When it comes to Thanksgiving dinner beverages, you have a lot more choices than “red or white” (although I do love a Gewürztraminer with turkey dinner). The varying flavor and color characteristics of different beer styles offer many different options to enjoy a locally brewed craft beer on Thanksgiving Day.
When pairing beer styles with food, you should ultimately drink what you enjoy, but I tend to enjoy either complementary or contrasting flavors. When eating a meal that is rich and decadent, you can choose something very light and crisp to cut through the heaviness, or you can choose something heavier and sweeter that stands up to the intense flavors.
For a light, crisp option, you’d be hard pressed to find a better option than Wondrous Hell, a German Helles-style lager from Emeryville’s Wondrous Brewing. Wondrous Hell just took home a well-deserved bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver last month. The unfiltered lager is a pale straw color with a moderately dense white head and just a hint of haze. The light herbal Noble hop aroma dominates the aroma, with minimal malt character on the nose. Light in body with crisp carbonation, the flavor highlights light cereal malt, a bright herbal hop bitterness with notes of fresh mown hay, and a dry, clean, moderately bitter finish. At a light 5.1% ABV, you can also enjoy this brew all day long while watching football.
Another German lager style that complements the roasted, golden-brown and delicious components of Thanksgiving is Dunkel lager. San Francisco’s Laughing Monk Brewing has brewed its Monktoberfest Dunkel each fall for several years. Despite the name, it is not an Oktoberfest-style lager (Märzen), which tends to be lighter in color and slightly sweeter than a Dunkel. With a clear reddish-brown body and a moderate khaki head, the beer has a delicate bready aroma. On the palate, the malt flavors of toasted brown bread are pronounced, with support from moderate hop bitterness and flavor. I found the beer slightly hoppier than traditional Dunkels, but that did not detract from my enjoyment. Medium bodied and firmly carbonated at 5.9% ABV, the beer has a nicely balanced finish incorporating both a very light sweetness and pleasant hoppiness.
Also hailing from San Francisco, Standard Deviant Brewing has produced an English Brown Ale that I would enjoy at Thanksgiving. The reddish-brown color and dense white head appear similar to the Monktoberfest. The faintly sweet, lightly toasted malt aroma features minimal hops, while the toasted bready notes intensify on the palate and are balanced by a pleasant woody hop flavor. With a medium body and mouthfeel, the 5.2% ABV brew finishes with smooth, subtle malt and a delicate yeast-driven fruitiness.
If you want to go for something a little more potent, but still enjoyable with food, Oakland United Beerworks has you covered with their Belgian Dubbel named simply “The Abbey.” At 7.1% ABV, The Abbey pours a brilliantly clear copper red color with a dense white head of foam. The aroma is complex, with notes of vanilla, caramel, cherry and cloves from the interplay of darker malts and Belgian yeast esters. The flavor is intriguing, with the caramel notes providing the impression of sweetness while the beer is actually relatively dry. Hop aromas and flavors are just enough to balance the sweetness. A touch more carbonation would allow the complexity to shine more brightly, but you will still enjoy this brew with your meal, as well as with your pumpkin or sweet potato pie. Happy Thanksgiving!
Derek Wolfram is a Certified Beer Judge through the Beer Judge Certification Program and an officer of the Silicon Valley Sudzer’s homebrew club. For more information, visit sudzers.org.
