This year, the recommended beer for our Thanksgiving roundtable was Biere de Garde. Last year, my father-in-law served an American interpretation of an ESB, which worked well with Thanksgiving dinner. On Thursday, I'm heading to the in-laws' house with Brugge White to go with the turkey and Brugge Black to go with dessert.Open thread time, readers. What will you be drinking on Thursday?
Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout. I'm not sharing with the family though. That'll be for once we're home alone again. In silence. I'll probably share a Stone Smoked Porter with my uncle, he likes Guinness.
ReplyDeleteI'm such a sucker for Southern Tier right now.
Where are you getting Southern Tier?
ReplyDeleteHere in the borough of Brooklyn, we'll be going the Biere de Garde route with a growler of Southampton French Country Christmas for dinner, and finishing with a bottle of Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise '05 as an after dinner drink.
ReplyDeleteThe ESB sounds good though.... I've often thought Old Speckled Hen would be great with Thanksgiving. Just not the crappy nitro versions I keep seeing on tap.
I've been hoofing it back and forth from Chicago for a few weeks now. There's a beverage superstore nearby my homebase of Naperville called Binny's. We found Southern Tier, Lost Abbey, Port Brewing, and all of the Founders specialty brews. The only downside - due to the distribution laws of IL - there is no Stone brews coming into IL. So we stock up on those in Indiana.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I had the Founders Harvest Ale on draft during lunch at Three Floyds Brewpub on Saturday. They have completely changed their menu and it is not updated online. Scotch eggs and the french fries seemed like the only carry overs from the old menu. Our pizza was delicious though and paired great with my beer. It was called the "smokey" and I couldn't tell you what was in it. Service was eh, alright, but I didn't really care. I was in the area and it's not like I would have gone anywhere else.
Last year around Thanksgiving I tried pushing beer on the family with horrible results, so this year I'm rolling out tiny samples (because I plan on drinking most of the beer myself) of some big guns. We're sitting on a bottle each of New Glarus Belgian Red and Raspberry Tart, a bottle of Brugge Tripel that appeared magically in my fridge after Thanksgiving I, a bottle of Corsendonk Apple White (which I dig a lot, despite the too-high pricetag), a bottle of New Belgium's La Folie and maybe some Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Stout.
ReplyDeleteAnd just for me? Maybe a Avery Samael's Oak-Aged Ale or the Avery Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest, Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale, or Mikkeller/Three Floyds Hvedegoop Wheat Wine (my last bottle).
My take on beer & Thanksgiving from 2007 and 2008
ReplyDeleteI went with approachable, pairable, discussable and/or weird.
My whole family is pretty much on board with the craft beer thing these days. I even have my Mom involved with some fruitier things -- particularly Belgians -- and she used to hate beer!
ReplyDeleteWith Thanksgiving itself, though, I'll have a hard time convincing family to replace wine with beer. That's fine by me, I like wine a lot too. I'm glad I was able to have some fun with beer/Thanksgiving pairings on Sunday though!
I was considering bringing Brooklyn BCS, Old Rasputin, and Rogue Chocolate Stout to serve with dessert.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Duvel or a dubbel for dinner. Having a tough time deciding, and time is almost out!
I am actually bring Sierra Nevada pale ale with dinner. I think it will go nicely with turkey, and I will be pairing Nostradamus brown ale as well.
ReplyDeleteI am also going to try Moloko milk stout with dessert.
We have two Thanksgivings: One with the Keystone/Stroh's drinking family aka the husband's family. They DO like fruity things and last year we took Lindeman's Framboise and Kriek. "Soda pop beer" I know, but they loved it. I might go ahead and take a bottle of one of those again and a Brugge Tripel de Ripple.
ReplyDeleteAs for my family, we usually do wine and I have to admit, I'm sharing a very nice bottle of Cote Rotie with them. BUT I am considering throwing in a beer. Right now, top of my list, is the Gouden Carolus Cuvee Van de Kaiser Blonde. I think it will compliment the foods we'll have (it's the day after and we're having pork tenderloin not turkey). If I can find any, I might take Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence or the Olfabrikken Winter Porter for after dinner/dessert or see if they'd be willing to have a Gueuze as a digestif.
Big family dinner this year...
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to drop a Upland Strawberry or Raspberry Lambic into the mix at dinner.
Then afterwords I've got a Sam Adams Chocolate Bock for dessert. This should be another pleaser due to the low ABV and Milk Chocolate taste.
Then when I get home I think I'll pop open a Southern Tier Cuvee Series One. Or, maybe a an ABYSS!
Then on Saturday we have a annual Cookies n Chili (don't ask) party with a bunch of my friends and I'll be bringing a mini-keg of Oberon, 6ixer of Bells Christmas Ale and probably a few other goodies.
This my first turkey day I am looking for a real beer to drink at dinner. So I picked Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. Hope it works
ReplyDeleteScott - If you do manage to crack open that Southern Tier Cuvee Series One, let us know how it goes. I've got a bottle in my cellar/pantry and I really know nothing about it. And a cookies and chili party sounds pretty awesome, actually.
ReplyDeleteBrugge White: Received quite favorably by the non beer geeks.
ReplyDeleteBrugge Black: A much tougher sell.
Boulevard saisin-brett with turkey, Stone/Brew Dog Bashah and Jolly Pumpkin Weizen Bam tonight with leftovers.
ReplyDelete