The "What's on Your Thanksgiving Table" Open Thread | 2011 Edition

Every year since 2007, I've asked the same question of our readers on Thanksgiving:

What beer are you drinking today?

What's your answer this year? Leave us a comment below and let us know.

Pairing gobblers and growlers

As all good Hoosiers know from their grade school days, the Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower to flee religious oppression. But rarely did the teachers tell their pupils why the Pilgrims, instead of continuing their voyage to Hudson's River, settled at Plymouth Rock… they were running out of beer.

Well, not just beer. But as William Bradford noted in his manuscript "Of Plymouth Plantation" in 1630, "…we could not take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer…" In short, they were low on supplies. Especially beer.

William Bradford is commonly credited as the founder of the annual American tradition known as Thanksgiving. While there is no conclusive evidence that beer was served at the first Thanksgiving, the chances of it being served are greater than that of wine. This is one of the reasons why beer should be a guest of honor at your Thanksgiving feast.

"As far as pairings are concerned," says Ted Miller, brewer at Brugge Brasserie, "turkey is a relatively neutral protein." A wide variety of beers work with turkey, from a clean and crisp pilsner to a dark and malty dopplebock to a sweet and complex Belgian strong ale.

Saison: A saison is a highly carbonated Belgian ale with fruity and spicy characteristics. "A saison and a turkey sound lovely. Probably is good with Brussels sprouts too," adds Miller. It also contrasts well with yams cooked with brown sugar. When available, Bier Brewery (5133 East 65th St.; www.bierbrewery.com) serves a saison named Farmgirl that is slightly tart, slightly peppery, and slightly sour. When unavailable, many craft beer stores carry bottles of Hennepin, with hints of coriander and giner, from Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, NY.

Porter: Named for the English laborers that carried luggage and freight at the docks, the porter is an English ale that carries roasty, malty flavors. Often described as having caramel, chocolate, nutty, and biscuity, porters are a versatile style that pair with numerous foods. It pairs with ham and dishes that contain bacon or ham, such as green beans. Porters also work with desserts like pumpkin pie. Pogue's Run Porter is a house beer at Flat 12 Bierwerks (414 N. Dorman St.; www.flat12.me). It has flavors of cocoa, brown sugar, raisins, and dates.

Wheat: Beers brewed with wheat in addition to or instead of malted barley vary widely. In Germany, the Weissbiers have flavors of bread, banana, and clove. In Belgium, the Witbiers finish with crisp notes of citrus and spice (like coriander). And American Wheats have a clean finish and flavor, often making them perfect beer for fruit infusions. At Oaken Barrel (50 N. Airport Parkway, Greenwood; www.oakenbarrel.com), Alabaster (a Belgian Witbier) and Razz-Wheat (a raspberry-infused American Wheat) are available in six packs and growlers. Both beers would work well with salads with dried fruits, fruit salad, and fruit desserts.

Brown: Another beer style from England, Brown ales traditionally have a dry finish and nutty flavors. They pair well with the woody flavors of mushrooms and dishes with mushrooms, such as dressing and gravy. Brown ales are also a good fit for desserts like pecan pie. Earthy and nutty notes can be found in Four Barrel Brown, a year round beer found at Triton Brewing Company (5764 Wheeler Road, Fort Benjamin Harrison; www.tritonbrewing.com).

India Pale Ales: American-versions of India Pale Ales (or IPA's) are infused with hops that impart citrus, floral, or piney aromas and flavors. The flavors and bitterness of this popular beer style can often overpower subtle flavors in foods. But it can work with turkeys that have been smoked, blackened, or flavored with a spice rub or injection. It can also be paired with a meat and cheese appetizer platter. IPA's can be found at many breweries including Three Pints Brewpub (5020 Cambridge Way, Plainfield; www.threepintsbrewpub.com) where they serve Izzy's IPA.

Hoosier Beer Geek wrote this article for the Nov. 17, 2011 Indianapolis Star

KOTBR #117 - Canadian Thanksgiving with Peter Brewster

As has become Hoosier Beer Geek tradition, the Knights of the Beer Roundtable gathered on the Sunday after Thanksgiving to celebrate our collective culinary capabilities and to give thanks for beer. No Thanksgiving feast would be complete without remembering those who came before us, and it is with that in mind that we share two forgotten stories from Thanksgivings past with you now.

Many stories have been told of the traditional first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Colony in 1621. But not many know the story of Peter Brewster, the younger half brother of William Brewster. I’m here to fix that for you.

Peter was an aloof man known for being lazy and always putting things off. It earned him the nickname Procrastinating Pete. It was because of Procrastinating Pete that the launch of the Mayflower to the “New World” was delayed several times. He kept oversleeping and missing the scheduled launch.

