PIzza and Beer, Elevated

Written By: Luke Osteen | Issue: 2016/08 - August | Photograph By: Marjorie Christiansen Photography

OK, when you’re supposed to review a place call Sapphire Mountain Brewing Company, you’re probably going to focus on The Brews, right?

And I will, I promise.

But I wanted to start with the pizza, the glorious, glorious pizza. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a sucker for pizza. Not any pie, mind you, but the variety that’s made with care, with respect for tradition, with imagination. 

When all those conditions are met, when the stars align and the Red Sea parts, a pizza is a transcendent experience. 

That’s what I found in Sapphire. You can tell these guys get it. In fact, thanks to an open kitchen, I was able to watch as my Meat Lover’s Pizza was assembled and fed into the wood-fired oven. The care was there. 

When it was delivered to our table, it was a work of art. A Meat Lover’s Pizza is loaded with pepperoni, Italian sausage, grilled chicken, and bacon. I really should have listed bacon first. There’s something magical about bacon, those four strips managed to dominate every mouthful. Every large mouthful. It must have been something about the combination of all those meats, but something unleashed my Inner Wolf. I devoured this pie.

If I was the Wolf, my sweetie was Little Bo Peep. She opted for the Genoa Pizza. That’s a Neapolitan Treat adorned with pesto, roasted garlic, artichoke hearts, feta cheese, and fresh basil. It was sublime in the blending of its ingredients.

Both pizzas boasted remarkable crusts, the product of hand-kneaded dough (again, we were able to watch the process – if you’re as passionate about pizza as I am, don’t deny yourself the show).

Of course, that pizza wouldn’t be nearly satisfying if The Sapphire Mountain Brewing Company didn’t use hand-kneaded dough made fresh daily. Perhaps that’s part of the seduction – there’s something deeply rewarding about the sensuous shaping of pizza dough. 

Anyway, we had two handmade pies delivered to the table – what more could we have asked for?

Of course! It’s the Sapphire Mountain Brewing Company! This portion of the menu is just as gratifying as the pizza. There are over 100 brews and microbrews, both domestic and imported.

Thanks to recommendations by our server, Destinee, I opted for the Green Man Ale and my love went with a label brewed exclusively for SMBC, a pint of Whisper Lake Pilsner.

Both were smooth and marvelous companions to our pizzas. 

How marvelous? Let’s say my petal ended up with more than one pint and I ended up as the designated driver.

That’s a good night.

Sapphire Mountain Brewing Company is located at 50 Slicers Avenue in Sapphire National Golf Club.