Thanksgiving Beer
If you plan to pair wine with your Thanksgiving meal and you are struggling with Pinot or Riesling, why not consider an even more food friendly alternative – BEER! Here are a few suggested styles to compliment your bountiful holiday dinner.
Bière de Garde
This big meal does not need a huge filling beer. Bière de Garde is not too light, but has enough body and flavor to compliment most tradional Thansksgiving Day dishes. The spicy, peppery character that the yeast strain contributes is the secret to this food friendly beer.
examples: The Lost Abbey Avant Garde, New Belgium Brewing Lips of Faith
Wheat Beer
Wheat beers are very popular, so most of your guests should enjoy them. German-style hefeweizens and Belgian-style witbiers are light and crisp and not too filling. They have a prickly level of carbonation that helps cleanse your palate between bites. Traditional Bavarian hefeweizens tend to have flavors character like clove and banana that are derived from the yeast strain used to ferment the beer. Belgian-style witbiers are usually have a touch of orange peel, coriander, and peppery grains of Paradise.
examples:
Amber Ale
American Amber Ales have a malty nose with a subtle hint of bubblegum leads to a fruity, light caramel flavor. It has a nice dry, slightly hoppy thirst quenching finish. The dry finish has a palate cleansing effect preparing you for another bite. This is a great match with a roasted turkey.
example: Alaskan Amber Ale, Full Sail Amber Ale
Porter
On the darker side of the beer spectrum are porters. Leaning toward the darker end of the beer spectrum. Like their big brothers stout, porters have similar roasty, chocolaty flavors of stouts without being as thick or heavy. Porters are especially great with Thanksgiving meals coming out of the smoked turkey, ham, brisket, lamb, duck, or a veggie dish.
examples: Stone Suede Imperial Porter, Firestone Walker Walker’s Reserve Porter, Fuller’s London Porter
Stout
If you are looking for a beer pairing to contrast the flavor profiles in your dessert try an imperial stout. Imperial stout has the carbonation and bitterness to cut through fat and sugary sweetness and contributes chocolate and coffee flavors. It will compliment any big chocolate dish, but also pairs perfectly with strawberry and raspberry tarts. This is a big, full of flavor style that will enhance apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, bread pudding and most cream based desserts like Crème brûlée. This is quite a versatile pairing partner. If Catherine the Great can get it successfully from England to Russia I’m sure you can get it safely to grandma’s.
examples: North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Stone Brewing Imperial Russian Stout
This post is making me hungry. Thank goodness it’s almost Thanksgiving!
Here’s wishing you and yours a fun and craftbrew filled holiday.
Cheers!