Which beer pairs best with the Thanksgiving feast? What the experts say

You’ve probably got your Thanksgiving wine sorted but what about a beer? If you don’t drink it yourself it may not be something you’ve given much thought to but in fact beer makes just as good a partner for the myriad different flavours of the typical Thanksgiving feast as wine.

My own view is that it needs a beer of character - a rich hoppy IPA or a saison but am I right? I asked three experts in the field what they thought.

Garrett Oliver is brewmaster of Brooklyn Brewery and author of the Oxford Companion to Beer.

I’m a big fan of earthy French bières de garde (farmhouse ales) and dark Belgian strong abbey beers. And I’m pretty much a saison fan with almost everything! But overall the French versions are a better pairing with turkey; they usually have some caramelized flavors and a nice soft maltiness, not quite so dry and sharp as the classical Belgian saisons.

I also think funky French and Spanish ciders work well. We can’t get the best British ciders here (NYC) but I’d definitely get Tom Oliver’s cider (Herefordshire) or New Forest Cider if I could!

Ben McFarland, award-winning beer writer and author of Boutique Beer

Turkey being dry, I’d go for the classic Pale Ale from Sierra Nevada or for something a little hoppier: Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA, Old Foghorn from Anchor Brewing with the cheese, if you’re serving cheese and the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout (15%!) or Brooklyn Chocolate Stout for a digestif - ideal accompanied with a cigar, whisk(e)y or a fruity dessert!

For something a bit different for the beer drinker who has everything then try Alesmith Yulesmith - a weighty, wintry and warming IPA from one of California’s most respected micros. (All these are available in the UK through Beers of Europe and most from the Real Ale Company.)

Beer writer Stephen Beaumont of World of Beer and co-author of The World Atlas of Beer

I’m a big believer in lambic for turkey, for the reasons I’ve set out on my blog.

If that’s not to your taste, I’d suggest saison for many of the same reasons, substituting a bracing and plate-cleansing hoppiness for the acidity of the gueuze or, if you have a whole lot of stuff on the plate, then something more crisp and thirstquenching, such as a solid Germanic pilsner or clean pale ale.

But above all, the lambic!

Would you go for any of these suggestions and if not what beer would you choose with the Thanksgiving feast?

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

5 great pairings for an IPA

Of course it depends what type of IPA or India pale ale you're talking about. A relatively light style will lead you in a different direction from a huge, hoppy double IPA, but these I think would be my top five . . .

1) Curry
Loose term but as a general match for mild-medium hot Indian food I don't think you can beat an IPA. A lighter, more refreshing style though.

2) Beer-can chicken
The spicy rub calls for a bit more ooomph than a straight pale ale. A generously hopped IPA hits the spot

3) Pork belly
And other roast pork joints of course. Brilliant with a slightly richer style like Goose Island

4) Chargrilled steaks
Again, particularly suits the richer, American styles. (So do burgers, of course.)

5) Mature cheddar cheese
Sometimes causes problems for red wines but not for strong hoppy IPAs. (They're great with proper artisan cheese toasties made with sourdough bread too.)

Image by Nina Firsova at shutterstock.com

5 great beer pairings for roast turkey

Even those who normally drink beer feel the need to have wine with turkey but beer is actually just as good, if not a better accompaniment.

I’m not mad about Christmas ales (better on their own or with stilton, I think) but there are plenty of other options:

A rich full-bodied IPA. I used to say American-style IPA but we have so many great ones of our own in the UK now you don’t need to constantly make that comparison. 

A saison - I remember Garret Oliver recommending this to me way back. It really works

An amber ale or bière ambrée has a fruitiness that plays well with a fruity stuffing

A strong Belgian ale like Duvel would make a good partner for the Boxing Day leftovers.

A brown ale - a good choice if you like to serve your turkey with a rich gravy. Nøgne Ø’s imperial brown ale is a corker or try Brooklyn’s Brown ale.

And what about cider?

I’d go for a medium-dry cider - totally dry is a bit austere to compete with the trimmings, medium sweet too sweet - for my palate at least. The very natural-tasting Pilton cider which comes in full-size bottles would be perfect.

Here are some more suggestions from Serious Eats

 

What to drink with Scandinavian food

If culture and ‘terroir’ are a basis for deciding which drinks bestmatch a particular cuisine then beer must have a strong claim to bepaired with Scandinavian food.

Certainly London’s newest Scandi restaurant Madsen believes so offering a matching beer with every course for their recent menu for the London Restaurant Festival.

It was a nice idea that didn’t quite come off because of the quantities of beer involved. I ordered an Aer India Pale Ale from Denmark which was fine with my main course of ‘Hakkebøf med bløde løg’ (aka Danish beef burger with beetroot) but much less good with my ‘curry-marinated herring with green apples’ and a delicious smoked salmon dip, both of would have been better with a light lager or pilsner. Ideally you’d be able to order 250ml (or smaller) glasses so that you could match each course. 500ml is a lot of beer to drink for lunch (for girls at least ;-)

The food though was lovely - a modern take on smørrebrød with slightly larger helpings than you would get in Denmark but smaller than a standard main course - perfect for lunch. I also got to taste (though didn’t order) a fantastic baked crème caramel made with Svaneke ‘Choko’ Chocolate Stout so they’re obviously playing around with the idea of beer in food too.

There are other drink options, obviously, with this style of food though beer almost always scores better than wine with anything pickled in my opinion. A pan-fried fillet of Irish plaice with steamed broccoli tossed in oyster remoulade I also tasted would have been excellent with a minerally Sauvignon Blanc and my beefburger would have gone well with a Bordeaux or any similar Cabernet Merlot blend.

I like Madsen. It has a friendly, café-style design and atmosphere (very Scandi) and offers something genuinely distinctive to the London dining scene. They’re apparently thinking of putting on beer dinners so keep an eye on their website and on Twitter where they tweet as MadsenLondon.

Madsen is at 20 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3DL. Tel 020 7225 2772.

I ate at Madsen as a guest of the restaurant.

Photo by Nextvoyage