Finally, his older brother Will said, “Screw that wanker” and decided to leave without him. Distraught that he would be left behind without a brother to mooch from, Pete borrowed a dinghy and set sail across the ocean.

It was a surprise to no one that Procrastinating Pete arrived in Plymouth just in time for Thanksgiving supper. He was very hungry and thirsty, having only brought four bags of Doritos, a dozen sticks of beef jerky, and a case of Four Loko with him on the journey.

One of the pilgrims offered him a drink upon his arrival: “Hey Procrastinator! Want a beer?”

“Hells yes, people!” And it was a delicious beer, smooth and malty. And from that day forward, the beer would be known as the People’s Procrastinator Helles.


That winter, Procrastinating Pete found himself in a pickle. He hadn’t made any provisions to feed himself during the cold months and was very hungry. Again. His brother Will was frustrated but took pity on him. “I have a cow in the barn,” Will said. “Take it and trade it for food.”

Pete walked the cow to a trading post run by an old Norseman who was the descendant of explorers that traveled with Leif Erikson. His name was Jofur Herjolfsson, but everybody knew him as Trader Joe.

“I’ll give you some beans for that cow,” Joe said.

“I don’t know,” replied Pete, “that doesn’t sound like much.”

“Tell ya what, someday there will be a chain of stores named in my honor. And they will have beer there. I will give you a bottle of Ale on Lees from 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.”

“That’s like 400 years from now? I won’t be alive then,” Pete replied.

Joe thought about it and came up with a shrewd reply. “Those beans are magic beans. They’ll let you live forever!”

Procrastinating Pete was very gullible. He made the trade and immediately ate the beans. At first, they just gave him gas. But much to Joe’s surprise, the beans did make Pete immortal. Which is why he recently stopped at Trader Joe’s in Castleton and picked up his vertical of beer.

The 2007 vintage was his favorite, as the flavors seemed to be tastefully blended. 2008 and 2009 had sharper tastes and more booze in his mind. The 2010 vintage was completely different, being very mellow and thin in mouthfeel right out of the gate.

And that’s the story of Procrastinating Pete. Don’t you feel more enlightened for having heard it?

People's Procrastinator Helles
Jason: 3.8 Mugs | Mike: 3.33 Mugs | Jess: 3.8 Mugs | Rodney: 3.5 Mugs | Gina: 3.6 Mugs | Chris: 2.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.48 Mugs

While Jason may have just filled you in on American Thanksgiving, we Canadians* know that your Thanksgiving stories and traditions pale in comparison to ours. But before I bring you up to speed on Canadian Thanksgiving, I'll start with a quick lesson in Canadian history.

In 1480, the great Czech King Petr Prcrztnate decided that it was high time for the Czech Republic Navy to claim its rightful place among the worlds greatest navies. He brought his most trusted Admiral, Kanada Kolumbus, to his castle in Ostrava, and gave him a choice of three missions:

1) Win the America's Cup
2) Participate in the Red Bull Flugtag
3) Discover a new country

Admiral Kolumbus was a drunk; he knew that he had no chance of winning the America's Cup. And he knew that the Red Bull Flugtag was for hippies - he was an admiral! He had no time for hippies, even if he had a drug problem and lack of ambition himself. He knew that discovering a new country would be difficult. But given his options, it seemed like the one he would most likely be able to complete. And so he set forth from Ostrava in four vessels - the Nela, the Fanta, the Santa Meringue, and Russel - very hard going considering that Ostrava borders no sea or river. But just as he reached the Czech Republic/Germany border, he received word from King Prcrztnate. "Wait!"

And so he did, for many years - 11 to be perfectly clear. It was then, finally, that the Admiral and his four ships set course for a new country. Any country.

When asked why he made Kolumbus wait so long, the King Prcrztnate said, "Well, I...I just thought...What's the hurry?"

It was while carrying his boats on horseback through Munich that Kolumbus told his story to the locals, and they decided to award his predicament by brewing a beer to mock the Czech king. Thus Prcrztnator Helles was born.


Of course it wasn't until 1491 that Kanada Kolumbus reached what today is known as Canada. When Kolumbus finally reached Canadian shores, he was greeted by four Chiefs of the Loki tribe, each of them presenting him with a bottle of Ale on Lees. Now considered as the founders of modern day Canada, these Four Loko (much like a group of gooses are called geese, a group of Loki are called Loko) helped Kolumbus and his men found the city now known as Leduc (city motto: "This place is Leduculous!") and it is in their honor that we gather each year on Canadian Thanksgiving to drink four bottles of Ale on Lees.

