Three-Course Beer Selection for Thanksgiving

Lisa Morrison should have suggested some more specific varieties in this column about serving beer along with a traditional three-course Thanksgiving dinner, but her heart’s in the right place.

Turkey and trimmings: Roasting that turkey has created some interesting caramel and smoky flavors along with the nice herbal notes from the seasonings and stuffing. When enjoying beer with the bird, you have choices. Try a beer that matches those caramel notes, like an American amber ale, a dubbel or tripel (Belgian-style beers) or an Oktoberfest (there’s a reason why they serve roasted chickens at the Oktoberfest in Munich). Or you can go for something that more closely supports the actual light meat and herbal seasonings of the turkey — and might even contrast with some of the fattier fare. Look for a locally brewed biere de garde, a Belgian-style tripel (many local and regional brewers make one) or a Belgian-style saison.

In that simple blockquote I’ve cut out one third of the actual meat in her column, but such is the inch-padding nature of the culture columnist.

I like the sentiment and may try to work up a selection of beers to take to one of the three (!) Thanksgiving dinners to which we’ve been invited this year. The trick, as always, is to find beers that are interesting and flavorful but not so challenging to the common palatte.

(My mother, who is in town for a visit, took a sip of Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA last night and shook as her lips sucked back into her face like she’d been punched with an invisible pick-axe. I had to ask her sleep on the streets.)

Looking over Morrison’s list, I think she’s got the right idea: A wheat beer as an opener; a Belgian for the turkey; a lambic for dessert. Now I have to find three beers that others will drink that will still appeal to a snob like me. (And hopefully served in big bottles so I look all classy bringing it in; perhaps I’ll wrap them in twine and leaves.)

This Thanksgiving, Beer Is For The Bird [WRAL]