Mamma Mia Pizza Beer is a new craft brew that lives up to its name. Co-creator Tom Seefurth says, “This is not a ‘pizza-flavored’ beer. It is a beer designed for pairing and to be used as an ingredient, something no one else has done – therefore, we declared our beer ‘culinary beer.’”

Seefurth and his wife, Athena, have created a whole line of food products – from pizza-crust mixes to hamburger seasonings – all designed to be made using Mama Mia Pizza Beer. “We hope home cooks and professional chefs will enjoy our creation as much as we have,” he says.

The idea for this unique concoction was hatched on a rainy Labor Day weekend in 2006, when Seefurth and his brewing partner, Warren Siepman, mixed up a batch on their home brewing kit. “It smelled so good, like a pizzeria, when we brewed it,” Seefurth says, but the pair didn’t have high hopes. “We figured the only thing it would be good for is beer brats, beer bread and as a basic marinade.” 

Winning a few home brewing ribbons gained Mamma Mia a fan base .It’s now brewed at Milwaukee’s Sprecher Brewing Co., where it takes a little longer to make to make than, say, Budweiser. “The first batch really clogged the system when they tried to drain the beer into the fermenter,” Seefurth said. “Future brews would have to be spent finely chopping and smashing garlic by hand. It takes two people about four hours for one 40-barrel batch.”

Mamma Mia Pizza Beer is available in Illinois, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, California and Wisconsin. Plus, it’ll soon be sold in Hong Kong. You can also order it online at MammaMiaPizzaBeer.com (Bites.Today.com)