You guys! It's springtime here in central Kentucky (even though the weather would make you think otherwise), and you know what that means - patio season is about to begin! And although there are several bars and craft breweries around Lexington in which you can relax and have a nice beer, there's only one place where you can enjoy a drink AND the best pizza in town; Mirror Twin Brewing and Rolling Oven Pizza! Can you imagine how awesome it's going to be when the temperature gets into the 70's, and you get to eat and drink outside? I know that Renee and I can't wait to do a lot of that very soon! To get ourselves into the spring spirit, we headed on down to National Avenue on the first day of spring (it was snowing of course, because we live in Kentucky) to sample beer and pizza from what is easily becoming a staple for my weekend and evening outings as of late.

We're pretty excited about this interview because we actually got to sit down with folks from both Mirror Twin and Rolling Oven - Mirranda Hubbs, Mirror Twin general manager, and Megan Whitmer, Rolling Oven marketing manager. We love getting to know the people behind the scenes of our favorite places and this time was no different! We started out talking with Mirranda about Mirror Twin and how the brewery got up-and-running. She told us about how head brewer and co-owner of the brewery Derek DeFranco found his passion for craft beer as an avid home brewer while studying to become a lawyer. Once he saw that he could brew some pretty awesome beers, he realized he had a choice to make: stick with his law degree and become a lawyer, or try his hand at opening a craft brewery. So he got up with a couple of friends from back home in Saint Louis and decided to buy up some property on National Avenue for their new project, and pretty soon after Mirror Twin was born. The name of the brewery also comes from Derek; he and his brother are themselves mirror twins - they are identical in every way, but Derek is right-handed and his brother is left-handed. This same concept also sparked the idea for their twin draft system - the first of its kind, by the way - where they take some of their flagship beers and “twin” them by adding one different ingredient. That different ingredient could be another type of hop or a small change in the flavor. Speaking of flagship beers, Mirror Twin has 7 of them that are always available on tap: Mos' Def IPA, Citronomical IPA, White Girl Wasted blonde ale, Red Blooded American red ale, What Ever You Want Wheat witbier, D's Nutty Brown Ale, and Cowabunga Dude chocolate milk stout. They are always making twins of these beers, and you can find them on several of the other taps; there is a guide on the tap list that tells you which beers are twins of each other! They also offer some outside beers on tap, although they hope to be able to exclusively offer their beers here soon. I personally always like to see what they're going to be naming their beers because they're so funny; turns out, the brewers really like to take some inspiration from shows such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Rick and Morty, which explains why I love this place so much! 

We also got to have a really nice talk with Megan about Rolling Oven and its origins as a well-known food truck here in Lexington. If you live around here or have been here for local events, you've for sure seen this super awesome truck: it's a 20' long shipping truck that has been fitted with a brick oven and prep station, and it's all contained behind very large glass doors. And even though establishing themselves as a brick-and-mortar has become priority number one, the food truck still gets out to make the rounds from time to time; Renee spotted them at the Crave food festival last fall, and they go to several other events around Lexington as well. How did Rolling Oven get their start in the brick-and-mortar business, you ask? This is where the collaboration with Mirror Twin Brewing comes into play. When Mirror Twin started work on their brewery, they realized that this property was zoned for a brewpub instead of a stand-alone brewery. This prompted Derek and company to look for a food partner for the building, and the first place that came to mind was Rolling Oven. Nick Ring, the owner of Rolling Oven, was immediately on board, thus beginning the beautiful relationship between pizza and beer that has overtaken Lexington. Rolling Oven employs an actual brick oven in both the truck and the store to make its pizzas, and let me tell you - it has easily become my new favorite go-to for pizza here in town. The crust is amazing, the toppings work really well together, and you have so many different pizzas to choose from - their menu has something for everyone! Not only do they serve pizza, they also serve appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and dessert (the s'mores pizza is to die for!). Best-sellers for Rolling Oven pizza include pepperoni, the focosa (Megan's favorite; it has salami, garlic, Roma tomatoes, and cracked pepper), and the Bianca (Mirranda's favorite; it has olive oil, garlic, provolone, mozzarella, parmesan, and fresh basil). The favorite sandwich tends to be the classico (with prosciutto, Roma tomatoes, basil, arugula, mozzarella, and pesto aioli), but the other sandwiches sound super tasty as well.

