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"It sounds crazy, but it tastes fantastic!" - Interview with a pizza chef
Pizza liqueurs? Pizza liqueurs. As a marketplace for unusual craft drinks and foods, we are used to quite a lot. And yet every now and then there are producers who knock us off our pedestals with their wacky creations. Steffen Steinmann and Andreas 'Andy' Grope from Pizzaliener are definitely one of them. We would never have thought that a Hawaiian pizza would be sold in liquid form over our online store counter - let alone a pizza rum. Reason enough to talk to the two guys from Rostock about their wild spirit creations.
Buy Pizzaliener pizza liqueurs
- Flavor: tomatoey, spicy, like a hearty pizza
- Style: Tomato liqueur
- Flavor: fruity, sour, sweet, ripe lemon
- Style: Lemon liqueur
- Flavor: Intensely fruity, raspberries, creamy panna cotta
- Style: Raspberry liqueur
- Flavor: mild, tart, herbal, pronounced tomato note
- Style: Blended rum
- Flavor: mild, creamy, sweet, tart, coffee
- Style: Coffee liqueur
- Flavor: tomato, herbal, like a hearty pizza
- Style: Tomato liqueur
- Flavor: tomato, herbal, spicy
- Style: Tomato liqueur
- Flavor: tomato, savory pizza, pineapple
- Style: Tomato liqueur
- Flavor: mild, tart, herbal, pronounced olive note
- Style: London Dry Gin
Honest & Rare: Why don't you briefly introduce yourselves?
Steffen Steinmann: We are two good friends who got to know each other through work. Andy and I share a passion for pizza and also have a lot of other things in common. That's probably the reason why we get on so well.
You're actually more professionals for pizza ovens & accessories. How did you come to produce pizza-flavored spirits?
That's actually right, yes! Our drive for innovation and extraordinary things inspired us to think outside the box.
However, the idea of making pizza drinkable is partly down to Andy. As a former bartender, he has always had a passion for spirits. The first spark came during an evening with both families when we were talking about how cool it would be to get the essence of a fresh pizza into a drink.
Sure, in the end we weren't really sober when we first thought about it... But when the idea still sounded exciting days later, we got to work.
And then you developed a tomato liqueur.
Exactly. The "Marinara" pizza liqueur was our first foray into the world of wacky spirits.
Once we were sure that we wanted to create a drinkable pizza, we looked for an expert. A distiller who is not only extremely good at what he does, but who also attaches as much importance to naturalness and quality as we do. Of course, it would be easy to whip up a chemical soup with countless flavors - simply mixed together and marketed in no time at all. But we wanted to do justice to the real pizza and work exclusively with natural ingredients.
The pizza liqueurs from Pizzaliener are available in four different pizza varieties. Probably the most controversial variant: Pizza Hawaii with fresh pineapple puree.
Where did you finally find your expert?
At the Sächsische Spirituosen Manufaktur - a renowned distillery near Bautzen that is known for its craftsmanship and attention to detail. Master distiller Martin is an outstanding partner and has more than often not only implemented crazy ideas and made them possible, but also incorporated his own ideas.
The chemistry between Martin and us is just right - also because we share the same principles. All three of us attach particular importance to the quality of the ingredients and the precision of the distillation process. Natural ingredients, a balanced recipe and gentle processing are essential for us. And we want every sip of our spirits to be a unique and enjoyable experience. That's why we are regularly on site to lend a hand. What was originally a rather functional connection with the Sächsische Spirituosen Manufaktur has now become something of a family partnership.
"We didn't just want to create a drinkable pizza, but a drinkable menu"
You now have several liqueurs, a gin and a pizza-flavored rum. How did the flavors come about?
After numerous attempts and, of course, failures, we finally found the perfect balance between fruity tomato, spicy herbs and a slight sweetness. The marinara was born - and is basically the "purest" pizza Italian. It consists of Italian tomato juice - yes really, a truck from Italy actually comes to the bottler on a regular basis - and a specially created herbal schnapps blend, which in combination creates the pizza flavor.
Based on this, we then developed three more "tangy-tomato" varieties, based on classic pizza names: Diavola, Basilico and Hawaii. We simply wanted to reflect different aspects of the pizza experience.
