Pride Pub: Orlando City vs. New York City FC

Eastern Conference foe New York City FC comes to Orlando City Stadium for the second time this season. The Lions will look to make it three of three against NYCFC after winning the home opener, 1-0, and beating NYCFC, 2-1, in Yankee Stadium. Hopefully the Lions can remain undefeated in the Purple Palace.

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 Orlando City Lions here in the beautiful Sunshine State.

From New York: Nu Skool IPA, Southern Tier Brewing Co.

Southern Tier is well known for its regular IPA (a more traditional English IPA), and its 2XIPA imperial IPA. Now they’ve added a West Coast style IPA to the mix. Like other breweries, they’re incorporating tropical flavors to keep it lighter and refreshing.

According to the brewery:

"We spent over a year prototyping R&D versions of Nu Skool. This final version is one special beer. It is an IPA with a slight malty sweetness, but overall balanced & brimming with tropical, fruity, spicy, piney & citrus character. To contrast our IPA, which most closely resembles a traditional English IPA in malt & hop bills, we wanted to brew an India Pale Ale in a new way. West Coast brewers have been brewing lighter, more “Americanized,” yet still full of hop character & our brewers wanted to try their hand by brewing their take.

HOP PROCESS: We used 3.5 lbs. of “new school” varieties of hops per barrel of beer. We load our hopback to the brim with Mosaic hops for a big tropical fruit character. A nice whirlpool dose of experimental hop #07270 gives the beer a flavorful, resinous character. We then dry hop this beer on two separate days with a large amount of Mosaic hops in our hop cannon & Simcoe + Equinox two days later.”

Pair with: Chicken & Sausage Gumbo. The gumbo will kick back against the hops of the IPA, but not overpower the tropical taste. IPAs always pair well with spicy foods, and the sausage will provide the spicy flavor you want.

Dave’s Recommendations: Crusty bread or boiled rice. Your choice between the two potential sides (or both if you want). If you go with the bread, I recommend a good French baguette, since we’re talking about gumbo.

From Florida: ROARlando Citrus Golden Ale, M.I.A Beer Co.

M.I.A Beer Company made a special brew for the supporters of Orlando City SC called ROARlando Citrus Golden Ale. It is a variation of their 305 Golden Ale with ruby red and hibiscus citrus flavors added in. With a name like that you knew we’d have to feature it at some point.

According to the brewery:

"Golden ale brewed with ruby red grapefruit and hibiscus."

Well, that wasn’t very helpful. Let’s check in with the guys at www.ratebeer.com.

“The bartender at Oblivion Taproom says M.I.A. Roarlando was brewed specially for the fans of the Orlando Lions soccer team which explains why I can’t find much information on it. Either way, it is tasty brew. Deep golden color on the pour with a nice white head. Aroma is citrusy. Taste is floral and lemon-lime flavored but not in a sweet way. Very refreshing warm weather beer. Lions fans definitely have something to roar about with this brew.” - sloshgator (741)

Pair with: Citrus Grilled Pork Tenderloin. Golden ales pair in much the same way as English bitters. With M.I.A. putting a citrusy touch in ROARlando, we’re going to add citrus to the pork tenderloin. Both the pork and the beer should go down smooth.

Dave’s Recommendations: Grilled Sweet Potatoes. If you’re going to be grilling the tenderloin, you might as well get your side dish done at the same time. The sweet potatoes will provide a slightly different but still sweet flavor to complement the pairing.

Thanks for stopping by, Mane Landers. Let us know which pairing you made for your tailgate or watch party. Until next time, cheers and go City!