*I'm not Canadian

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2007 (by Unibroue)
Mike: 3.6 Mugs | Jason: 3.75 Mugs | Jess: 3.1 Mugs | Rodney: 3.6 Mugs | Gina: 3.3 Mugs | Chris: 3.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.54 Mugs

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2008 (by Unibroue)
Mike: 3.6 Mugs | Jason: 3.5 Mugs | Jess: 2.8 Mugs | Rodney: 3.5 Mugs | Gina: 3.1 Mugs | Chris: 3.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.4 Mugs

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2009 (by Unibroue)
Mike: 3.9 Mugs | Jason: 3.25 Mugs | Jess: 3.3 Mugs | Rodney: 3.0 Mugs | Gina: 3.2 Mugs | Chris: 3.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.42 Mugs

Trader Joe's Vintage Ale 2010 (by Unibroue)
Mike: 3.8 Mugs | Jason: 3.33 Mugs | Jess: 3.6 Mugs | Rodney: 3.3 Mugs | Gina: 3.4 Mugs | Chris: 3.9 Mugs
KOTBR Score: 3.55 Mugs

The "What's On Your Thanksgiving Table" Open Thread | 2010 Edition

Here we are once again with our annual tradition.

So what are you drinking today? Leave us a comment below to let us know.

HBG Classics: KOTBR #92 - Knights of the Thanksgiving Table 2

One of the things we're very thankful here at Hoosier Beer Geek is the fact that we've been able to gather for the past two years to celebrate our very own post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner, in which we roll out our most Thanksgiving-like beer pairings, in an effort to remind Jason that it's still not Christmas - even if his lights have been up for a month already.

Yesterday we ran our recap from Thanksgiving 2008, and Sunday we'll gather together once again to eat, drink, and create the content for for our next Thanksgiving KOTBR. Today's classic roundtable comes from way back in 2009.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, and thanks for reading Hoosier Beer Geek.


Similar to last year, we decided to have a big Thanksgiving get-together complete with craft beer pairings. This year we decided to brine the turkey in a beer-based brine, using a bunch of old homebrew Kolsch. We also went with a redeye gravy that featured Dogfish Head Chicory Stout instead of coffee. The Bruery's offerings were an ideal choice since they are both new to Indiana and feature a number of spiced and Belgian style beers.


Over the course of my HBG/KOTBR career my appreciation for certain styles of beer has developed in strange ways. Lately I'll find that before really falling in love with a style, I first fall in love with the idea of the style.

For example, ever since we participated in our beer and cheese pairing with the folks at Goose the Market (thanks again, Gabe - we're thinking about you) and a reintroduction to beer from Brasserie DuPont, I've grown to love the idea of saison - the light, tight and refreshing farmhouse ale from the south of Belgium. To be fair, I'm in love with the idea of anything Belgian right now - from Eddy Merckx and the spring classics to bad weather and waffles. The love of ideas can be dangerous - often times the final result or product behind that love fails to live up to the hype.

Perhaps that's why The Bruery's Saison Rue was so pleasing - a light flowery nose, a subtle front and then a full flowery fruit finish were exactly what I had in mind. The light mouthfeel and delicate balance of flavors throughout were good enough to put this near the top of my list of favorite saisons. 4.20 Mugs

After meeting my expectations perfectly with the first round, The Bruery's Autumn Maple was a sort of let-down. The description reads as follows:

Brewed with 17 lbs. of yams per barrel (in other words, a lot of yams!), this autumn seasonal is a different take on the “pumpkin” beer style. Brewed with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, molasses, and maple syrup, and fermented with our traditional Belgian yeast strain, this bold and spicy beer is perfect on a cold autumn evening.

With all of that going on, my expectations were extremely high - I was hoping for a sort of sweet potato superbeer. Instead what I got was a similar pumpkin beer nose - spicy cinnamon and red-hot candies, followed by a heavier-handed pumpkin-ish flavor. Had I just expected a pumpkin beer (and had I not looked all over town before I found the beer (at PartiPak)), my rating might be higher. A lovely pumpkin beer - but not what I had hoped for. 3.24 Mugs


Our final Bruery beer of the evening was Two Turtle Doves - a beer obviously meant for the Christmas season. Notes of licorice and chocolate came from the nose, but upon first sipping my thoughts immediately turned to tobacco. Warming and yet balanced, earthy and slightly fruity - it's a beer that might benefit from age - or it might be perfect right now. In either case, it's one that I think I'd enjoy. 4.20 Mugs


Giving thanks for...

...things spicy and peppery. Big and bold and spiced. Like the pepper bacon in the brussel sprouts dish that Mike and Gina brought. When I tried the Saison Rue, I thought maybe I still had some pepper in my mouth. Nope, that's just the way this golden slightly sour beer rolls. 3.49 mugs.

