Pizza and beer are a match made in heaven. Truthfully, you could pair nearly any type of pizza with any beer and get a winning combo. However, the right beer will make your slice of pizza taste even better, and vice versa.
The main reason the pizza and beer pairing works so well is that the carbonation, bitterness, and clean finish of beer help the pizza flavors come through stronger while resetting your palate. Once you get to know how each of these elements affects what you eat, the pairings should start to make more sense.
Quick Notes on Pairing Beer and Pizza
Before getting into specific pairings for styles, let’s go over some high-level notes to keep in mind when pairing pizza and beer.
- Carbonation: Beer’s carbonation cuts through fat and melted cheese, which is part of why it pairs so well with cheeseburgers.
- Sauce and Hops: Tomato sauce has some acidity, which can clash with overly bitter beers, like a traditional West Coast IPA or a DIPA. However, white sauce pizzas work better with the bitter.
- Weight Class: Don’t pair a heavier IPA with a light veggie pizza; you’ll drown out the flavor of your food.
- Sweet and Malty: BBQ sauce, caramelized onions, and pineapple add sweet flavors to pizza that are best paired with the sweet flavors of malt-forward beer.
- Grab a Lager: Pizza is filling, so if you want to play it safe, then a light lager should almost always do the trick.
Best Beer Pairing for Pizza
Here are the best beers to pair with specific types of pizza.
Margherita Pizza: Pilsner or Pale Ale
Margherita pizza is about as simple as it gets: fresh tomato, basil, and mozzarella. You don’t want to pick a beer that overpowers the simple yet delicious pizza.
A crisp, clean pilsner is a great pairing for Margherita. It’s light enough to work with the pizza without drowning out any flavor. A lighter pale ale should also work, as long as the hop profile is subtle and not overbearing.
Beer to try: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Firestone Pivo Pils
Pepperoni Pizza: West Coast IPA
Pepperoni is salty, fatty, and a little bit spicy. A good West Coast IPA is an excellent match, so long as you don’t get anything too bitter. Look for a balanced IPA to help complement the spice and grease of the pepperoni.
Beer to try: Stone IPA, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Ballast Point Sculpin
White Pizza: Hazy IPA
White pizza usually is a combination of garlic, olive oil, ricotta, mushrooms, and spinach. Beer won’t be competing with tomato sauce, so a hazy IPA should do the trick. A hazy brings lots of hop flavor while leaning on the juicy side, which should work really well with most white pizzas.
Beer to try: New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze, Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing
BBQ Chicken Pizza: Amber Ale or Märzen
BBQ chicken pizza is smoky, sweet, savory, and underrated. The best pairing is something with good malt flavor, like an amber ale or a particularly malty lager like a Märzen. Malt brings a caramel flavor that works really well with the sweetness of barbecue sauce and chicken, and these beers are light enough to match well with thin crust BBQ pizza.
Beer to try: Fat Tire Amber Ale, Paulaner Märzen
Meat Lovers Pizza: Crisp Lager
It might seem counterintuitive, but meat lovers and combo pizzas can be really heavy, and pairing it with a heavy beer can make you feel a little too full. Instead, try a crisp lager to elevate the individual ingredients of the pizza.
Beer to try: Brooklyn Lager, Pacifico
Veggie Pizza: Kölsch or Wheat Beer
Vegetables, and by extension veggie pizzas, are light and delicate, so a heavy beer is not going to be the best choice. Instead, a nice kölsch works well with veggies without being too strong. A wheat beer can also be a nice choice, since these beers have a naturally bright and fruity flavor to them. If you want to get wild, a saison could also work really well with veggie pizza.
Beer to try: Founders Solid Gold, Allagash White, Saison Dupont
Hawaiian Pizza: Amber Ale
No matter how you feel about pineapple on pizza, Hawaiian is popular for being sweet and salty all at once. Caramel malt sweetness is a natural fit for Hawaiian pizza, since it balances with the pineapple and works well with the ham. Fittingly, some good Hawaiian breweries make great amber ales!
Beer to try: Kona Lavaman Red Ale
The One Beer That Works With All Pizza
If you don’t know what to get for your pizza, get a pilsner. Pilsners are incredibly well balanced, and they should pair excellently with just about every type of pizza. There are tons of pilsners out there, including some from local craft breweries that are definitely worth a try.
Quick Reference: Best Beer for Pizza by Style
| Pizza Style | Best Beer Match |
|---|---|
| Margherita | Pilsner or Pale Ale |
| Pepperoni | West Coast IPA |
| White Pizza | Hazy IPA |
| BBQ Chicken | Amber Ale or Märzen |
| Meat Lovers | Crisp Lager |
| Veggie | Kölsch or Wheat Beer |
| Mushroom | Pale Ale or Saison |
| Hawaiian | Amber Ale |
| Spicy | Hazy IPA or Wheat Beer |
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