With Thanksgiving on top of us, it’s time to plan out your beer selections for the big day. There are a number of ways to approach beers for Thanksgiving. For instance, do you match beer style to menu? Do you have particular favorite beers you always have to have? Or do you follow a theme that matches the holiday?

I thought it would be fun to take the latter approach, and round up a list of Thanksgiving-themed beers. Some of these choices are brewed for the holiday, others are a bit whimsical.

Mayflower Brewing Thanksgiving Ale (2019)

When it comes to this holiday, can there be any more appropriately-themed beer than Thanksgiving Ale from Mayflower Brewing, itself located in Plymouth, Massachusetts? This ale is dark amber in color and 6% alcohol by volume, aged on oak. The brewery’s description reads:

Thanksgiving Ale is a full-bodied beer brewed with a rich array of barley and rye malts and aged several weeks on toasted oak. Brewed annually in Autumn since 2009, Thanksgiving Ale is an inspired blend of two brewing styles: American Strong Ale and English Old Ale. Aged on American white oak, this brew warms the soul with hints of caramel, vanilla and spicy nuts. The flavors of Thanksgiving Ale pair perfectly with the bountiful variety of foods we feast on throughout this season of harvest.

This sounds complex yet approachable and a beer I would love to have on my table this holiday. If you live in New England, make sure to stock up on Thanksgiving Ale for the big day.

Harpoon Brewery Giving Gose

Combining the flavor of cranberry and the power of fundraising, Boston’s Harpoon Brewery offers up Giving Gose for the holiday. A cranberry gose is a natural pairing for Thanksgiving, and sour ales pair well with vegetable dishes. But this beer is also about helping those in need; $1 of every four-pack sold will be donated to your local foodbank. (Presumably wherever Harpoon is sold.)

Harpoon’s notes about the beer:

Giving during the holidays is always a great idea but doing it over beers makes it so much better.

Enjoy this seasonal twist on the refreshing and tart gose style beer. Giving Gose joins together the classic New England flavor of cranberries with the spirit of giving back as one dollar for every four-pack goes to your local foodbank.

Giving Gose is 4.7% ABV and 5 IBUs. Flavors of cranberry and sea salt are a bonus in knowing you’re also helping others have food on their plates this Thanksgiving.

You might also like:

• Public Coast Brewing Old Bog Farm Cranberry Kettle Sour: 7.2% ABV, made with Oregon-grown cranberries
• Southern Grist Brewing Hawaiian Thanksgiving: 5.8% ABV, gose with Hawaiian black sea salt, coriander, passion fruit and cranberry

Anderson Valley Brewing Bourbon Barrel Stout

Did somebody say “turkey”? Or in this case, Wild Turkey®? Traditional Thanksgiving dinner calls for turkey, but fortunately I haven’t come any actual turkey-infused beers. The next best thing is this Bourbon Barrel Stout from Northern California’s Anderson Valley Brewing, which is aged in Wild Turkey bourbon barrels. Anderson Valley has a contract with the distiller for use of their barrels. The result is a terrific year-round stout with lovely bourbon and vanilla notes. The brewery says:

Aged for three months in Wild Turkey® Bourbon barrels, this luxurious stout has a deep ebony hue and a beautiful mahogany head. The woody, vanilla-like notes imparted by the barrels mingle with aromas of fresh baked bread, toffee, and espresso and envelop the rich chocolate and roasted barley flavors with a fine bourbon character.

Pair this with your main turkey course, or even save it for dessert or as a nightcap. At 6.9% ABV and 14 IBUs, it’s a surprisingly sessionable and accessible bourbon aged stout.

You might also like:

• Pizza Boy Brewing Turkey Burglar: 3.6% ABV Berliner weisse, picked for the name alone
• Turning Point Beer Turkey & Gravey: 8.2% ABV double NEIPA—no actual turkey or gravy, but again I had to pick it for the name
• Lone Eagle Brewing Turkey Trot Porter: 5.3% ABV with notes of chocolate, roast, caramel and biscuit

Rogue Ales Pumpkin Patch Ale

You know I couldn’t let a Thanksgiving beer roundup get by without at pumpkin ale! There are quite a few worthy pumpkin beers I could pick; what I like about Rogue’s Pumpkin Patch is that it’s not particularly Halloween-themed and that the brewery grows its own pumpkins at its farm in Independence, Oregon. It’s also a well-crafted with balanced spices to evoke pumpkin pie: orange peel, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, vanilla, ginger and nutmeg.