There were so many good beer and food choices to be had at Mirror Twin and Rolling Oven that we had to employ Renee's husband, Richard, to help us try it all out! Renee doesn't drink beer, so Richard and I took to the bar to try out a few of the brews on tap. I tried the Citronomical IPA (one of the flagship beers) and their special milkshake IPA called Why Do Cows Have Hooves...They Lactose; both of these were really good IPAs, and as someone who doesn't necessarily head straight for the hoppy stuff, I have to say that these were both very easy to drink. The milkshake IPA didn't even have a strong, hoppy taste to it - this was so smooth, I would say it could be dangerous if you drank more than two of them! Richard tried the White Girl Wasted blonde ale and a few non-Mirror Twin brews; he liked how drinkable the White Girl Wasted tended to be; you can drink a few of these and be good to go! Once we had beers to drink, we all sat down with the Rolling Oven menu and picked out several different things to snack on for lunch. We ordered the fire-roasted potato skins and the cheese sticks for appetizers, both of which were super good! The cheese sticks are some of the best I've ever had! We each ordered our own small pizzas: Renee ordered a cheese pizza, Richard ordered the meat pizza (with pepperoni, prosciutto, chorizo, and salami), and I ordered the potato and chorizo pizza. I personally tried all three of these pizzas, and I know I've already said this is my new favorite pizza place but I really can't stress it enough - hands down, best pizza in Lexington. The dough is sooooooo good; it's cooked to perfection - not burnt but also not undercooked - and if I could eat one of these pizzas every day then my life would be complete! The flavor combinations that the folks at Rolling Oven keep coming up with are really good; a lot of their pizzas are topped with olive oil instead of red sauce, and several of their pies are sprinkled with cracked black pepper that takes the flavor to another level. And of course we ended our meal by splitting a s'mores pizza (you better believe we did, after all the time I've spent talking about it during this post!); the fire-roasted chocolate and marshmallows on top of a buttery dough are like a small slice of heaven! 

There's always something fun going on here on National Avenue with both Mirror Twin Brewing and Rolling Oven Pizza, whether it be trivia nights or weekly specials on both pizza and beer. Trivia is played here every Wednesday night at 7 PM, and once a month or so they host a specially-themed pop-up trivia night; past themes have been Friends, Game of Thrones, and Rick and Morty, all of which sounds like a fun time! Rolling Oven also likes to do a special pizza, not available on the normal menu, every few weeks; I've just noticed today that the special is a cheesy broccoli bacon pizza, with fresh broccoli florets, nacho cheese, bacon, and red bell peppers, and it sounds really good! As far as growth goes, Mirror Twin is looking to get into canning and distribution, while Rolling Oven is expanding into central Kentucky - they are opening brick-and-mortar shops in both Versailles and Georgetown! Versailles will feature a stand-alone pizza shop that will carry Mirror Twin beers, and their third shop will be opening up inside Georgetown's newest brewery, My Old Kentucky Foam (which I can't wait to go check out!). Back here in Lexington, Mirror Twin and Rolling Oven intend to stay best friends forever by including each other in any future endeavors - they started out together, and they want to grow and blossom together as well. There is plenty of parking over at the brewery; they have a full parking lot, as well as plenty of free street parking all down National Avenue. Be sure to check out all the social media sites for both Mirror Twin and Rolling Oven (Instagram: @mirrortwinbrewing and @rollingoven; Facebook: @Mirrortwinbrewingco and @rollingoven; Twitter: @mirrortwinlex and @RollingOven), and make sure you get over there soon and try out all the beer and pizza your heart can handle! 

Sources: 

www.mirrortwinbrewing.com, rollingoven.com

Food truck photo credit: Rolling Oven