...things sweet and starchy. Sweet potatoes are a must have at my Thanksgiving table. My grandmother fries sliced sweet potatoes in butter and brown sugar. So really, the potatoes are just a vessel to carry other flavors. Much like the Autumn Maple. The sweet potato beer (think pumpkin beer) is best used for carrying the sweet flavor of maple syrup. I think this copper colored beer with a filmy mouthfeel needed another shot of maple syrup. 3.24 mugs.

...things dark and hot. Like hot chocolate that has been "Irished up". Two Turtle Doves offers a beer of spiked hot cocoa. It is dark like coffee and has a dark chocolate nose, but isn't overwhelmed with chocolate flavor. Because of its high ABV, this beer is very "hot", perfect to take along while wassailing this yuletide season. 3.95 mugs.


I had been cooking and baking for the past two days prior to this event, so I was a bit out of it before our little get together. Don't take that wrong; I'm not complaining. I actually volunteered our house to host and I do a huge Thanksgiving meal for Jess and me every year because I love cooking that much. But two full days really takes it out of you. I hope my notes are coherent...

Saison Rue
Basic saison style nose with brett, lemon and a hint of spice (perhaps cinnamon?). This is actually a very good example of the Saison style. It begins fairly light and champagne-like with slightly sour notes and a bit of lemon. A lot of spices are present, such as sage, coriander and black pepper. Saisons, including this one, typically finish dry which make them excellent for pairing with food.

Pairs well with turkey and stuffing.
4.0 mugs

Autumn Maple
Fruity and sugary up front with a lot of cinnamon. Although the more I think about this, the more it makes sense; this beer really tastes like a good pumpkin beer. Notes of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and maple syrup all round out a solid pumpkin or butternut squash style sweetness.

Pairs well with sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie (kind of obvious).
3.8 mugs

2 Turtle Doves
Not a lot going on in the nose besides cocoa and molasses. I get the impression of spicy imperial stout up front and the beer definitely follows through. Lots of dark chocolate, molasses, honey and bourbon. The strong roasted malts almost have a burnt marshmallow-style carcinogen character. I'm also getting some cherries in here but I'm not sure why. After I read the description on the bottle I started to pick out some toasted nut flavors as well. I would like another bottle of this to lay down for their Vertical Epic-style aging experiment.

Pairs with most desserts rich in cream, butter and chocolate.
4.1 mugs


I'm the backup when Rodney is in the kitchen so my notes are a little less discombobulated. I have a sweet gig going here; he makes the food and I get to eat it. That does mean I get to clean all the dishes though so maybe he has the sweet gig of making a mess and I clean it up?

Saison Rue
Mr. Rue pours out cloudy and dark golden with a contrasting stark white head. The nose on this bad boy is very lemony and when I take a sip I get lemon and brett in the first taste. On second taste I let it roll around my mouth a little more and I get maple syrup and just a hint of roast beef. I think I need to give more Saisons a chance but they all end up tasting like either meat or flowers. I give this 3 mugs.

Autumn Maple
This was the one of the three that I was most excited for as I love all things sweet potato. I don't know what I was expecting though because it just ended up tasting like a pumpkin ale. It poured out looking like very thin maple syrup and had a very spicy, orange peel nose. The flavor there was a very sugary pumpkin pie. Almost tasted like candied pumpkin. I'd drink it again for sure though, giving it 4 mugs.

2 Turtle Doves
This pours very dark and thick with very little head and lots of oomph. It's not as thick as Dark Lord but has a lot of the similar notes. I get a LOT of booze on the back end of this and it would definitely stand up to some aging. I made the comment that it was like someone mixed Dark Lord with cherry cough syrup. Lots of nutty chocolate notes but also a hint of cherry syrup. I'd give it 3.6 mugs only because of how boozy it was.


Overall Mug Scores
The Bruery Saison Rue: 3.67 mugs
The Bruery Autumn Maple: 3.57 mugs
The Bruery 2 Turtle Doves: 3.96 mugs

HBG Classics: KOTBR #62 - A Very Special Hoosier Beer Geek Thanksgiving Roundtable

One of the things we're very thankful here at Hoosier Beer Geek is the fact that we've been able to gather for the past two years to celebrate our very own post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Dinner, in which we roll out our most Thanksgiving-like beer pairings, in an effort to remind Jason that it's still not Christmas - even if his lights have been up for a month already.

Tomorrow we'll run another recap of Thanksgiving from 2009, and Sunday we'll gather together once again to eat, drink, and create the content for for our next Thanksgiving KOTBR. Today's classic roundtable comes from way back in 2008.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, and thanks for reading Hoosier Beer Geek.


A while back Matt R. (I think) made a suggestion that we might want to try doing a Thanksgiving beer pairing, complete with courses and beers to match each. We all agreed that that sounded like a good idea, and we laid out a menu of traditional Thanksgiving foods - carrot ginger soup, turkey, sweet potato pie, sweet potato casserole, cranberry relish, cranberry sauce, stuffing, green beer casserole, corn casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie..

