Beer Pairings for the Four Stages of Your Thanksgiving Meal

On November 24, 2014 · in Tasting Notes

Stage 1: The Pre-Dinner Mingle

These are beers that should be sipped while sitting on the couch near the fire place and listening to aunt Rosie go on and on about “that time when you were three years old which felt like just yesterday but anyway that time when you were three years old and you pulled your pants down and ran around the house screaming ‘I’m nakie!’ and gosh that just feels like yesterday where has the time gone?” These beers should be flavorful enough to help you settle in to the night, but sessionable enough to make sure you remain cognizant throughout the entire evening.

Founders Breakfast Stout

Selection by Chris Hess, Founders Brewing

Let’s face it, if you’re a Founders drinker, you probably spent Thanksgiving Eve getting a little wild with your siblings and cousins at the bar. There’s a good chance you’re probably waking up a little groggy and have already missed thatmost important meal of the day. Lucky for you, there’s a beer that drinks just like that… Breakfast Stout. The coffee-lover’s consummate beer, Breakfast Stout is brewed with an abundance of flaked oats, bitter and imported chocolate and Sumatra and kona coffee. This stout has an intense fresh-roasted java nose topped with a frothy, cinnamon-colored head that goes on forever.Remember, you can’t drink ALL DAY if you don’t start in the morning.

Tallgrass Brewing 8-Bit Pale Ale

Selection by Adam Wachendorf, Tallgrass Brewing

The amuse-bouche of Pale Ale! Because Thanksgiving is a day of eating and drinking, this pale ale is definitely the “mouth amuser.” With its low abv, tropical and floral notes, it’s the perfect breakfast beer to get the day started.

Virtue Cider The Ledbury

Selection by Joel Chaiken, Virtue Cider

Offering the complexity and range of wine and the sessionability of beer, cider has become an ever-intriguing beverage that can provide a mental getaway car in moments of dull conversation. Virtue’s The Ledbury Cider is no exception. A slow, wild-fermented blend of bittersweet apples, this English-style medium cider is a journey beginning with a ripe apple nose, caramel notes, and a deceptively sweet finish for a dry cider. Dynamic enough to drown out the noise, yet crisp and refreshing to leave you ready for the main event.

Stage 2: The Meal with a Capital “M”

These are beers that work with the whole plate – turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce – the works. Choosing the right beer for this stage is critical – it should be something that enhances the myriad of flavors on your plate without overshadowing your tryptophan-heavy feast. It should be a beer that makes you think, “Man, this meal is awesome. And you know what, I’M awesome because I remembered to push a little divot into my potatoes so the gravy doesn’t get into my Jell-O casserole” and then remember that Jell-O casserole is the worst and reminisce about Spot the dog who was always there to covertly clean bad food from your plate. And then you wonder if that contributed to his heart attack. Nah, pass the potatoes, please!

Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn Brown Ale:

Selection by Andrew Maxson, Brooklyn Brewery

Brooklyn Brown Ale started as a holiday release in the early days of the brewery but quickly proved too popular to remain as a limited release. Taking notes from Brown Ale’s British roots, the beer picks up a strong American accent through its firm hop character and roasty palate. A blend of six malts takes center stage, giving the beer its deep russet-brown color and complex flavors. Hints of cocoa, your favorite coffee, and caramel swirl beneath a delicate dry-hopped veil of dark fruity aromas. Brooklyn Brown Ale is always perfect with any red meat or roasted poultry.

Ale Syndicate Richie Imperial Porter:

Selection by Abby Kempf, Ale Syndicate

Richie Imperial Porter’s complex symphony of flavors pairs with just about every segment on your plate: the bittersweet roastiness enhances the richness of those charred marshmallow laden sweet potatoes while not overpowering the savory herbs in the stuffing.

Goose Island Matilda

Selection by Rick Wildt, Goose Island

Our Belgian Style Pale Ale, Matilda, is the quintessential beer to complement your thanksgiving feast. The secondary Brettanomyces fermentation gives Matilda her slightly sweet, spicy and earthy character. These characters perfectly match the flavors found in your Turkey, and will complement almost every homemade dish. It is perfectly well balanced just like most thanksgiving dinners, and she appeals to both beer and wine-drinkers alike. Matilda’s alcohol is a perfect 7.00%, so she won’t dominate any dish she is paired with, and you’ll be able to enjoy several.

