For many, Thanksgiving is the greatest of holidays. What’s better than a day devoted to eating and drinking with family and friends? For Peaks and Pints, nothing. When considering what to drink on Thanksgiving, realize that this day is an epic journey, with many twists and turns. No one single beer will get you through this event, so plan accordingly.
Stop by Peaks and Pints today and load up our six-pack holders or fill a growler or two for tomorrow’s big day. Have a couple pints while you shop but remember: it’s an unofficial holiday, with old friends coming back into town and wanting to share a pint or relatives imbibing social lubricant before facing their families. The night can get hairy, so a word to the wise: go small. T-giving Eve is not the time to get knockered on barleywines and Russian imperial stouts. This is a social night, so play it cool to go the distance.
FOOTBALL/DINNER PREP BEERS
Whether you’ll be up at dawn baking pies and peeling potatoes, or simply acting like a couch potato while watching football, start the day with something lighter, but flavorful — something that won’t dull your taste buds. Berliner weisse. It really is the champagne of beers, and what we like to drink when we’re cooking and celebrating with family. Berliner weisses are highly carbonated and have great tartness and acidity to complement that game-time cheese and charcuterie plate, too. And true to style, Berliner weisses are very low alcohol/sessionable — a great way to start off the day. For a memorable one, try Breakside Brewery’s Passionfruit Sour, a Great American Beer Festival silver medal winning beer brewed as a traditional German Berliner weisse, and then the Oregon brewery adds a unique, tropical twist. It uses lactic acid producing bacteria to produce a beer that is light in body, extremely refreshing, and mouth puckeringly tart. The addition of passionfruit in its lagering tanks gives this beer an inviting stonefruit aroma. The low alcohol, 4% ABV, allows you to drink it throughout the day and still avoid getting in fruitless arguments with drunk Cousin Eddie.
MAIN COURSE
From northern California, Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale marries a malty body with a nice, hoppy backbone. This beer is the definition of balanced. The malt is going to marry nicely with the turkey skin, gravy and all of the roasty, toasty parts of the meal. The mellow hops are going to enhance elements like green beans and the tartness of the cranberries. More woodsy spice notes emerge as the beer warms; don’t gulp this so fast that you miss it.
DESSERT
We’re pumpkin pie people, and secretly our favorite meal of the Thanksgiving weekend is when we have a slice for breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving with a good cup of coffee. So as a play on that, we’d go for an Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist — an imperial stout brewed with coffee and cocoa nibs — with a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert.
