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I will be sitting on a couch, not watching football, nope Thanksgiving is time to binge some TV and this year, the wife and I will be eating turkey and watching….
Have a great and restful weekend. And give thanks to all the brewers who make the good stuff all through the year.
The only post today is this one. To wish you the best Thanksgiving whether your turkey is brined, baked, flash fried or in sandwich form.
Make sure to give thanks for another excellent year in beer…
AND
Tomorrow starts with my annual holiday beer a day blog version of an Advent Calendar.
Have a great Turkey Day!
with many a good beer.
Everyone have a craft beer with turkey and cranberries and stuffing and if anyone talks politics, take a big hearty sip until they stop.
(You may have to bring a lot of beer this year, FYI)
Enjoy and give thanks to the good things in life!
Our final review of beers with an eye towards pairing with the traditional Thanksgiving meal comes to us from L.A. newcomer Cellador Ales. Caute is aged in red wine barrels and dry hopped with Saaz hops.
Caute pours a hazy light orange color. Quite a bit of accumulated acidity here. You don’t notice it at first but as yout take each additional sip it shows up. Red wine on the nose but it devolves into a weird almost but not quite to butter taste. Some citrus and tannins in the background. Not really digging it.
But would it work with turkey and stuffing? It just might. It is potent enough and the tannins are far enough in the background to make this work especially if cranberry sauce were around. This could be one of those beers that is better with food around it.
For my November suggestions, let’s make some pointed jabs at the Tangerine Terror and his deplorables with names of beers on shelves now.
~LIGHT
Beachwood/ Independent IPA 7.10% ABV
“Without independence, there can be no invention. Cheers to unrestrained creative forces that move us upward and onward! Dry Hopped with El Dorado, Comet, and HBC 344. “
~MEDIUM
Black Market/ Charlatan IPA 9.5% ABV
“When you think of a lager, do light, malty, non-adventurous beer thoughts come to mind? That’s where the subterfuge begins and perception ends, with Charlatan. Charlatan is not your standard malty, or light, lager. It packs a wallop of serious hop punch and a treacherous 9.5% ABV to boot. This Double India Pale Lager combines the clean, refreshing base of pilsner malt and lager yeast, with some seriously piney, spicy, and resinous hops. Massive quantities of Eureka, and experimental hops give Charlatan everything you would want in an IPA, but in a lager.”
~DARK
Sierra Nevada/ Ginger Bigfoot 12.6% ABV
“This is a special version of our barrel-aged Bigfoot Barleywine Ale with fresh ginger added into the barrels. The resulting kick of ginger mellows Bigfoot’s ferocious hop bite and adds a new level of brightness of complexity. this beer gestures notes burnt sugar, orange zest, vanilla, and candied ginger. “
Let’s change it up for options for beer drinking at the Turkey table this year…..Let’s take a taste of two new to L.A. canned beers from Fort Point Brewing of San Francisco.
Which would work better? Westfalia (Nuremberg Red Ale) or Park (a hoppy wheat)?
Park – pours a really light yellow. Hint of pear in the aroma. Bit more bitter than expected. Heartier too. I am getting some rye notes here.
Westfalia – pours a dark brown with red tint. Has a brown Porter aroma but the taste has a cherry taste to it. Subtle spice with a hint of tobacco.
This was a tough one. At first, I thought that the simplicity of the Park would make it the obvious choice. It being lighter, made me lean towards it to match against the turkey. But the strength of the hops made me take another look at the Westfalia and I have come around to choose that one because it has more pieces to it and can work across the spectrum. I think it might work in tandem with the cranberry quite well. Though I admit it might be too polarizing for some.
Brouwerij West
This is no baby tripel. 9% big ABV’s here. I am getting a lot of citrus and spice. Almost to orange pekoe tea status minus the tannin. The taste sticks to the tongue for awhile. Image wise, the beer pours a hazy orange color especially with the yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. Extra spice notes in a Hefeweizen sort of way are here too.
When it comes to the Thanksgiving feast this Tripel will add that orange note to the turkey and stuffing quite nicely and it also should play off the cranberry as well. Might be less effective with gravy or heavier or sweeter foods. Might be less effective with relatives who vote Trump as well.
Posts will resume tomorrow with the first of the Christmas beer labels! For now, enjoy pairing great beer with great food and great friends. (or family)
It can take me awhile to process and put into words what a I have experienced. Especially with beer vacations. So while I string together some coherent thoughts, here are some photos from my recent trip back to the homeland…..
