If you’re anything like us, you’ll have more than enough choices to wash down your Thanksgiving feast. From bourbon to beer to — oh, we suppose — water, you have a lot of choices to pair with that roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and all the other seasonal goodness the holiday brings.
There are no bad picks here, of course, but damn if beer isn’t extra delicious this time of year. IPAs, stouts, porters, and amber ales — we dig them all. Which led us to wonder: What if you could only pick one beer to pair with this year’s Thanksgiving festivities? Which would it be and how would you decide?
“If I could only have one beer with Thanksgiving dinner it would be North Coast’s Scrimshaw,” says Melissa Crisafulli, Bartender at Salt Wood Kitchen & Oysterette in Monterey County, California. “Mainly because I want something flavorful with medium hops, but light enough I can eat as much as I want.”
That’s a solid pick, for sure, but with all the beer choices, we decided to widen the net a little further. In the end, we asked 2o of our favorite bartenders to tell us their go-to beers to pair with Thanksgiving dinner.
Lucas Siegel, bar manager at Von Elrod’s Beer Hall & Kitchen in Nashville
During the Thanksgiving feast you’ll be taking in a lot of different flavors and activating every taste bud type on your tongue. A crisp option like Spaten Munich Lager can pair neatly with anything from your roasted turkey to your gravy-soaked mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. If you really want to impress your palate, try Mad Tree’s Happy Amber. It has the crisp effervescence to go with the heavier, savory parts of the meal, a little bit darker ale mouthfeel to bounce off the fresh-cut white meat and a hoppy finish that should bounce your tongue right into your next bite.
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