Pie And Beer Day!

July 24, 2015 3:29 AM

July 24th is the date when the Mormon settlers first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Commemorated as Pioneer Day, it's a day off work that is tied to a specific belief system. But non-Mormons in Utah also want to observe the holiday, and so July 24th became Pie And Beer Day. The Salt Lake Tribune article provides more background.
posted by hippybear (37 comments total)

I assumed Utah's Beer Day would be on March 2nd.
posted by ryanrs at 4:09 AM on July 24, 2015 [16 favorites]

That does sound like a theme for an evening out. And I say that as a non-Mormon with no connection to Utah. Any excuse I suppose.

I do know somewhere that could actually do pie 'n' ear* but that's best saved for sunny days, which isn't today.

(*Crispy pigs ears, served with bacon jam.)
posted by biffa at 4:09 AM on July 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

You know, even when I was still drinking bad, I don't recall ever thinking "Man, I wish I had a beer to go with this slice of pie"
posted by thelonius at 4:13 AM on July 24, 2015 [7 favorites]

Speaking as a lifetime Utah resident who has spent quite a bit of time in places where pie and beer are served, and enjoys both of them...

This is absolutely NOT a thing.

I've never heard of this. It's a few local bars and breweries getting publicity for a joke.

Non-mormons gleefully celebrate "Pioneer Day" because it's Utah history and because it's a day off (quite often) and because we get to buy and set off fireworks twice in July instead of just once. We don't need to invent a new name for it to do so.

But feel free to enjoy Pie and Beer anyway. I recommend a nice Porter and French Silk pie.
posted by mmoncur at 4:42 AM on July 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

RyanRS that's brilliant.
posted by MattD at 5:16 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I want this. Where can I find it in PGH?
posted by Going To Maine at 5:45 AM on July 24, 2015

Huh. Mmoncur, I lived in downtown Salt Lake for ten years and we always celebrated pie and beer day. It was awesome. I love a nice IPA and peach pie. Was planning a little Colorado version with dinner tonight.
posted by chuke at 6:06 AM on July 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

I made pie last night and beer the night before.
I have been missing Utah lately.
I'm gonna celebrate tonight.
Probably make some picadillo empanadas for dinner. Beer goes quite well with handpies.
posted by Seamus at 6:41 AM on July 24, 2015

Pie and Beer Day was created as a counter culture alternative for people that don’t fit into the established green jello and hand cart mold that has been around for generations,

"Hand cart mold"?
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:20 AM on July 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh! "(Fit the ((green jello) and (hand cart)) mold)." I was parsing "hand cart" as an ingredient added to a jello mold.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:24 AM on July 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

So this is a holiday for non-Mormons to celebrate Mormon history? Because most Mormons don't drink alcohol, right?
posted by ChuckRamone at 8:02 AM on July 24, 2015

So this is a holiday for non-Mormons to celebrate Mormon history?

It's the equivalent of Jews going to the movies and having Chinese food on Christmas -- "Well, if everybody else is having a holiday, we might as well have some fun."
posted by Etrigan at 8:22 AM on July 24, 2015 [6 favorites]

"They hold a contest, where everyone brings pies to drink with the company's beer."
I always chase my beer with a drink of pie too. Usually pumpkin.
posted by Brodiggitty at 8:26 AM on July 24, 2015

is meat pie not a thing in the states? because that's what i think of for "pie and beer".

(it's just, you know, a pie, with meat inside.)
posted by andrewcooke at 8:28 AM on July 24, 2015 [5 favorites]

This is like the Christians hiding Christmas among the Roman Solstice celebrations. Life in a theocracy daunts, this counter celebration is for the daunted, this is for every qualified worker replaced by someone more faithful, for every girl sent home from the prom for mosharia violations. The holiday exists because Utah is a theocracy. At Liberty Park where the parade ends, on Pioneer day the locals used to have the neighbor fair. There was Native American dancing, rock and roll, and the local folks, the neighborhood, attended in mass quantities. I lived two blocks from this for 24 years. Under pressure the largest city park was closed to this celebration, because more conservative folks who came in from smaller towns were offended by experiencing the local culture for even a couple of hours. These same folks didn't want skating or skateboards in the park. Finally the park got huge skate and run / walk paths.

