Top pairings

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

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on November 19 2016 at 23:16

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

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