The basis for all the liqueurs is the Marinara liqueur. For the Diavola, we refined the tomato liqueur with fine chili peppers, for Basilico with dried basil and for Hawaii we used pineapple puree.
Crazy stuff. But your range doesn't stop there.
Exactly. Over time, an idea took root in our heads - we didn't just want to create a drinkable pizza, but also a drinkable menu. And, of course, a corresponding dessert is a must.
It goes without saying that the dessert range has the same standards, nothing is artificial or tinkered with here either - and it's definitely not a standard product. We have created different dessert variations - including tiramisu, the classic, which we make with 30% real coffee, crostata al limone, based on the Italian lemon cake, which tastes equal parts sweet and sour. And panna cotta alla lampone - raspberry panna cotta. There are no colorings or anything added here, the liqueur is so bright pink simply because of the raspberries used.
Probably the craziest idea from the pizza chefs: pizza rum - marinated with sun-dried tomatoes, chili, basil and thyme.
So how do gin and rum fit into the menu?
Quite simply - to complete the menu, we wanted to create an aperitif and a nightcap. Working closely with our distiller Martin, it was admittedly easy to create a gin that can proudly bear the name Pizza Gin. Also thanks to the rather unusual lead botanicals: black tomatoes meet basil and olive leaves.
Incidentally, it tastes particularly great as a gin and tonic with a dash of olive oil: the oil acts as a flavor carrier here and moistens the lips almost continuously. You have to try it!
When we were thinking about what we could produce as a nightcap, our distiller took us to his cellar. He stores a really small amount of rum there, which has matured in wooden barrels for three long years. It must have been fate that the rum was ready for tasting on that very day.
"We were still finalizing the rum from Martin's cellar"
Let's put our money where our mouth is - pizza rum? Can that really taste good?
A bit of butter, no fish 😉 A really awesome product, you can't say otherwise. So we gave this already - pun intended - butter-soft, mild and simply excellent rum, which was stored in Martin's cellar, a final tomatizing - in other words, we put dried tomatoes in it again.
The result surprised even us: equally wacky, fresh and Mediterranean. And as luck would have it, we developed a pizza rum that captures the subtle sweetness and spice of tomatoes without missing any of the vanilla and strength of a rum. It sounds crazy, but yes - it really does taste fantastic!
That sounds really worth trying! How do you prefer to drink your own liqueurs, gin and rum?
The nicest and simplest question: as much and as often as possible.
Joking aside, it is said that liqueurs and spirits only really come into their own when you drink them at room temperature. This is true in most cases. But especially when it's nice outside, it's a little more pleasant if you keep the drinks at a lower temperature.
We always keep our dessert favorites in the fridge and the pizza liqueurs in the bar. It has become common practice to drink the pizza liqueurs neat as a shot or to use them as a dip: Small bowl of pizza liqueur of your choice, dip bread sticks or pieces of bread in it and snack. It gets funny after a while...
When family and friends get together, we sometimes mix a few cocktails with the dessert liqueurs. We prefer to drink gin with a dry tonic and a dash of olive oil, which really kicks things off. Andy and I are also of the same opinion when it comes to rum: we prefer to enjoy this wonderful product neat or with a drop of olive oil. In the end, the truth is in the glass, everyone can enjoy it as they please. You just have to dare to try it.
Are there any other pizza creations planned?
We still have plenty of ideas, the drawer is full - I promise! I can already reveal this much: we are working on bottling an outstanding egg liqueur to complete our dessert range. We're also working on our masterpiece: if you've been reading carefully, you'll have noticed that there's a tiny detail missing from the 'drinkable menu'. This has already been tasted several times and found to be perfect by all those who tried it. The creation has been christened 'Liquore alle erbe' - and is already being bottled.
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About the autor:
Katalog & Marketing Managerin
Für mich geht nichts über das Entdecken kleiner Manufakturen. Ob das der Micro Craft Brauer aus Bayern oder die sächsische Brennerei ist, die es bereits seit Jahrzehnten gibt - hauptsache klein, regional verwurzelt und mit Sinn für's Handwerk!
- Liebt: frische Luft, ihren Hund & Vinyl
- Favorite drinks: wechseln mit so ziemlich jedem Glas...
- Empfehlung des Monats: Alkoholfreier Gin. Der EASIP Fields holt den Frühling ins Glas!
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