end of the day when hanging out and talking about life, then lighten up. Drink easy beer for fun. Enjoy fun food without stressing. Never take yourself too seriously, especially if you want to party on with core beers.

Michael Foley, a celebrated American chef, has three decades of owner/operator hotel, winery, and restaurant experience. Based in Chicago, he travels for the U.S. government, highlighting American products with regional and creative cooking.