Thanksgiving is a holiday with a few classic stalwarts in turkey, football, and beer. If you can’t get control of the remote and aren’t in charge of the turkey, let us help you bring some beers that will pair well with your Thanksgiving feast.
The Best Beer for Thanksgiving
We’ve compiled a list of the best beer selections to pair with your Thanksgiving meal.
Best Beer with Cranberry Sauce
Sly Fox Saison Vos
6.9% ABV: Cranberry sauce whether canned or homemade is a staple. The sweet-sour combination does great to offset the rich heavy meal. Adding a Sly Fox Saison Vos to this adds a spicy dry note. This Belgian farmhouse beer uses German malts, and English hops. It gives the drinker an opportunity to be thankful for their brewing forefathers.
Best Beer with Sweet Potatoes
📷: Troegs/Twitter
Troegs Blizzard of Hops IPA
6.4% ABV: Mashed potatoes are a year-round thing, but the sweet potato usually doesn’t get any attention until Thanksgiving. Troegs Blizzard of Hops IPA combines a citrus pop with a hop bite and pine notes. This will give you a mix of sweetness and a pleasant bitterness that has you reaching for seconds, and thirds.
Best Beer with Ham
Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat Ale
5.3% ABV: Some folks prefer a nice Thanksgiving ham or skip the turkey altogether. Cherries have always paired well with ham, and this tart wheat beer is going to mean you can skip the fruit and focus on beer and meat. Readily available everywhere, pair Sam Adams Cherry Wheat Ale with a pre-dinner cheese board, too.
Best Beer with Turkey
📷: Helltown Brewing/Twitter
Helltown Brewing Mischievous Brown Ale
5.5% ABV: The bird is the most important part of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. A brown ale pairs well with our 14-pound feathered friends thanks to the notes of dark fruit and malt that typically accompany a beer of this style. Helltown Mischievous Brown Ale also has an ode to the tradition of the holiday, with European malts joining with American hops to make a full-bodied ale.
Best Beer with Pumpkin Pie
Tired Hands Brewing Only Void Stout
10% ABV: You’ve come to the end of your meal, and you’re facing one more piece of pie. What will help cap your largest meal of the year is a Tired Hands Only Void Stout. The combination of oats and malts settles out this imperial stout into a deep flavor that has notes of roastiness that balances that sweet pie and crust. If you can, look for the single-origin Ethiopian Coffee variety.
Best Beer for Christmas Decorating
📷: Harpoon Brewery
Harpoon Brewery Harpoon Winter Warmer
5.9% ABV: The meal finishes. The family is milling around in their post-meal daze. The afternoon has turned to night and folks start to gather their hats, coats, and gloves. As everyone heads outside, dad jogs into the garage and connects a few extension cords, and has everyone wait. Then he flips a switch, and the Christmas season officially starts as the lights erupt trimming the house in white and red, trees bursting with color and a Frosty somehow lighting up the roof.
The perfect way to put a cap on that moment, provided you’re the host and not leaving the party, is a Harpoon Winter Warmer. This medium-bodied ale has the hallmarks of Christmas in cinnamon and nutmeg. The hops are subtle and don’t take away from the cinnamon smell that fills your nose the moment you open one.
Give some of these beers a chance this Thanksgiving, or find your own combinations if you’re inspired to. Drink responsibly and have a happy Thanksgiving!
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