Why Do We Drink Beer With Pizza and Why Do They Work So Well Together?

Pizza and beer, a combination that is such a famous pairing, derived from Italy and then spread around the world. A unique combination that represents sociability, joy, good taste: yet it has not always been this way. The history of this combination is relatively recent compared to the history of pizza itself. In truth, admitting that "modern" pizza is about 300 years old, for most of that time the round pizza was accompanied by wine and not beer. Only in the last 50 years, in fact, has beer taken its place on the marble counters of Italian pizzerias.

The History of Pizza and Alcohol Pairings

Contrary to popular belief that pizza was born after the unification of Italy, with a preparation dedicated to Queen Margherita of Savoy, pizza was born many years earlier. It is likely that the idea of ​​arranging the ingredients on a bread dough dates back to the Egyptians, whose legacy would have gone to the Greeks and so on.

Neapolitan pizza in particular was born around 1700, as a popular and much-loved dish right from the start. In the many stories that Matilde Serao, one of the finest writers of the 20th century, tells about the city of Naples, there is always wine as an accompaniment to pizza. The classic straw-covered wine flask is omnipresent in artistic representations: from the works of Serao to the paintings of Salvator Rosa, passing through the great masters of Neapolitan nativity scene art. Wine is the accompaniment to everything, whether it is pasta, pizza or mozzarella, at least until the 1950s.

How Did Pizza and Beer Come to Be?

Until the 1950s, pizzerias in Italy could not sell alcohol due to a law introduced by the fascist government. Inevitably, there is the combination with wine, especially in the sale in slices, door to door. People brought home-made wine, like in the Roman flask shops. With the economic boom, two particular conjunctions were born.

The first is legislative: due to the release of the so-called special license, the owners of pizzerias gained the authorization to sell alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content equal to or greater than 8 degrees, including wine and beer. Thanks instead to the low cost of the fermented beverage, accompanied by a popular dish with an equally low cost, the pizza-beer combination became very popular in the city.

The combination of pizza and beer became the expression of the possibility offered to everyone, even the less well-off, to go and eat at a restaurant, exactly as happened here, in the United States, with the birth of fast food in the history of the hamburger.

Furthermore, with the economic boom,  beer consumption grew dramatically, overcoming the barriers imposed by the tax measures inherited from the fascist regime. Beer took on national interest, becoming a valid alternative to traditional soft drinks. In the 1960s, the pizzeria established itself throughout the nation as a social place for the middle class to eat out, an accessible and democratic meal, thus contributing to the emancipation of that social class that, until a few years earlier, had only seen "others" go to restaurants.

Why Do Pizza and Beer Work so Well Together?

Pizza and beer are a match made in food heaven, and there's science behind why they pair so well. The crisp, carbonated bubbles in beer act like tiny palate cleansers, cutting through the richness of the cheesy, greasy goodness that pizza brings to the table. Meanwhile, the bitterness of hops balances the sweetness of tomato sauce and the umami punch of toppings like pepperoni. It’s a flavor symphony where each bite of pizza craves the refreshing sip of beer—kind of like how we crave pizza on a Friday night! So, next time you crack open a cold one, know it’s not just a craving, it’s chemistry.

Are Pizza and Beer Bad For You?

This is a question that many people ask lately. Pizza and beer are not bad, a good weiss beer for pizza or a good craft beer are excellent accompaniments to the dish. The idea that pizza and beer is a bad combination comes from the mistaken belief that the yeasts in the two products clash "in the stomach" and continue to mature, blocking digestibility.

This doesn't make sense and the reason is simple: yeasts die around 60 degrees, pizzas are cooked between 300 and 480 degrees depending on the style you choose. Therefore, tapping and pouring will not create any disturbance if the carbon dioxide can escape entirely. If this process happens, not only will the beer not bloat, but those who drink it will want more because they will feel a sensation of lightness.

For many, wine is better with pizza, a combination that is coming back into fashion, especially in high-end pizzerias. There is no precise rule, pizza allows for a boundless palette of possible combinations both in ingredients and in combinations with drinks, so, very simply: de gustibus.