One thing I learned from the Turtle/Rabbit/Squirrel beer paring was to not overdo it - but a full cast of Knights (short Jim - who is a Jewish Vegetarian Lawyer (and those people are weird)) meant that if anything, there would be more than enough beer.

Because coordinating a write-up between a cast of nine is usually a trainwreck, I laid down one rule: No one leaves until we're gotten everything written up. While doling out responsibilities, the question was asked: "Are we reviewing the parings? The beer? The spirit of Thanksgiving?" "Yes, Rod, we're reviewing the spirit of Thanksgiving." What follows is out of order in more ways than one. And so..

The Spirit of Thanksgiving

Once every year, the ghost of Jesus rises from the dead to feast on the souls of the living. Every year we survive this atrocity, we celebrate our safety for another year through the holiday of Thanksgiving.




Back to Mike: When we decided to do a Thanksgiving pairing, I immediately turned to Garrett Oliver's The Brewmaster's Table for turkey pairings, and came across two full paragraphs expounding upon the virtues of Biere de Garde and Thanksgiving foods. A sample:

The French have yet to discover this food match, so let me be the one to tell you - biere de garde is brilliant with turkey. And not just with turkey - it is also brilliant with the turnips, the stuffing, the cranberry sauce, the potatoes, the whole darned thing.

That's a fairly convincing argument, right?

Schlafly Biere de Garde

We probably served this beer a little too cold to start. The bottle specifically says cellar temperature ("51-55 degrees F") and we served it straight out of the fridge. Later samples definitely showed a bit more fruitiness. Not that that necessarily would have helped with the Thanksgiving meal pairings.

As for specific pairings, I thought the beer went particularly well with the green bean casserole. It was more of a contrasting pairing as opposed to a complimentary pairing. The fruitiness was interesting counterpoint to a dish full of green beans and mushrooms, though the caramelized onions linked up perfectly with the caramel malt flavors in the beer.

Mike: 3.5
Gina: 3.5
Rod: 3.47
Jess: 2.8
Chris: 3.3
Matt R: 3.8
Matt E: 3.0
Kelly: 2.0
Jason: 2.5

Schlafly Biere de Garde Average: 3.09 Mugs


Troegenator Doublebock - Troegs Craft Brewery

The nose starts out with a bit of a raisin sourness with chocolate and caramel toffee notes. It has a nice dark caramel color that resembles caramel ice cream topping. Taking a sip of this 8.2% ABV brew is a bit misleading as it warms the palate and tends to meander through the malt sweetness. As it warms to room temperature you tend to taste the lightly toasted caramel malt and it balances out. For being a fairly boozy brew, this has a great balance to misrepresent the ABV.

In regard to our Thanksgiving pairings, this worked really well with the sweet potato pie. It brought out the maple syrup notes and complimented the toasted pecans on the top. There is a great pairing with the oyster stuffing with bits of salty mushrooms and the malty sweetness of the beer. Overall, this works quite well with the majority of dishes for the Thanksgiving meal.

Matt R: 4.0
Chris: 3.1
Rod: 4.1
Jess: 4.2
Matt E: 3.75
Jason: 3.66
Kelly: 3.8
Gina: 3.3
Mike: 3.5

Troegenator Doublebock Average: 3.71 Mugs

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

This is supposed to be a brown? We picked up a black liquorish nose, with hints of vanilla, smokeless tobacco, bourbony alcohol, soy sauce, molasses, and almond extract. A deep black/purple/marron-maroon color filled the glass and left no lacing. This is an all out beer, with little in the way of subtlety. Black liquorish, sassafras, molasses, some cough medicine I had and hated as a kid (someone else said Dimetapp, bourbon, and toasted wood all came to play.

We all agreed that this beer would be interesting with some age on it, but would it be good?

Mike: 3.0
Gina: 2.1
Matt. E: 2.175
Matt R: 2.0
Jason: 2.5
Jess: 3.1
Chris: 3.1
Kelly: 1.7
Rod: 3.8 (Who also noted: "You guys are jerks. If this was aged, (my score) would be even higher)

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron Average: 2.60 Mugs


Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar

Jason brought out this beer and it wasn't really paired with anything, but just went along nicely in between dinner and dessert. Is that a new meal time? Rouge's take on the brown ale adds some nutty complexity with the traditional brown ale base. The mouthfeel is a little lacking in carbonation, but it still cleared the way for pumpkin pie quite nicely. This is beer is neither offensive or something to really write home about, but it is of good quality and worth your time.

