Pride Pub: Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire

Welcome back to Pride Pub. The gnarly month of May has been left behind for the sunny promise of June, and Orlando City is hosting one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Fire. Thankfully, we have two excellent beer suggestions to cool you down this weekend while you support Orlando City.

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 Chicago: 5 Lizard Latin-Style Witbier, 5 Rabbit Cervaceria

5 Rabbit Cervaceria is a very interesting blend of cultures. Traditional Latin-style beers brewed the Chicago way.

5 Lizard is a good example of that blend. Witbiers are mostly associated with Germany, but when 5 Rabbit does it, they bring that Latin flavor to bear.

According to La Cervaceria:

"Latin-style Witbier brewed with spices and passion fruit. 5 Lizard is a creamy and refreshing wheat beer with some spicy complexity and light touch of passion fruit for a delicious and slightly exotic flavor.”

Pair with: Mexican Grilled Shimp with Corn Salsa. Witbiers are usually better with lighter seafood dishes, but since this is 5 Rabbit we’re going with a slightly spicier recipe.

Dave’s Recommendations: Homemade Tortilla Chips. Make a little extra corn salsa, and enjoy it with these homemade tortilla chips.

From Florida: Anglophile ESB, Hourglass Brewing

We’re sending you out with your growlers to Longwood for an excellent Extra Special Bitter from Hourglass Brewing. If you’re not familiar with English Bitters, they are not actually “bitter.” Compared to the darker, maltier beers in England, the bitter was more hop forward, making it relatively more hoppy, but they won’t give you “bitter beer face” (look it up).

According to the brewery:

"A Traditional style ESB / Premium Bitter brewed with Golden Promise malt, Fuggles Hops, and one of our favorite British yeast strains."

That is an accurate if brief description of the beer. Let’s check in with our friends at www.ratebeer.com for another take.

“On tap. Dark amber in color with minimal off-white head. Subtle aroma of caramel malt. Mostly sweet flavor with big caramel and toffee notes with a touch of hops to balance in the finish. Medium bodied. Quite nice.” -by smaynard6000

Pair with: Garlic Roasted Chicken Breasts. Bitters pair well with English fish and chips, but since we’ve done that before we’re going with another great choice. One of the best things about a bitter is how versatile they are when pairing with food.

Dave’s Recommendations: Mashed Potatoes. We’re going to keep it simple, and have traditional mashed potatoes with our traditional English bitter.

That’s it for the first Pride Pub of June, Mane Landers. Let us know which pairing you decide on for your tailgate or watch party in the comments below. Thanks for your patronage and go City!