This holiday kind of replaces the neighbor fair and spreads it out all over the state. Happy Pie and Beer Day. I think the term was coined by the late Trudi McMurrin, all hail this day. For me it also ends the July reign of pyrotechnical maniacs. Utah is like a war zone all month.
posted by Oyéah at 8:29 AM on July 24, 2015 [9 favorites]

andrewcooke: "is meat pie not a thing in the states?"

Not so much. There *are* meat pies in the States - chicken pot pie comes to mind - but if you say "pie," people are thinking of a dessert.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:32 AM on July 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

Another lifetime non-Mormon Utah resident, we've always made it an alternative holiday thing. Family BBQs would have a smattering of pies and BYOB to celebrate. Not such a marketed thing as it has become recently, but definitely a way to celebrate today that isn't all handcarts, parade floats, and green jello. This year a coworker who loves to bake is spending his day off today (many locals get today as a holiday) baking an array of pies and we're going to go sample them all and then sit around with some beers and watch the neighborhood erupt in fireworks.

I do agree it's never been heavily "sold" here until the last few years, where it seems to me local craft brewers are turning it into a reason to celebrate with their Utah made products. Squatter's comes to mind in that front. I'm surprised to see it turning up in the AP and other national press though.
posted by msbutah at 8:53 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

huh. same as chile. which is a pity, because meat + potato pie is pretty damn good.
posted by andrewcooke at 8:54 AM on July 24, 2015

So I saw "The Book Of Mormon" a few weeks ago and have been obsessively listening to the soundtrack on repeat ever since. Suddenly, this holiday (or "holiday) is going well with what's going on in my head.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:59 AM on July 24, 2015

I love this part of a line from the SLTrib article:

'Rather it gives "gentiles," as non-Mormons were once called...'

I love it because it's true, but it's also an attempt to provide this alternate Utah definition for the word 'gentile' by equating it with another word, 'non-Mormon', that also doesn't exist outside of Utah (though is of course figure-outable).
posted by gurple at 9:18 AM on July 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

So, I am confirmed for the local pie specialist place tonight. Can I just check, they are also a specialist cider place, am I allowed to select from their wide range of ciders or do I have to go with their single ale in order to maintain the spirit of the holiday?
posted by biffa at 9:49 AM on July 24, 2015

@biffa I'll be drinking Sailor Jerry, so it's more of a pie and libations day.
posted by msbutah at 10:03 AM on July 24, 2015

Yeah, Pie and Beer Day does seem to be getting a lot more public recognition lately, but it isn't a new thing-- I've attended at least a decade's worth of P&B celebrations.

For those unfamiliar with Pioneer Day, it is a huge holiday in Utah. I've never counted, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were more public events surrounding Pioneer Day than Independence Day. On more than one occasion I've heard people insist-insist-that it is a national holiday. Which, of course, it is not.
posted by zibeline_rose at 10:13 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Happy Pie and Beer Day indeed. I'll take any excuse to enjoy a Uinta Hop Nosh, Wyld or Baba, thankyouverymuch.
posted by GamblingBlues at 10:23 AM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

is meat pie not a thing in the states? because that's what i think of for "pie and beer".

It used to very much be a thing but died off around the prohibition era in the early 20th century, pies made with meat, suet, and huge amounts of alcohol used to be very popular.
posted by atrazine at 11:39 AM on July 24, 2015

I grew up in Utah, but moved out about 12 years ago. I had never heard of this Pie and Beer Day until now but I fully support it. I like the way it just rolls off the tongue, especially if you, like me, grew up celebrating Pioneer Day.
posted by jenjenc at 11:45 AM on July 24, 2015

On more than one occasion I've heard people insist-insist-that it is a national holiday. Which, of course, it is not.