Jason: 3.5
Matt R: 2.5
Matt E: 3.6
Kelly: 2.5
Gina: 2.3
Jess: 3.75
Rodney: 3.2
Mike: 2.0
Chris: 2.6

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar Average: 2.88 Mugs


Sorachi IPA

For lack of a Left Hand Juju Ginger, we paired the carrot ginger soup with Chris' homebrew Sorachi IPA. Named after the Sorachi Ace hops, this IPA carried a very refreshing lemon flavor. Citrus and pine filled out the background but this IPA was noticeably lighter than others, while maintaining a very prominent bitterness. When paired with the ginger and black pepper flavors of the soup, a very floral character emerged and created a chamomile and heather flavor profile which blended nicely with the soup. The finish was a bit overpowering, as the hops quickly cleansed the palette of creamy squash and carrot. I think the lesson that we learned here is a citrus pale ale with a bit of a floral character would be a good pairing for ginger spiced squash or carrots.


Ps. Thanks to the folks at Goose the Market for their great brining instructional video and for all their help with the bird. Even I managed to make an tasty and tender turkey, which is no small feat.

KOTBR #92 - Knights of the Thanksgiving Table 2

Similar to last year, we decided to have a big Thanksgiving get-together complete with craft beer pairings. This year we decided to brine the turkey in a beer-based brine, using a bunch of old homebrew Kolsch. We also went with a redeye gravy that featured Dogfish Head Chicory Stout instead of coffee. The Bruery's offerings were an ideal choice since they are both new to Indiana and feature a number of spiced and Belgian style beers.


Over the course of my HBG/KOTBR career my appreciation for certain styles of beer has developed in strange ways. Lately I'll find that before really falling in love with a style, I first fall in love with the idea of the style.

For example, ever since we participated in our beer and cheese pairing with the folks at Goose the Market (thanks again, Gabe - we're thinking about you) and a reintroduction to beer from Brasserie DuPont, I've grown to love the idea of saison - the light, tight and refreshing farmhouse ale from the south of Belgium. To be fair, I'm in love with the idea of anything Belgian right now - from Eddy Merckx and the spring classics to bad weather and waffles. The love of ideas can be dangerous - often times the final result or product behind that love fails to live up to the hype.

Perhaps that's why The Bruery's Saison Rue was so pleasing - a light flowery nose, a subtle front and then a full flowery fruit finish were exactly what I had in mind. The light mouthfeel and delicate balance of flavors throughout were good enough to put this near the top of my list of favorite saisons. 4.20 Mugs

After meeting my expectations perfectly with the first round, The Bruery's Autumn Maple was a sort of let-down. The description reads as follows:

Brewed with 17 lbs. of yams per barrel (in other words, a lot of yams!), this autumn seasonal is a different take on the “pumpkin” beer style. Brewed with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, molasses, and maple syrup, and fermented with our traditional Belgian yeast strain, this bold and spicy beer is perfect on a cold autumn evening.

With all of that going on, my expectations were extremely high - I was hoping for a sort of sweet potato superbeer. Instead what I got was a similar pumpkin beer nose - spicy cinnamon and red-hot candies, followed by a heavier-handed pumpkin-ish flavor. Had I just expected a pumpkin beer (and had I not looked all over town before I found the beer (at PartiPak)), my rating might be higher. A lovely pumpkin beer - but not what I had hoped for. 3.24 Mugs


Our final Bruery beer of the evening was Two Turtle Doves - a beer obviously meant for the Christmas season. Notes of licorice and chocolate came from the nose, but upon first sipping my thoughts immediately turned to tobacco. Warming and yet balanced, earthy and slightly fruity - it's a beer that might benefit from age - or it might be perfect right now. In either case, it's one that I think I'd enjoy. 4.20 Mugs


Giving thanks for...

...things spicy and peppery. Big and bold and spiced. Like the pepper bacon in the brussel sprouts dish that Mike and Gina brought. When I tried the Saison Rue, I thought maybe I still had some pepper in my mouth. Nope, that's just the way this golden slightly sour beer rolls. 3.49 mugs.

...things sweet and starchy. Sweet potatoes are a must have at my Thanksgiving table. My grandmother fries sliced sweet potatoes in butter and brown sugar. So really, the potatoes are just a vessel to carry other flavors. Much like the Autumn Maple. The sweet potato beer (think pumpkin beer) is best used for carrying the sweet flavor of maple syrup. I think this copper colored beer with a filmy mouthfeel needed another shot of maple syrup. 3.24 mugs.

...things dark and hot. Like hot chocolate that has been "Irished up". Two Turtle Doves offers a beer of spiked hot cocoa. It is dark like coffee and has a dark chocolate nose, but isn't overwhelmed with chocolate flavor. Because of its high ABV, this beer is very "hot", perfect to take along while wassailing this yuletide season. 3.95 mugs.


