For years, Tom Seefurth drank mass-produced, canned beer, until he tried a small brewery’s stout and everything changed. He turned part of his garage into a brewery. He crafted porters and pale ales. And last fall, he came up with something he swears will revolutionize the world’s favorite 5 p.m. drink: pizza beer.

While there are no pizza chunks in the reddish-brown ale, the brew does include ingredients and an aroma associated with marinara sauce: tomatoes, garlic, basil and oregano.

Already on tap at one Aurora, Ill., restaurant as Mamma Mia Pizza Beer, Seefurth plans to incorporate still more food flavors into beers in a movement he calls “culinary brewing.” Salsa beer. Curry beer. Oatmeal raisin cookie beer. He has tried them all.

While the notion of such brews may cause noses to turn up and faces to scowl, Seefurth asks: Please don’t judge his creations.

“The pizza beer is not for the Saturday night bowling alley,” said Seefurth, 43. “But it will appeal to a wide range of people if they keep an open mind.”

— From wire reports