WORLD OF BEER has been a Savannah staple for more than seven years by offering over 500 brews from around the world and stellar sports on the televisions in-house.
The store has been so successful that they opened the doors to a second location in Pooler in 2014.
Beer and sports make for a perfect pairing, but food and beer can be only be described as soul mates. Until recently, patrons of the World of Beer location downtown were allowed to bring in their own grub but could not purchase food directly from the store. That has now changed.
The New Year has brought a brand new menu to the Broughton Street World of Beer that includes burgers, tacos, bowls, shareable starters, and a ton of specials. Because I cannot resist sampling a new menu, I stopped by last week to scout it out. To say the least, I was not disappointed with the options available on the pub style menu.
I asked General Manager Philip Crump how World of Beer pulled off adding food to their menu as buildings within the historic district often lack the space needed for a restaurant kitchen:
“Through new ownership and extreme renovation, the Savannah location of World of Beer was able to incorporate a kitchen,” he told me. “It has always been our mission to bring delicious food and excellent craft beer to our customers. We are excited at the opportunity to now provide both to the public.”
As for creating the food menu, the “menu was designed by our corporate culinary expert, David Belliveau. David crafted the menu to represent the numerous beer styles that we provide,” Crump said.
“Each item, spice, and sauce is made in-house, most with beers incorporated directly into their recipes to reflect the love and care that goes into the craft beer we pour daily,” explained Crump.
You read that right—not only do they serve beer but they now incorporate various beers into the food itself.
The most popular shareable item is the German Pretzel. It comes dripping with butter and hanging on a stand because it is too large to fit on the tray on which it is served. A sight for sore eyes, the tender yet chewy-shelled oversized pretzel is finished with a sprinkling of coarse salt and two dipping sauces.
I feel like I need to warn you, the pretzel could fairly feed four people, do not make my mistake and try to tackle the Everest-sized bread alone.
If I have not convinced you to order the pretzel then let Crump do it. He told me that the German Pretzel “has outsold every item on the menu almost certainly because of the house-made brown ale beer cheese paired with it. Our other popular menu items include the Black and Bleu Steak Flatbread Pizza, the Chimay Burger with caramelized onions, mushrooms, and aged Chimay cheese, and our Beef Barbacoa Street Tacos.”
For my main, I went for the Beef Barbacoa Street Tacos because I know of no other place in our low country town that offers them. Barbacoa tacos are a specific type of taco that can be found in Mexico. The meat featured inside is cooked low and slow over an open fire and oranges are incorporated to tenderize the meat.
Although it is not possible for World of Beer to fully adhere to the traditional method of cooking barbacoa, they came very, very close. The pork is braised for several hours before it reaches your plate as tender as any meat that you’ve ever had in your life. The pork is so delectable I would have been just as satisfied eating it on its own.
Putting their own twist on the traditional taco, World of Beer serves their version with fresh sliced avocado, crisp lettuce, chopped cilantro, crumbled queso fresco, roasted corn and tomato salsa, and a drizzle of sriracha lime aioli. The finishing touch is a quick grill to the flour tortilla to deepen its flavor.
Other taco options include mahi mahi, beer battered shrimp, beer brined chicken, chipotle ground beef, and blackened chicken.
For lunch you can get the tacos and side item for less than eight dollars, or you can wait until Taco Tuesday and get them for even less. Crump told me about all of their specials. “We offer daily lunch special items including a ‘Pick 2’ option in which one can pick and entree and a side for either $7.99 or $8.99. We eventually intend to add some items to the menu and incorporate a brunch menu after the New Year.”
Beyond tacos, the new menu features a build your own burger plus two specialty World of Beer Burgers, the Chimya and the Beerunch Burger.
Four different sandwiches, three various flat breads, and three unique bowls can also be found on the menu. For the health conscious, several scrumptious salad options are included as well.
With so many beer options it may be difficult to select the appropriate hoppy drink to accompany your meal, but World of Beer thought of that problem and addressed it.
Crump explained “Each item on the menu has paired beer-style accompanied with it to provide the perfect palate. Because our taps rotate so often, there is never a fixed beer for each item, but our brilliant bartenders can help each individual pick the right craft beer to match their meal.”
Taking Crump’s suggestion, I asked the bartender to recommend a beer to accompany my mammoth pretzel. She first inquired as to my preferred type of beer, stout and ales, and then brought me a sample of her stellar suggestion. The limited release Highland Cold Mountain Spiced Ale was deeply flavored but did not overpower the subtle nuances of the pretzel.
