What do you love in your life? Do you love your partner? Your dog? Maybe your mobile phone? For me, the one thing that feels like pure perfection, my pure, true love is… pizza and beer. Call me shallow, call me gluttonous, but there’s nothing that gets me higher than a slice of my favourite pizza and my absolute favourite ale. Well, to be fair, it’s more like a whole pizza and a 6 pack, but who’s really counting, huh? It’s cheat day!
So I’m dedicating this mini tome to my favourite drop and my favourite pizza. A love letter if you will. And I’ll start with a haiku:
My pizza and beer
You’re a match made in heaven
How I adore thee
First up, before I move on to the complexities of my favourite pizza (and let’s face it, they’re more complex than beer – you get a different taste in every single bite) I’ll have to tell you a little bit more about my favourite beer.
I’m not going to tell you about my favourite favourite beer, because that one’s a little special, something you can’t pick up at just any old bottlo. So I’ll go with my trusty, tried and true that you will be able to get just down the local drive thru. It’s James Squire’s Nine Tails, the amber ale of their current range.
Now, not everyone would say they’d be keen to quaff down 6 of these fellas, but me on the other hand… well, if I’m eating at the same time, I reckon it’s doable. You might like to intersperse with a lighter beer between Tails if you’re not so keen on that massive full flavour (maybe the Pale Ale?), but me? I love it! Thanks James, you always know how to treat me right.
And now… on to the pizza.
Look, I love all pizzas, I’m not discriminatory. I love white pizza, I love me some meat lovers, I’ll go a Hawaiian, a bit of pear, artichoke and rocket, and I’m mad about 4 cheese pizza when those 4 cheeses are chosen right (and it’s a garlic base, not tomato, for this one people!). I’m a bit of a pizza toppings connoisseur if I do say so myself.
In that same vein, I love all different styles of pizza. You know, the traditional Italian style with sparse (high quality) ingredients with a crispy base, I can do a giant New York style pizza slice doused in oil if I have to. I definitely like the Aussie style pizzas that go heavy on the toppings, though – plus you need a thicker base for that. I mean, if I wanted to eat something that’s mainly a bit of bread I’d make a sanga if you know what I’m saying. If I get an Aussie pizza that’s not great my secret tip is to douse it with sweet chili sauce. It makes any frozen pizza with 2c ham taste okay. I’m yet to try the Chicago deep dish but trust me, that baby is on my bucket list, along with seeing the Northern lights.
I’m still to get to my favourite pizza to go with the old Amber Ale though.
So, the perfect pairing for the Amber Ale? It needs to be a little sweet, and with a dose of depth, to match up evenly with the beer. I’m not so keen on a tomato base overall (shocking I know!), so do you see where I might be going with this one?
Yup, you gotta hit em with that BBQ base. Now, there are only so many pizzas that can work a BBQ base. There are only so many flavour combos that really marry together to sing in harmony with BBQ sauce. But my top one? Definitely your BBQ Chicken pizza.
Now, I know that it’s a bit traditional, it’s a bit “oh, yeah, BBQ Chicken, so what” but hear me out. The BBQ Chicken pizza really comes alive when you eat it along with your Amber Ale. These two together are just like heaven for your taste buds. They have a similar sweet/deep profile, which somehow brings out the flavours in each without either of them going over the top rich – unlike those BBQ meat pizzas with a swirl of mayonnaise where I swear I can only eat a slice or two before it just gets too much.
The BBQ Chicken with some onion, mushrooms, and maybe even some bacon if you’re feeling frisky goes absolutely killer with the Amber. Take it from me.
So next time you’re considering a bit of a beer and pizza at home evening (or arvo, or morning, whatever, I don’t judge!) why not grab yourself some Amber Ales and a BBQ Chicken pizza and see what you reckon? I’ll be willing to bet you’ll be full and happy in no time.
Read Also:
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