Heirloom Pizza and Pint Project

It being tomato season, many of the finest pizzerias in Portland have dipped into fresh heirloom tomatoes for seasonal pies that make any tomato lover swoon. I first became familiar with heirloom tomato pizza when Double Mountain Brewery debuted a seasonal Heirloom Pie at the Hood River brewpub in 2012, and it's become something I look forward to every year since. You might wonder what this has to do with beer. Beginning with my first try of heirloom pizza at a brewery I have associated this pie with beer ever since, and everyone knows there may be no better combo than pizza and beer. So, after doing some research and realizing some of my favorite local pizzerias were serving their takes on heirloom tomato pie, a quest of epic proportions took shape in my mind to try each of them and tie it back into beer with the best beer pairing served at each location.Please join in, share your favorites and let me know what ones I may have missed?

Double Mountain Heirloom Pie

Perhaps not the first that existed, but the first heirloom tomato pie that I ever had was Double Mountain's, which debuted in 2012 at the Hood River brewpub. This pie is made with a rainbow of assorted fresh heirloom tomato slices from local farms like Royal Anne Organics instead of a typical tomato sauce. Without the sauce it's a little less sweet, with a rich savoriness from mozzarella and fontal cheese and peppered with fresh basil pesto, finally finished with a sharp grating of pecorino and parmigiano cheese. One thing that makes Double Mountain's heirloom pie different than others is its crackery crust and relatively light profile; it's not a gut bomb like many pizzas, not too oily, rich or sweet.Suggested pairing: Hood River Helles or Tahoma Kriek. Double Mountain's new bottled seasonal (also on draft) is the beautiful pale blond Hood River Helles, a malt forward and clean crisp beer that washes down a greasy pizza quick so each bite is as fresh as the next. DM's annual releases of Tahoma Kriek is really strong this year; this mixed culture sour ale is big on the gorgeous yellow-golden Rainier Cherries which are bright, tart and juicy. This year's release (vintage 2015) more blows up the sweet acidity of the tomatoes rather than contrast against them. It's an amazing palate of more flavor pairing boost of flavors rather than a balancing act of beer and pizza.Double Mountain Hood River - 8 4th St, Hood River, Oregon 97031Double Mountain PDX -  4336 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland

Apizza Scholls Dirty Cheese Heirloom

Often considered Portland's top pizza joint, Apizza Scholls does not disappoint when it comes to the seasonal heirloom pie. In fact, they let you build your own pie with an optional addition of fresh heirloom tomatoes to any pizza for an additional $5. The special Dirty Cheese Heirloom is a mozarella and ricotta cheese pie with some fresh herbs and chili flakes to spice things up. This is a simple, but simply delicious pizza that leaves the cheese and the heirloom tomatoes to do all the heavy lifting.Suggested pairing: Breakside Apizza Alt - When Breakside Brewery makes a special beer for your restaurant and it's designed to be paired with the pizza, you don't say no. Apizza Alt is a traditional-style German Altbier, malty yet clean and crisp.Apizza Scholls - 4741 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, Oregon 97215

East Glisan Pizza Lounge Heirloom Special

One of my favorite underrated gems in Portland is Montavilla neighborhood's East Glisan Pizza Lounge. The place makes terrific, affordable artisan thin crust pies and always has some interesting rotating specials. Check out the lasagna special on Sundays and the Detroit-style pizza on Tuesday and Saturday. There are also eight rotating drafts that always have some great beers from the likes of Breakside, Pelican, Zoiglhaus and Montavilla Brew Works on tap, plus a cocktail menu and housemade sodas.Anyway, a few weeks back East Glisan ran an Heirloom Pie special and it was so popular they have decided to keep it on the menu until the fresh heirloom tomatoes run out. This is an oily, garlicy, cheesy slice that plays up the caprese combo of mozzarella, tomato and basil. It's finished with a bit of sea salt and a balsamic reduction and the combo of oil, salt, tomato juices begins to soak up the fresh basil leaves and leave pools of green tinted oils in the crannies of it's cheesy valleys.Suggested pairing: Montavilla Brew Works East Glisan Red - how can you resist choosing the house beer made by the local brewery. Originally brewed as a fresh hop beer at MBW, they recycled the recipe with lots of Mosaic hops into a slightly malty, very fruity and oniony IPA that pairs well with rich cheese and tangy fresh heirloom tomatoes.East Glisan - 8001 NE Glisan St, Portland, Oregon 97213

Dove Vivi Pizza Primavera Pie, BLT Pie and Heirloom Tomato Salad

This cult classic pizza cafe makes an unusual style of cornmeal, thick crust and deep dish pie with interesting signature flavor combos. They may be my favorite pizza place in town for that crusty, crumbly, sweet corn crust and thick moist and unusual flavor combos like sweet corn and balsamic onion.Dove Vivi always runs a number of pizza specials and in the season has two different pies with heirloom tomatoes and even an heirloom tomato based salad. The BLT Pizza may be my favorite of the two (but may or may not be still available) - classic mozzarella and fontina cheese base is spiced up with thinly sliced red onion, sweet and smoky house-cured thick maple bacon pieces, diced heirloom tomatoes, a smoky mayonnaise, and frisee greens.Primavera Pizza special is a little more heirloom forward on a similar base of mozzarella and fontina cheeses with thinly sliced red onions and big slices of heirloom tomatoes with chili flakes and basil. What really sets this one apart is the green olives and capers which add a sharper and salty flavor to offset the sweet and juicy tomatoes.The Heirloom Tomato salad truly blew me away after getting over the shock of realizing this was not a lettuce or other greens based salad but nearly all heirloom tomatoes. Thick slices of tomatoes piled on tomatoes in a parsley malt vinaigrette, topped with crumbled feta and crunchy breadcrumbs. Mwah!Recommended pairing: Dove Vivi's got cans and three beers on draft, for my two slices and a salad I needed two beers and found 54-40 Brewing's Kalifornia Kolsch a perfect light, crisp accompaniment to counter the smoky-sweetness of the BLT Pie. I backed that up with a thick, juicy and bitter Fort George Brewery City of Dreams hazy pale ale.Dove Vivi Pizza - 2727 NE Glisan St, Portland