It’s hard to think of a more universal pairing than pizza and beer. Both are celebrated for being good even when they’re bad. Both are also beneficiaries of rabid fan cultures pushing innovation, tradition, and intense examination of nuance.
If you want to break out the gram scale and debate dough hydrations intensely, you can do that. If you’d rather kick back, order a pie, and tune in to see whether the giant robots can defeat the city-stomping monsters, you are having an equally excellent time with the form. It’s the kind of public-friendly combo that also features deep and expansive rabbit holes into which you can fall and get lost at will. Honestly, it’s the same kind of energy that drew a lot of us to beer in the first place.
You may not know why a pizza is one of the best you’ve ever had, but you know when it’s happening. It’s the same with the confrontational, labyrinthine, stunning flavors of Belgian ales. A matrix of checks and balances in the technique soars onto the palate with aromas, flavors, and body that demand a reaction.