Author Topic: Does BEER really compliment a pizza? (Read 2577 times)

Marcel DeGrosse · « **Reply #40 on:** July 24, 2012, 11:06:32 PM »

Ok....Beer and pizza go together like rock and roll. I agree with the IPA's, Pils, ales and reds work great for me. I'm not into double bocs. Dark beers are great for cooking meat. I also like Heps personally. If you're making a Greek pizza try using tomatoes sliced very thin or chunks with Kalamata olives, capers, rosemary, Greek oregano and Feta cheese. It's not Greek pie without the Feta. I just made one last night. The other ingredient that I use is grilled asparagus, but right now they're out of season, and way to expensive. Lightly salt the tomatoes in a strainer for 10 minutes to draw out the residual water before putting them on the pie. No red sauce for god sake. Just use some good evoo to keep the pie moist and a little crushed black pepper. Throw some anchovies on there and you really got a pizza. I put the herbs on at the end.

Peace...The Old Hippie Chef...Make Food, Not War

Quote from: pizzaoven dot com on July 12, 2012, 11:37:44 PM

Just so you know; I love beer. I am not a drunk, I really love the tastes. I even homebrew myself, although, I just started. My favorite type of beer are IPA's. I think that an ice cold IPA and a piping hot meat lover pizza with green peppers, onions, hot peppers, and black olives go together like well a freaking good a*s slice of pizza and in ice cold brew! It is what it is but what are some of your favorite beer/pizza combo's? Do you pair your toppings to a specific brew? An all veggie thin crust always comes with a glass of white wine at my house? Share some of your combos and suggestions with me! I am going to complie the information and use it in an article on pizzaoven.com

The menu tomorrow Greek Pizza with an olive oil and herb sauce and an English Pale Ale

pizzablogger · « **Reply #41 on:** July 26, 2012, 02:21:36 PM »

Some Belgian beers also go well with pizza.

I just had a Tank No. 7 Farmhouse Ale with a potato, thyme, pecorino toscano and black pepper topped pizza and I was not complainin'!

As a side note, I have been hearing about the Belgian style offerings from Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing for a couple of years now, but had not tried any until last week. They just recently started distributing to the East Coast.

The Tank. No 7 Farmhouse Ale is totally rad. And I'm drinking a Sixth Glass Quadrupel Ale as I type this...phenomenal. I really dig Ommegang in upstate New York, but these may be the best Belgian style beers being brewed in the USA (the desperately in need of character "Belgian" style brews from New Belgium Brewing need not apply). Makes me sad what happened to Celis in Texas (god darned major brewery meddling)....rest in peace Pierre. Your Celis White was an instant American Classic.

Exciting for me. Now three North American joints (Unibroue, Ommegang and Boulevard Brewing) making products that in a blind tasting would be very difficult to discern that they were not made in Belgium. Love Belgian Beers.....for 20 years now it is always a treat for me to treat a hard-core wine drinker that does not "like" beer that much to various offerings from Belgium and then see their eyes really open up as they mention "This is good!". Damn right! --k

Marcel DeGrosse · « **Reply #42 on:** July 26, 2012, 03:24:49 PM »

K,

Next time you have a potato pie try it with fresh pesto and julianne red bell peppers. Also a pesto/red sauce combo works well.
I love the Belgian beers. We have an ale hose in downtown Oakland called the Trappist that has some out of sight beers man. If you ever get to Oakland look me up. I'll take you there, my treat.
The whole wine beer BS has been going on for centuries. It's that beer is for the working class and wine is for the upper classes, petty bourgeois mentality. Beer was the first brewed alcohol in the world. The fact that those same people have been drinking Bud light and Keystone or even associate beer with those type of brands says something about their supposed sophisticated palettes.
Keep pushing the beer/pizza parring. Wine and pizza just doesn't do it for me. I'd rather have a good root beer than wine.

Peace,

Marcel

Quote from: pizzablogger on July 26, 2012, 02:21:36 PM

Some Belgian beers also go well with pizza.