Native Utah-raised, I was both confused into and eventually disabused of this notion by the fact that when we'd visit the California town my Mom grew up in, they *also* had Pioneer Day. Celebrated in California and Utah? Of course it's a national holiday!

Eventually, I figured out the difference between late July and early October.
posted by weston at 12:48 PM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I had the 'Steak Out' pie, very pleasant. I had already had 2.5 pints of ale by the time I got there so went with the Rhubarb & Custard cider, which for the record does taste exactly like R&C sweets.
posted by biffa at 2:15 PM on July 24, 2015

People eat meat pies all the time, but we rarely cook them, and I'm not sure why that is. I've got a half dozen cheap pot pies in my freezer right now, which persist in being called "pot pies" but do in fact totally have bottom crusts, so they aren't even actually pot pies. I will put one chicken one and one fruit one in the oven together and aside from taking awhile, it's an incredibly easy and satisfying thing to do for dinner. But then people act baffled by the notion of meat pies, like we forget they exist if they don't come frozen in orange boxes? I dunno. Anyway, I think that the whole thing of thinking of "pie" as sweet goes along with this thing of "pot pie" meaning a meat pie regardless of crust configuration.
posted by Sequence at 3:07 PM on July 24, 2015

Well, one thing is, in the UK I believe "meat pie" is a free standing object, like a Hot Pocket, not something baked in a pie pan.
posted by hippybear at 3:19 PM on July 24, 2015

I don't even know if they do baked-in-a-shallow-pan-with-a-crust-and-fruit-filling desserts like we have pies here in the US.
posted by hippybear at 3:19 PM on July 24, 2015

Or maybe they are called tarts there. Although I do know "tart" has an entirely different meaning there, too. #watchesalotofBritishTVbutisn'tactuallyBritishandhasneverbeenthere
posted by hippybear at 3:21 PM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Well, one thing is, in the UK I believe "meat pie" is a free standing object, like a Hot Pocket, not something baked in a pie pan.

Can be, can also be a large pie ready to be divided up between a bunch of dinners. Even the single serving press would have at least a throwaway tin foil container, others would be in earthenware or, less commonly, a tin.

I don't even know if they do baked-in-a-shallow-pan-with-a-crust-and-fruit-filling desserts like we have pies here in the US.

Yeah, we do, the apple pie dates to about the 14th century.
posted by biffa at 3:49 PM on July 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

my grannie's meat and potato pie was in an earthenware dish with a (shortcrust) pastry crust. pretty much this. with yorkshires + mushy peas to start. and the pie served with peas + carrots and maybe cauliflower. sigh. and rock buns and cheese for pudding. damn. miss you grandma.

meat pies at a rugby match are individual, in foil. or were - no idea now.
posted by andrewcooke at 5:14 PM on July 24, 2015

People eat meat pies all the time, but we rarely cook them, and I'm not sure why that is.
posted by Sequence at 6:07 PM on July 24

As my father would say, "What do you mean 'we', Paleface?"

Some of us have grown up cooking chicken pot pies, beef pot pies, cottage pies, and meat loaf pies They're a regular part of the fall/winter menus of myself and various relatives and friends.

Granted, these are larger dishes, meant to serve 6 - 8 people. For the empanada-style individual pies, I turn to my neighbor who is of Italian heritage and who consequently makes calzones, and assorted co-workers who make things like samosas, Jamaican patties, those meat pies you get in Louisiana (can't think what they're called; I just know that my boss is from there and brings them in, so....), and, well, empanadas.

So I'm not entirely sure how you come by your belief that people aren't making meat pies. From where I sit, people are making plenty of them.
posted by magstheaxe at 8:26 PM on July 24, 2015

I love savory pies (and mini-pies, like empanadas and samosas). But there's no denying that in the US "pie" connotates a sweet rather than savory item.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:46 PM on July 24, 2015

I am glad we could all reach cross-union consensus on this important pie matter.

God bless America and save Freddy Mercury.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 1:20 AM on July 25, 2015