I had been cooking and baking for the past two days prior to this event, so I was a bit out of it before our little get together. Don't take that wrong; I'm not complaining. I actually volunteered our house to host and I do a huge Thanksgiving meal for Jess and me every year because I love cooking that much. But two full days really takes it out of you. I hope my notes are coherent...

Saison Rue
Basic saison style nose with brett, lemon and a hint of spice (perhaps cinnamon?). This is actually a very good example of the Saison style. It begins fairly light and champagne-like with slightly sour notes and a bit of lemon. A lot of spices are present, such as sage, coriander and black pepper. Saisons, including this one, typically finish dry which make them excellent for pairing with food.

Pairs well with turkey and stuffing.
4.0 mugs

Autumn Maple
Fruity and sugary up front with a lot of cinnamon. Although the more I think about this, the more it makes sense; this beer really tastes like a good pumpkin beer. Notes of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and maple syrup all round out a solid pumpkin or butternut squash style sweetness.

Pairs well with sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie (kind of obvious).
3.8 mugs

2 Turtle Doves
Not a lot going on in the nose besides cocoa and molasses. I get the impression of spicy imperial stout up front and the beer definitely follows through. Lots of dark chocolate, molasses, honey and bourbon. The strong roasted malts almost have a burnt marshmallow-style carcinogen character. I'm also getting some cherries in here but I'm not sure why. After I read the description on the bottle I started to pick out some toasted nut flavors as well. I would like another bottle of this to lay down for their Vertical Epic-style aging experiment.

Pairs with most desserts rich in cream, butter and chocolate.
4.1 mugs


I'm the backup when Rodney is in the kitchen so my notes are a little less discombobulated. I have a sweet gig going here; he makes the food and I get to eat it. That does mean I get to clean all the dishes though so maybe he has the sweet gig of making a mess and I clean it up?

Saison Rue
Mr. Rue pours out cloudy and dark golden with a contrasting stark white head. The nose on this bad boy is very lemony and when I take a sip I get lemon and brett in the first taste. On second taste I let it roll around my mouth a little more and I get maple syrup and just a hint of roast beef. I think I need to give more Saisons a chance but they all end up tasting like either meat or flowers. I give this 3 mugs.

Autumn Maple
This was the one of the three that I was most excited for as I love all things sweet potato. I don't know what I was expecting though because it just ended up tasting like a pumpkin ale. It poured out looking like very thin maple syrup and had a very spicy, orange peel nose. The flavor there was a very sugary pumpkin pie. Almost tasted like candied pumpkin. I'd drink it again for sure though, giving it 4 mugs.

2 Turtle Doves
This pours very dark and thick with very little head and lots of oomph. It's not as thick as Dark Lord but has a lot of the similar notes. I get a LOT of booze on the back end of this and it would definitely stand up to some aging. I made the comment that it was like someone mixed Dark Lord with cherry cough syrup. Lots of nutty chocolate notes but also a hint of cherry syrup. I'd give it 3.6 mugs only because of how boozy it was.


Overall Mug Scores
The Bruery Saison Rue: 3.67 mugs
The Bruery Autumn Maple: 3.57 mugs
The Bruery 2 Turtle Doves: 3.96 mugs

The "What's on Your Thanksgiving Table" Open Thread | 2009 Edition

I guess this is an annual tradition now.

So what are you drinking today?

One...two...three...go.

Hoosier Beer Geek Classics: KOTBR #62 - A Very Special Hoosier Beer Geek Thanksgiving Roundtable

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that Thanksgiving is this week, and if you're like us then your thoughts have already turned to what to drink. Last year we threw together a little HBG/KOTBR Thanksgiving, with beer to match. The results of that event are below..


A while back Matt R. (I think) made a suggestion that we might want to try doing a Thanksgiving beer pairing, complete with courses and beers to match each. We all agreed that that sounded like a good idea, and we laid out a menu of traditional Thanksgiving foods - carrot ginger soup, turkey, sweet potato pie, sweet potato casserole, cranberry relish, cranberry sauce, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie..

One thing I learned from the Turtle/Rabbit/Squirrel beer paring was to not overdo it - but a full cast of Knights (short Jim - who is a Jewish Vegetarian Lawyer (and those people are weird)) meant that if anything, there would be more than enough beer.

Because coordinating a write-up between a cast of nine is usually a trainwreck, I laid down one rule: No one leaves until we're gotten everything written up. While doling out responsibilities, the question was asked: "Are we reviewing the parings? The beer? The spirit of Thanksgiving?" "Yes, Rod, we're reviewing the spirit of Thanksgiving." What follows is out of order in more ways than one. And so..

The Spirit of Thanksgiving

Once every year, the ghost of Jesus rises from the dead to feast on the souls of the living. Every year we survive this atrocity, we celebrate our safety for another year through the holiday of Thanksgiving.




