Pride Pub: Orlando City at New York Red Bulls

Orlando City heads to the Big Apple to take on the New York Energy Drinks, errr...Red Bulls. This is an important Eastern Conference match, as Orlando City heads into the second half of the season. A win would jump the Lions above the red line, and give a much-needed boost to a team reeling from a brutal week. Thankfully, we can belly up to the bar for some delicious craft beer and a tasty meal.

Just a reminder on how this works: we choose a craft beer from the country/state/city of our opponent and we include an appropriate recipe to go along with it. Of course, we also choose a Florida craft beer to complement our other recipe, and to represent our Lions here in the beautiful Sunshine State.

From New York - Resin, Sixpoint Brewery

Sixpoint Brewery has been around since 2004, and they brew some of the best beers in the country. Resin is one of my personal favorites.

According to the brewery:

"Resin is an ode to the sticky quintessence of hops - we extracted the alluring nectar from every precious citrus, pine, dank and herbal cone and channeled it all into one vessel. Now that's mad science."

Seriously? What is it with these breweries and their descriptions. Fortunately I found this other description at www.ratebeer.com.

"This is a really soft blurry looking one dark golden in color and a nice big almost dense off-white lacing head. It's really piney and resinous on the nose this, almost birchey. Wood and dust. No doubt that there's a lot of hops in this. Almost licorice like. Mild oily on the texture and just above average on the carbonation. Red berries, birch and pine in the taste. Easy to drink. Not too memorable really but good. Went away quick."

-by OnTap @ Randolph

While I disagree with the memorable part, it is a very good IPA, that borders on being a double IPA.

Pair with: Ham Steaks. Strong IPAs go well with salty meats. Nothing better than a ham for that, plus the sauce will be strong enough to hold its own against the Resin IPA.

Dave's recommendations: Scalloped Potatoes. What else would you have with a good ham?

From Florida - Berliner Weiss, Big Storm Brewing Co.

Big Storm has been brewing since 2012, and the Berliner Weisse is one of their Forecast Series of beers. It is a good choice for a warm Florida evening.

According to the brewery:

"Low in alcohol and refreshingly tart, Berliner Weisse is a traditional wheat sour from Berlin. The tartness complements the light and effervescent wheat beer for a refreshing experience. We invite our guests to try the traditional method of service by adding either raspberry or woodruff syrup. Raspberry adds a pleasant berry sweetness and woodruff adds an unique herbal character reminiscent of marshmallow."

Pair with: BBQ Wings! With the lightness of the Weisse, we'll contradict the flavor with sweet and spicy BBQ wings. A pair made, if not in heaven, in your kitchen!

Dave's recommendations: Oven Fries with Herbs and Pecorino! Pecorino is a Romano cheese, and the herbs will liven up standard french fries.

Thank you for stopping by the Pride Pub. As always, please comment below and let us know what you think. Vamos Orlando!