Virtue Cider Lapinette Cidre Brut

Selection by Joel Chaiken, Virtue Cider

With heavy mounds of flavor—savory and sweet—lining your main event plate, it takes a drink with layers of rich complexity to stand up to your Thanksgiving creation. Enter Virtue’s Lapinette Cidre Brut, a Gold Medal Winner for Cider at the 2014 Festival of Barrel and Wood-Aged Beers. Aged in French oak with French yeasts, Lapinette offers an intersection of apple, farm, and barrel that will not only play nice with every Turkey Day component on your plate, but provide outstanding refreshment to pave the way for the dessert table ahead.

Stage 3: The Post-Dinner Belt Loosening

These are beers to enjoy as you return to the couch, unbutton your pants and wait for the food to settle before it’s pie time.

Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn Lager

Selection by Andrew Maxson, Brooklyn Brewery

Inviting and session-able, Brooklyn Lager pairs well with darn near everything you’ll find around the horn o’ plenty but doubles as the perfect accompaniment to mantlepiece-leaning, football-watching, and Thanksgiving digestion.

Founders All Day IPA

Selection by Chris Hess, Founders Brewing

Well that escalated quickly. One plate of food turned into seconds, thirds…fourths. You’re loaded with turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes, but you’re not going to let that ruin your good time as you plop down on the couch to watch the Lions or Cowboys play, because well, those guys always play on Thanksgiving. You’ll need a beer that refreshes you, cleanses that palate and boosts your confidence before the annual Family Turkey Bowl that begins in an hour. All Day IPA is just that, coming in at only 4.7% ABV, it’s a fresh and hoppy beer with notes of tropical fruit, oats and wheat. It’s balanced for optimal aromatics and a clean finish.

Goose Island Sofie

Selection by Rick Wildt, Goose Island

Sofie is an exquisite, dry Saison to enjoy after the feast, before indulging into everyone’s favorite course: dessert. She is light. She is slightly sweet, and fruity. She is very easy to drink. The depth of her flavor is celebrated by the biggest beer snob as well as someone more accustomed to drinking lighter wines. Sofie’s effervescent body will cleanse your palette from the myriad of flavors left behind during the main course to really prepare you to fully enjoy the rich bold flavors found in most thanksgiving desserts.

Virtue Cider Sidra de Nava

Selection by Joel Chaiken, Virtue Cider

Buttons undone and elbows on the table to keep you upright, you’ve powered through multiple dinner helpings yet still have the will to make it to the dessert table. Getting you out of your seat and cleansing your palette are both achieved with help from Virtue Cider’s Sidra de Nava. A traditional Austrian-style sidra, this Michigan-made blend of fresh apples is aged in oak, offers a lemony nose, a dry, tart, finish and incomparable refreshment. Onward! Now, keep those pants on.

Stage 4: Dessert

These are beers to enjoy now that it’s pie time. Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pumpkin-peach-bacon-pecan pie — whatever pie you want because it’s Thanksgiving, dammit, and you’re thankful for pie.

3 Sheeps Ewephoria Ginger Chocolate Stout

Selection by Grant Pauly, 3 Sheeps Brewing

Who says you have to eat your dessert? Ewephoria is a ginger chocolate stout that’s brewed using two types of ginger, cocoa nibs, and chocolate malt. This beer is ginger forward, with a nice chocolate backbone. Pair it with anything chocolate, and you’re set.

Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn Post Road Pumpkin Ale

Selection by Andrew Maxson, Brooklyn Brewery

Post Road Pumpkin is an essential element of holiday dining. Hundreds of pounds of pumpkins are blended into the mash of each batch, creating a beer with an orange amber color, warm pumpkin aroma, biscuity malt center, and crisp finish. Post Road will bring out the best in your pumpkin pie and vice versa. Let us give thanks!

Tallgrass Brewing Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat

Selection by Adam Wachendorf, Tallgrass Brewing

The aroma of sweet malts, coffee, and molasses and a hint of vanilla. This stout is sure to pair with any pie. Or skip the pie and make a Vanilla Bean Oatmeal Stout float!

Ale Syndicate Omega Midnight

Selection by Abby Kempf, Ale Syndicate

Bring out the big guns to balance out that last course before the coma – Omega Midnight Foreign Extra Stout. Sweet and smokey, but not too heavy, this dessert-in-a-bottle will go perfectly with the dessert in your plate.