Rogue’s description on harvesting and using real pumpkins:

Many pumpkin beers are released in mid-summer and use artificial, canned or puréed pumpkin. Rogue instead waits for the pumpkin harvest, which usually happens in late summer or early fall, and utilizes fresh Rogue Farms-grown pumpkins harvested at their peak ripeness. The pumpkins are handpicked and delivered 77 miles across the Oregon Coast Range to Rogue’s brewery in Newport, where they are then toasted in a pizza oven and tossed into the brew. Pumpkin Patch Ale is handmade from patch to batch and hits the shelves just in time for fall.

The bottle is a perfectly shareable 750ml and just looks like Thanksgiving. Pumpkin Patch Ale is 6.1% ABV and 25 IBUs.

You might also like:

• Southern Tier Brewing Pumking: 8.6% ABV, 30 IBUs, sweet pumpkin pie dessert in a glass
• Schlafly Beer Pumpkin Ale: 8% ABV, 16 IBUs; cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg and one of the best on the market
• Dogfish Head Brewery Punkin Ale: 7% ABV and 28 IBUs, brewed with pumpkin meat, brown sugar, and spices

Lazy Magnolia Brewing Sweet Potato Stout

In keeping with my somewhat whimsical theme I wanted to include a potato beer of some kind, and Lazy Magnolia Brewing from Mississippi gets bonus points for being a sweet potato beer as well. Formerly known as Jefferson Stout, this is a rich and roasty milk stout that embraces its southern roots.

Sweet Potato Stout, our original Sweet Potato Cream Stout, is the ideal Southern-style Stout. Brewed with roasted Southern-grown sweet potatoes, the background has an impressive taste with added notes of roasted chocolate, coffee, and caramel flavors with sweetening enhanced with lactose (milk sugar).

Sweet Potato Stout is an easy-drinking 4.5% ABV and 12 IBUs. Sure to accompany your meal quite nicely, and sessionable enough to enjoy all day if desired.

You might also like:

• Ardent Craft Ales Sweet Potato and Sage Saison: 6.4% ABV and 28 IBUs, featuring sweet potatoes and fresh local sage

Southern Tier Brewing Harvest Ale

Thanksgiving is (among other things) a celebration of the harvest, a time to feast and be thankful for the bounty. New York’s Southern Tier Brewing offers up just the beer to celebrate this in its Harvest Ale. Harvest Ale is a fresh hop English-style Extra Special Bitter, a style that frankly we don’t see nearly enough of.

The brewery says:

Our celebration of the change of the seasons, a deeply comforting ale to usher in the sunset as the evenings get cooler. In salutation to that special moment in time when the year’s harvest is a gracious cornucopia before us, we brew a classic ESB. Harvest is brewed with a combination of fresh English hops, cracked barley, and hard work. This is a classic English style Extra Special Bitter of the highest order. Harvest’s deep ruby color envokes a bright autumn mountainside where a warm sweater, a good beer, and the gratitude for the seasons are all you need.

Yes, it might be a bit late in the season to consider fresh hop beers, but the ESB style is one that showcases malts. As the fresh hops fade, the maltiness of this ale will emerge. It’s 6.7% ABV and should pair well with a variety of offerings.

You might also like:

• Long Trail Brewing Harvest: 4.4% ABV, 18 IBUs; brown ale brewed with maple syrup

Bonus Ideas

Several years ago I wrote an article for my local newspaper suggesting beer style pairings for the various Thanksgiving meal courses. These were inspired by food and beer pairings from various sources and was fun to play with. Here are those styles and course pairings (I’ll leave it up to you to pick your favorite beers in those styles):

• Salad and soup course: Light and crisp beers, such as pilsners and Belgian-style witbiers.
• Turkey (main course): Brown ales and amber ales and lagers.
• Beef (alternative to turkey, like prime rib): Pale ales.
• Ham: Big, rich, malty beers such as Belgian dubbels and German doppelbocks.
• Starchy side dishes (mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc.): IPAs. With candied yams, double IPAs.
• Vegetable dishes: Sour, tart, funky ales, or dark and roasty beers. Think kettle sours, goses, porters, and the like.
• Dessert: Pumpkin beer (of course), barleywines, chocolate and/or imperial stouts.
• Overall (pairs well with everything): Saisons.

I hope these beers and ideas help you pick your perfect beers for Thanksgiving. Happy holidays!