From Guinness with mushrooms to corona and pepperoni, the best booze to pair with your favourite pizza toppings
BEER and pizza are so popular that Monday is a national day dedicated to it.
But if you’re not putting much thought into which ale you match to which slice, foodie and Blur bassist Alex James reckons you’re missing a trick.
Get it right, and your choice of tipple could bring out the flavours of your dough toppings and make even the most controversial options, such as pineapple, a dream on the taste buds.
Here is his guide . . .
TOMATO
pair with
NEWCASTLE BROWN ALE
The passata on the pizza base gives plenty of the natural savouriness and zip that tomatoes deliver. But a few slices of beef tomato can add a very pleasant texture to your mouthful.
If you’re going to really load up on tomatoes, I’d recommend a Brown Ale – maybe Newcastle Brown in honour of Eddie Howe’s boys thumping Mbappe and Paris St Germain in The Champions League last week. Bon appetit!
HAM
pair with
OLD HOOKY BITTER
HAM is a great companion to so many drinks — it works with anything from sweet lemonade to the driest Champagne, and even a steaming hot cuppa.
A pint of bitter and a ham sandwich is all I need from a pub lunch, so I would go with a local bitter alongside a ham pizza.
Many like their bitter warm, but I’d go with hot pizza and ice-cold beer. I love the hot/cold sensation on the tongue.
PINEAPPLE
pair with
ST OMER SHANDY BOTTLES
I LOVE pineapple on pizza, not only because it annoys Italians so much but because it just goes to show how many directions you can take the basic slice.
I’d ramp up the sweetness even further with a classic beer and lemonade mix — a shandy — on the rocks. Or you could go for a harmonic counterpoint with something crazy like a barley wine.
This is the great thing about beer and pizza — it shouldn’t work, but it does.
SWEETCORN
pair with
CAMDEN PILS
I NEVER like to be without a stash of tinned or frozen corn, but it’s in season right now and when it’s fresh it’s one of the great delicacies.
If you can find them with their husks still on just bake them as is in a hot oven (200C) for 30 mins then discard the skins, strip off the kernels with a sharp knife, and you’ve got a world of sprinkled deliciousness at your fingertips.
A Pilsner lager works magnificently with a pizza enhanced by just-baked sweetcorn sprinkles.
PEPPERONI
pair with
CORONA WITH LIME CHUNK
The signature dish of New York City, pepperoni pizza is available on every other street corner in Manhattan for two or three bucks a slice. The cheap and cheerful classic has benefitted from a high end makeover in recent years.
A wood fired crispy crust slice with a few salad leaves sprinkled on to soak up the juices is a thing of wonder. Whether you’re going high end or street, you’ll want something light and zingy to cut through the wonderful oiliness of the spicy salami.
A light lager with a wedge of lime in the neck, Sol or Corona style will do the trick. Tuck in to that lot and you’re basically on a mini break not just a lunch break.
ONIONS
pair with
THEAKSTON’S DARK MILD
One of very few ingredients to feature in all the world’s cuisines, the humble onion delivers mighty amounts of heart and savouriness to any dish.
I’d be tempted to try a glass of mild with an onion heavy pizza. The caramel nuttiness of the classic brew will set your onions off a treat.
CHILLIS
pair with
HAWKSTONE LAGER
The heat of chilli adds a whole extra dimension to pizza. Everyone has their own preference for how much heat so I tend to let them help themselves from a bowl of chopped fresh chillis on the table.
Even just a slice or two will cut right through the oiliness of the cheese and bring the zing to even the doughiest of mouthfuls. Sprinkle ‘em on and have plenty of lager ready – whatever you’d have with a spicy Indian. Hawkstone would suit me.
MUSHROOMS
pair with
GUINNESS
We either love or hate them, so perhaps surprisingly mushrooms were voted Brits’ favourite pizza topping of all in a recent survey. If you’re a fungi fan, try sprucing up a basic shop bought Margherita with all your favourites, sliced and tossed in a dash of vegetable oil: chestnut, portabello: anything goes.
The earthy savouriness of mushrooms connects well with rich, dark stouts such as Guinness. And if you serve it ice-cold in a glass that’s been kept in a freezer for an hour or two, it’ll really hit the spot.
EGG
pair with
BREWDOG PUNK IPA
Perhaps even more divisive than mushrooms and more controversial than pineapple chunks, I love an egg on a pizza. Two or three quail eggs added halfway through cooking works really well.
I particularly like Coca-Cola with Florentina (egg and spinach) pizza and Coke’s got crazy amounts of sugar and hints of vanilla and cinnamon that really shouldn’t fly, but it just works.
I’d lean towards something with a bit of bite such as an India Pale Ale.
FISH
pair with
HEINEKEN
Tuna and, classically, anchovies are the seafood toppings of choice. Salty fish and cheese shouldn’t work, but somehow they do and this is all part of the magic of pizza, being able to bring far-reaching flavours together.
If you make your own pizzas, and everyone should (in fact it should be taught in schools) a pizza base strewn with anchovy fillets is a wonderful thing.
Fish and cheese together is a powerful mouthful, so I’d go for something light and fizzy- a classic lager that will stand back and let the flavours do the talking.