I just had a Tank No. 7 Farmhouse Ale with a potato, thyme, pecorino toscano and black pepper topped pizza and I was not complainin'!

As a side note, I have been hearing about the Belgian style offerings from Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing for a couple of years now, but had not tried any until last week. They just recently started distributing to the East Coast.

The Tank. No 7 Farmhouse Ale is totally rad. And I'm drinking a Sixth Glass Quadrupel Ale as I type this...phenomenal. I really dig Ommegang in upstate New York, but these may be the best Belgian style beers being brewed in the USA (the desperately in need of character "Belgian" style brews from New Belgium Brewing need not apply). Makes me sad what happened to Celis in Texas (god darned major brewery meddling)....rest in peace Pierre. Your Celis White was an instant American Classic.

Exciting for me. Now three North American joints (Unibroue, Ommegang and Boulevard Brewing) making products that in a blind tasting would be very difficult to discern that they were not made in Belgium. Love Belgian Beers.....for 20 years now it is always a treat for me to treat a hard-core wine drinker that does not "like" beer that much to various offerings from Belgium and then see their eyes really open up as they mention "This is good!". Damn right! --k

pizzablogger · « **Reply #43 on:** July 26, 2012, 03:30:50 PM »

Quote from: Marcel DeGrosse on July 26, 2012, 03:24:49 PM

Keep pushing the beer/pizza parring. Wine and pizza just doesn't do it for me. I'd rather have a good root beer than wine.

Oh ho! Not me my man.

I love beer, but I love wine too.....sometimes beer scratches an itch wine never can and definitely vice versa!

And I also dig a good root beer! Good call. --k

Don K · « **Reply #44 on:** July 26, 2012, 03:36:39 PM »

Quote from: pizzablogger on July 26, 2012, 02:21:36 PM

Some Belgian beers also go well with pizza.

I just had a Tank No. 7 Farmhouse Ale with a potato, thyme, pecorino toscano and black pepper topped pizza and I was not complainin'!

As a side note, I have been hearing about the Belgian style offerings from Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing for a couple of years now, but had not tried any until last week. They just recently started distributing to the East Coast.

The Tank. No 7 Farmhouse Ale is totally rad. And I'm drinking a Sixth Glass Quadrupel Ale as I type this...phenomenal. I really dig Ommegang in upstate New York, but these may be the best Belgian style beers being brewed in the USA (the desperately in need of character "Belgian" style brews from New Belgium Brewing need not apply). Makes me sad what happened to Celis in Texas (god darned major brewery meddling)....rest in peace Pierre. Your Celis White was an instant American Classic.

Exciting for me. Now three North American joints (Unibroue, Ommegang and Boulevard Brewing) making products that in a blind tasting would be very difficult to discern that they were not made in Belgium. Love Belgian Beers.....for 20 years now it is always a treat for me to treat a hard-core wine drinker that does not "like" beer that much to various offerings from Belgium and then see their eyes really open up as they mention "This is good!". Damn right! --k

I'm with you on the Belgians. I had the pleasure of trying Three Philosophers from Ommegang a while back and it was really good.

I'm glad that you didn't mention Stella Artois. AB has been pushing it a lot lately and it seems to be gaining popularity. Any beer that has mass appeal in the US can't be all that good. Might as well drink Budweiser.

Marcel DeGrosse · « **Reply #45 on:** July 26, 2012, 04:00:05 PM »

I disagree with you on the Stella my friend. The Beatles had mass appeal here in the US, and I thought they were OK. Stella is a good quality Italian beer. I'll take a Stella over a Bud any day. Sierra Nevada is a mass produced beer, but it's a fine beer. I could list more.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Fritz Maytag, Anchor Steam Beer, from San Francisco because he and not Samuel Adams, talk about a overrated beer, was the first person to restart the micro brewery revolution.

Quote from: Colonel_Klink on July 26, 2012, 03:36:39 PM

I'm with you on the Belgians. I had the pleasure of trying Three Philosophers from Ommegang a while back and it was really good.

