What to Serve With Your Thanksgiving Meal

So you can't decide what to serve for drinks with your Thanksgiving meals. Will it be wine or beer? I personally would suggest both, but with so many styles out there now, you could stick with beer for your entire dinner. Many of those expensive crafts even come in corked 750s and act more like a wine than beer. And, it is more than likely that the pilgrims enjoyed a good ale rather than wine for their Thanksgiving feast. So when you hit the beer aisle at your favorite store, here are a few recommendations for that special holiday feast:

• Traditional Turkey: Amber ale or a lager like Oktoberfest, brown ale or a strong golden ale like triple—try Goose Island or Schlafly Oktoberfest, Big Sky Moose Drool Brown Ale, or Goose Island The Ogden Tripel.
• Smoked Turkey: a hoppy brown ale, Scotch ale or porter—try Lagunitas Brown Shugga, Point Whole Hog Scotch Ale, Goose Island Festivity Brown Ale, or Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter.
• Ham: Weizen, weizenbock, dubbel or dark lager—try Redhook KCCO Dark Lager, Westmalle Dubbel, or Schlafly Hefeweizen.
• Pumpkin pie: Spiced ale, winter warmer or old ale—try Breckenridge Christmas Ale, Redhook Pumpkin Porter, or Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome which is a personal favorite of mine.

Don't think that these are the only choices. These are just a few suggestions. Most of these pairings are interchangeable with very pleasing results, and the traditional sides will also do quite nicely with anything listed here. And what about those cranberries? They will certainly be better behaved with beer. In fact, there are even a few beers with cranberry in them that would make an interesting addition to your menu. Try a Lindemans Framboise or Ciderboys Cranberry Road Cider