Real talk: I’ve been to many Pizza Press locations throughout Orange County, and always thought the tap list was meh at best. They either have an overwhelming amount of faux-craft, such as their Anaheim location, or whatever the distributor sales guy tells the manager is good. Chances are, if a tap list looks like the “craft beer” menu inside Angel’s Stadium, you might as well serve pitchers of bud for $8 and get it over with.
When one of the owners of the new Pizza Press location at Orange Village said I had to see their tap list, I was like, “send pics,” to save me the drive. What I saw is a list that is not only good, it’s goddamn great.
What makes it great? A girl came up behind me and mentioned she’s never had a craft beer. The menu, which is broken up into sections (light and crisp, fruity, dark and toasty, IPA, sours, stouts and boozy), is easy to read and order by number. She ordered a number five, which happened to be an Unsung Brewing Blackberry Saison. She lifted the purple drank to her nose, gave it a whiff, and noted it tasted somewhat like wine. “Oh, I love this! This is my first craft beer!” I got goosebumps.
Pizza Press Orange Village’s tap list is beautifully balanced with different beer styles, hoppiness, and alcohol levels. There’s everything from great local lagers and IPA’s to some whales like Kentucky Breakfast Stout for a mere $5 mini-pour or Bottle Logic’s Fundamental Observation.
To pair with my hater-bait pineapple and jalapeño pizza, I went with the super danky Noble Ale Works Tongue Tickles Double IPA. I don’t often like double’s due to their sweetness, but Tongue Tickles has the right amount of tropical hops to match the pineapple in the pizza, and just the right amount of Cheech & Chong to bring out the herbs in the sauce. Such a great meal!
Check out Pizza Press’ new location at the Orange Village mall and grab a beer, a bite, and chill on their patio!
1500 E Village Way, Suite 2197, Orange. Live tap list is here!
Greg Nagel has been writing about beer since 2011, is an avid homebrewer of wine, cider, and beer, is a certified Cicerone Beer Server, level 1 WSET in Wine, a podcaster with the Four Brewers Show, and runs a yearly beer festival called Firkfest happening on June 29th in Anaheim!