We can’t think of a better combination than beer with pizza. It might be wine and pizza, but it’s like choosing between your children.
When choosing beer with pizza, some of the same principles apply as when choosing toppings. The beer and the pizza should complement each other, each helping to bring out the best in both.
Why is it that certain drinks go particularly well with certain dishes? In the case of beer with pizza, it’s largely a matter of one bringing something that the other doesn’t.
When a pizza is served freshly made, it is usually served hot. In addition, the pizza is a solid form, so to speak, where you have to chew and use your teeth. It’s not like a soup, where you experience liquid when you eat it. The melted cheese contributes a lot of fat. Both in taste and texture. The tomato is acidic, and if there is ham on the pizza, for example, there will be some sweetness from there. Finally, there should also be a good overall level of salt from all the ingredients.
Beer is the other end of the spectrum. First and foremost, it should be ice cold. It is liquid and mouthwatering, and already here you are well on your way to matching the pizza. The cold beer is a welcome compliment to the hot pizza, and the mouthwatering feeling goes really well with the slightly salty pizza.
In addition, there are also differences between beers depending on the type of beer you choose. A lager or pilsner can be experienced as crunchy and perhaps even a little dry. A Classic-type beer can seem almost bold in that. An IPA can be quite citrus-like depending on which hops are used. And it can be more or less bitter.
Here are just a small selection of the beers available. There are a lot of microbreweries that make a lot of exciting beers that are just worth diving into. You can try choosing the beer first and tasting it. Afterwards, you can play around with making a pizza that goes really well with your beer.
So there are lots of possibilities for making a lot of exciting flavor combinations when you have to match pizza and beer. And if you do it right, you can lift the overall taste experience to new heights.
We would love to see which beers you match with our pizzas and those you make at home. You can follow us on Instagram or Facebook to see when we match beer and pizza, and you can come up with your great ideas.
As you might have guessed, we really like beer and pizza at Pico Pizza. That’s why we’ve chosen to have beer from TO ØL. You can get freshly tapped beer from the tap in our restaurants, and they’re also available in cans to take home and enjoy or, for example, to take with you on a picnic outside.
We’ve chosen TO ØL’s organic pilsner, called 45 Days Organic Pilsner, and their Snublejuice IPA. We think both beers taste really good on their own. But we especially think they’re really good at complimenting our pizzas. Try it for yourself and see what you think by booking a table in our restaurants and trying pizza and draft beer, or by ordering for takeaway and enjoying the pizzas with an ice-cold canned beer at home.
We look forward to seeing you!