Back to Mike: When we decided to do a Thanksgiving pairing, I immediately turned to Garrett Oliver's The Brewmaster's Table for turkey pairings, and came across two full paragraphs expounding upon the virtues of Biere de Garde and Thanksgiving foods. A sample:

The French have yet to discover this food match, so let me be the one to tell you - biere de garde is brilliant with turkey. And not just with turkey - it is also brilliant with the turnips, the stuffing, the cranberry sauce, the potatoes, the whole darned thing.

That's a fairly convincing argument, right?

Schlafly Biere de Garde

We probably served this beer a little too cold to start. The bottle specifically says cellar temperature ("51-55 degrees F") and we served it straight out of the fridge. Later samples definitely showed a bit more fruitiness. Not that that necessarily would have helped with the Thanksgiving meal pairings.

As for specific pairings, I thought the beer went particularly well with the green bean casserole. It was more of a contrasting pairing as opposed to a complimentary pairing. The fruitiness was interesting counterpoint to a dish full of green beans and mushrooms, though the caramelized onions linked up perfectly with the caramel malt flavors in the beer.

Mike: 3.5
Gina: 3.5
Rod: 3.47
Jess: 2.8
Chris: 3.3
Matt R: 3.8
Matt E: 3.0
Kelly: 2.0
Jason: 2.5

Schlafly Biere de Garde Average: 3.09 Mugs


Troegenator Doublebock - Troegs Craft Brewery

The nose starts out with a bit of a raisin sourness with chocolate and caramel toffee notes. It has a nice dark caramel color that resembles caramel ice cream topping. Taking a sip of this 8.2% ABV brew is a bit misleading as it warms the palate and tends to meander through the malt sweetness. As it warms to room temperature you tend to taste the lightly toasted caramel malt and it balances out. For being a fairly boozy brew, this has a great balance to misrepresent the ABV.

In regard to our Thanksgiving pairings, this worked really well with the sweet potato pie. It brought out the maple syrup notes and complimented the toasted pecans on the top. There is a great pairing with the oyster stuffing with bits of salty mushrooms and the malty sweetness of the beer. Overall, this works quite well with the majority of dishes for the Thanksgiving meal.

Matt R: 4.0
Chris: 3.1
Rod: 4.1
Jess: 4.2
Matt E: 3.75
Jason: 3.66
Kelly: 3.8
Gina: 3.3
Mike: 3.5

Troegenator Doublebock Average: 3.71 Mugs

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron

This is supposed to be a brown? We picked up a black liquorish nose, with hints of vanilla, smokeless tobacco, bourbony alcohol, soy sauce, molasses, and almond extract. A deep black/purple/marron-maroon color filled the glass and left no lacing. This is an all out beer, with little in the way of subtlety. Black liquorish, sassafras, molasses, some cough medicine I had and hated as a kid (someone else said Dimetapp, bourbon, and toasted wood all came to play.

We all agreed that this beer would be interesting with some age on it, but would it be good?

Mike: 3.0
Gina: 2.1
Matt. E: 2.175
Matt R: 2.0
Jason: 2.5
Jess: 3.1
Chris: 3.1
Kelly: 1.7
Rod: 3.8 (Who also noted: "You guys are jerks. If this was aged, (my score) would be even higher)

Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron Average: 2.60 Mugs


Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar

Jason brought out this beer and it wasn't really paired with anything, but just went along nicely in between dinner and dessert. Is that a new meal time? Rouge's take on the brown ale adds some nutty complexity with the traditional brown ale base. The mouthfeel is a little lacking in carbonation, but it still cleared the way for pumpkin pie quite nicely. This is beer is neither offensive or something to really write home about, but it is of good quality and worth your time.

Jason: 3.5
Matt R: 2.5
Matt E: 3.6
Kelly: 2.5
Gina: 2.3
Jess: 3.75
Rodney: 3.2
Mike: 2.0
Chris: 2.6

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar Average: 2.88 Mugs


Sorachi IPA

For lack of a Left Hand Juju Ginger, we paired the carrot ginger soup with Chris' homebrew Sorachi IPA. Named after the Sorachi Ace hops, this IPA carried a very refreshing lemon flavor. Citrus and pine filled out the background but this IPA was noticeably lighter than others, while maintaining a very prominent bitterness. When paired with the ginger and black pepper flavors of the soup, a very floral character emerged and created a chamomile and heather flavor profile which blended nicely with the soup. The finish was a bit overpowering, as the hops quickly cleansed the palette of creamy squash and carrot. I think the lesson that we learned here is a citrus pale ale with a bit of a floral character would be a good pairing for ginger spiced squash or carrots.

Ps. Thanks to the folks at Goose the Market for their great brining instructional video and for all their help with the bird. Even I managed to make an tasty and tender turkey, which is no small feat.