I'm glad that you didn't mention Stella Artois. AB has been pushing it a lot lately and it seems to be gaining popularity. Any beer that has mass appeal in the US can't be all that good. Might as well drink Budweiser.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #46 on:** July 26, 2012, 04:05:03 PM »

Don,

A few years ago, in 2008, AB (Anheuser Busch) was bought out by InBev, which has strong Belgian roots (http://articles.marketwatch.com/2008-07-14/news/30710150_1_inbev-offer-anheuser-busch-inbev-belgian-brazilian). That might help explain the AB promotion of the Stella Artois, which is brewed in Leuven, Belgium. Anheuser-Busch InBev (the new name of the company) just bought Grupo Modelo, the largest remaining independent Mexican beer producer, best known for its Corona beer. So, more cross selling might occur under the AB banner.

Peter

Don K · « **Reply #47 on:** July 26, 2012, 04:21:34 PM »

Quote from: Marcel DeGrosse on July 26, 2012, 04:00:05 PM

I disagree with you on the Stella my friend. The Beatles had mass appeal here in the US, and I thought they were OK. Stella is a good quality Italian beer. I'll take a Stella over a Bud any day. Sierra Nevada is a mass produced beer, but it's a fine beer. I could list more.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Fritz Maytag, Anchor Steam Beer, from San Francisco because he and not Samuel Adams, talk about a overrated beer, was the first person to restart the micro brewery revolution.

Stella Artois is Belgian, not Italian, although not representative of most Belgian brews IMO. The Beatles were not beer so that's a poor comparison. I agree that Stella Artois is a small step above Budweiser but it is a huge staircase.

pizzablogger · « **Reply #48 on:** July 26, 2012, 04:27:36 PM »

Quote from: Pete-zza on July 26, 2012, 04:05:03 PM

Don,

A few years ago, in 2008, AB (Anheuser Busch) was bought out by InBev, which has strong Belgian roots (http://articles.marketwatch.com/2008-07-14/news/30710150_1_inbev-offer-anheuser-busch-inbev-belgian-brazilian). That might help explain the AB promotion of the Stella Artois, which is brewed in Leuven, Belgium. Anheuser-Busch InBev (the new name of the company) just bought Grupo Modelo, the largest remaining independent Mexican beer producer, best known for its Corona beer. So, more cross selling might occur under the AB banner.

Peter

Correct. Stella is a Belgian brewed beer (and not all that good IMO).

Grupo Modelo also makes Negro Modelo, arguably the best beer brewed in Mexico, along with Modelo Especial, which I certainly would prefer to a Corona. Although on a hot day any of the beers along the lines of Corono, Pacifica, Sol, Modelo Especial, Presidente, etc all go down good....especially a can of such beer with the top of the can rubbed with lime and then dunked in salt!

pizzablogger · « **Reply #49 on:** July 26, 2012, 04:31:32 PM »

Quote from: Colonel_Klink on July 26, 2012, 04:21:34 PM

Stella Artois is Belgian, not Italian, although not representative of most Belgian brews IMO. The Beatles were not beer so that's a poor comparison. I agree that Stella Artois is a small step above Budweiser but it is a huge staircase.

Agreed.

Although it is hard to find a single beer representative of Belgian beers. Many drinkers may thing of Chimay, being one of the earliest Belgian beers to make a footprint stateside.

But there are so many diverse styles in Belgium....some people will not like some of the styles there, but will love others. I like them all! --k

DNA Dan · « **Reply #50 on:** July 26, 2012, 04:42:01 PM »

Isn't ANYTHING a step above budweiser? I'd even venture into the $2 malt liquors before I go there.

For me the best compliment for pizza is a Pilsner or a good lager. Between the pepperoni grease and a crackery lamination, they cut through the palette like a samurai on oxycodone. Swift yet smooooooth in motion, unconstrained.

Don K · « **Reply #51 on:** July 26, 2012, 04:52:43 PM »

Quote from: DNA Dan on July 26, 2012, 04:42:01 PM

Isn't ANYTHING a step above budweiser?

Pretty much. They are the first step.

