Pizza News

Latest crazy beer from Fort Worth's Martin House tastes like pizza

Do you even need the pizza at this point?

Photo courtesy of Martin House

Fort Worth craft beer maker Martin House Brewing is known for its creative beer flavors but on their newest one, have they gone a step too far? Called Space Pizza, it's a beer that summons the flavors of pizza, and is currently available on store shelves.

According to a release, Space Pizza has an ABV of 5.2 percent and is brewed with pizza spices.

"We had to start off 2021 with some crazy," the release says. "We've been wanting to make this one on a large scale for a long time and that time is now."

The release claims that they've "done a lot of research" on this one, designed to "complement that extra large cheese pizza on family game night."

Martin House brand manager Shugg Cole says that this release represents a departure from what the brewery usually does, in that it is not a sour beer.

"We first did a test batch of this beer in the taproom on Valentine's Day in 2020," he says. "It was just trying a silly beer. But that test batch was a sour beer, and that's a big difference between what we ended up releasing."

"Most of our beers are sour based, we almost always do sour beers," he says. "For this, we decided to play with the ingredients, just make it be a pizza beer in its own category."

The beer is a conceptual cousin of their Salty Lady Michelada, in that they both have a tomato component.

"It's the flavoring and spices of pizza, you've got tomato and oregano in there as well," he says. "There is actual tomato paste and tomato powder, although it doesn't change the consistency. It's not thick. But the tomato adds flavor and color, and you can taste tomato."

Martin House puts out a new beer every week in the taproom and for sale in stores. Prior attention-getters include their Buffalo Wing Sauce beer, which they released in October and which earned national attention. "We had people calling for it from Buffalo, New York," he says.

If there's a particularly popular flavor, they'll occasionally reissue it. And if it's really-really popular, like their breakout pickle beer, it gets added to the regular roster.

"The pizza beer will be the same as all the other ones — it'll be distributed this week and next, and then gone forever," he says.

craft-beer pizza

Heirloom Pizza in Plano dishes up New York and Detroit-style pies

Heirloom Pizza

Heirloom Pizza in Plano

A pizzeria in Plano is slinging both New York-style and Detroit deep dish pizza: Called Heirloom Pizza, it’s a small shop at 2225 W. 15th St., where it's enjoying a second wind of sorts.

The shop first opened in 2022 under a different owner, then reopened in 2024 under new owner Justin Horton, a first-time restaurant owner and native of the area who'd worked in restauants, mostly as a waiter, for more than a decade.

“I saved up because I always wanted to own my own business and found this little place for sale,” Horton says. “A month later, I had my own pizza shop."

He had no previous pizza-making experience when he took over the place, but it didn't take him long to delve into a mastery of pizza — "it's like a work of art," he says. It helps that he's a quick study who researched pizza types and ingredients before arriving at his own recipe and style.

"Our classic is like a cross between a New York-style and New Haven, noted for its thin crust," he says. "But the one that has put us on the map lately is our Detroit deep-dish style. It's one I've been doing for the past few months. It has an airy, crunchy, crispy crust that people love. It's made in a trademark rectangular pan and I do them in limited quantity because I only have 15 pans, so we usually sell out."

His pizza hews carefully to the Detroit deep-dish style, with sharp squared-off edges that have a crispy caramelized "wall" of melted cheese while super soft and airy inside. For cheese, he uses the genre's standard, Wisconsin brick cheese, and makes his own tangy tomato sauce.

Heritage Pizza Detroit deep dish Detroit style deep dish pizza at Heritage PizzaHeritage Pizza

He's a true enthusiast, ready to talk about geeky pizza guy stuff like fermentation of the dough and the sourcing on his tomatoes.

Pizza options include creative options like an all-white pizza with white sauce, garlic, and three cheeses: mozzarella, ricotta, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Another called Fred's Steakhouse Special is a collaboration, using and cheesesteak from the Fred's Downtown Philly next door.

"All the dough is fermented from 48-72 hours," he says. "We use the same dough, but it gets proofed differently depending on what we're making."

Prices are affordable, ranging from $12 for a 12-inch cheese pizza to $22 for a 16-inch specialty pizza.

They also have four salads including a Caprese and a Greek; and desserts, like tiramisu, cannolis, and cheesecake. Horton emphasizes that he makes the cannolis with specialty ingredients.

"I get the shells shipped in from Sicily, then I make the cream myself," he says. "I try to put a lot of love and passion behind everything I do."

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