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #52 on:** July 26, 2012, 05:00:43 PM »

Quote from: DNA Dan on July 26, 2012, 04:42:01 PM

Between the pepperoni grease and a crackery lamination, they cut through the palette like a samurai on oxycodone. Swift yet smooooooth in motion, unconstrained.

Huh!...I did not know that.

pizzablogger · « **Reply #53 on:** July 26, 2012, 05:04:12 PM »

With regards to the Beer vs Wine thing, if it exists.

Through being involved, albiet at a lower level, with the Court of Master Sommeliers by taking the first level of their 4 exams required to be a Master Sommelier, I had the pleasure of bumping elbows with some people that are very serious about wine...including people working with some of the best wine lists in the country (Blackberry Farm being the most notable). Also have bumped elbows more than once with serious wine lovers to taste wines who were at a financial level far above me.

Virtually all of them to a person have been personable and extremely encouraging to me, even when they realized I was a novice and just beginning my journey into wine. Every bit as welcoming as the great beer community. And nearly all of them enjoyed cracking a beer as well.

Same at wine shops when visiting and asking questions.

I've bumped into the very seldom issue of wine snobdom....also happened with beer and with cigars, etc. But it is the exception and certainly not the rule. Generally people that are passionate about something are excited to share that with someone else, regardless to the financial status or depth of knowledge of those involved. --K

Marcel DeGrosse · « **Reply #54 on:** July 26, 2012, 05:10:00 PM »

I stand corrected....or humbled....I still got a lot to learn and I still prefer pizza with beer v.s wine, that won't change...
peace

Quote from: Colonel_Klink on July 26, 2012, 04:21:34 PM

Stella Artois is Belgian, not Italian, although not representative of most Belgian brews IMO. The Beatles were not beer so that's a poor comparison. I agree that Stella Artois is a small step above Budweiser but it is a huge staircase.

DNA Dan · « **Reply #55 on:** July 26, 2012, 05:12:55 PM »

I think with wine snobbery there are two classes, the $100 a pop and higher class and everyone else. (Oh and there's that select group in the "French wine only because they are the best" class.) With beer I just don't see the same because the market isn't there. I mean what's the most expensive beer? One time during a European trip I saw a bottle of wine selling for $3500 euros. I asked about it and was told it had been blessed by the pope. Seriously... the wine snobs buy into that?

pizzablogger · « **Reply #56 on:** July 26, 2012, 05:25:44 PM »

Quote from: Marcel DeGrosse on July 26, 2012, 05:10:00 PM

I still got a lot to learn and I still prefer pizza with beer v.s wine,

Don't we all!

Nothing like having personal preferences.....beer and pizza are great together! --k

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #57 on:** July 26, 2012, 05:30:29 PM »

Quote from: DNA Dan on July 26, 2012, 05:12:55 PM

One time during a European trip I saw a bottle of wine selling for $3500 euros. I asked about it and was told it had been blessed by the pope. Seriously... the wine snobs buy into that?

Oh yeah....

pizzablogger · « **Reply #58 on:** July 26, 2012, 05:34:20 PM »

Quote from: DNA Dan on July 26, 2012, 05:12:55 PM

I think with wine snobbery there are two classes, the $100 a pop and higher class and everyone else. (Oh and there's that select group in the "French wine only because they are the best" class.) With beer I just don't see the same because the market isn't there. I mean what's the most expensive beer? One time during a European trip I saw a bottle of wine selling for $3500 euros. I asked about it and was told it had been blessed by the pope. Seriously... the wine snobs buy into that?

I hear you, but don't agree entirely.

I don't think there is that much of a difference between the $100 a bottle and up crowd and everyone else. However, there is a difference between the crowd that buys expensive wine because "it's the best" or because it represents a status symbol versus the crowd that enjoys buying and drinking wine because of an appreciation for the product, regardless of cost. --k

Chicago Bob · « **Reply #59 on:** July 26, 2012, 05:38:14 PM »

Now you are narrowing it down properly.....

I wonder how many bottles of DP have been sold to people who don't even know what it is...