The essential Thanksgiving beer guide

Two beery sins when entertaining guests for Thanksgiving:

1. You buy the beer, but leave most of the bottles out on the counter because you’re tight on space in the fridge. Do you really need three different juices, a gallon of 2-percent and a carton of soymilk taking up coveted space on this special day? Make some room.

2. You already have a well-stocked fridge filled with various beers you’ve collected over the past few months, and assume whatever’s in there will be fine for your guests. Tip: Put as much thought into planning the day’s drinks as you do the culinary treats.

Here’s how to do it:

Assuming you’ve got a guest list of football-loving, craft-beer-drinking friends who also appreciate the finer foods in life, you’re going to need to plan your drink menu for different stages of the day.

Stage One: The games
It’s early afternoon, and the Packers vs. Lions game is just getting started. For the next couple of hours, your guests will be hanging out in front of the TV, circling through the kitchen, tossing the ball in the backyard, snacking on light fare and generally enjoying a stress-free weekday afternoon. This is the first part of an all-day relaxathon, so keep it light and fun with easy-drinking, non-boozy sessionable beers.

Serve: Big flavor and low alcohol is key, but so is variety. A 30-can brick of lager isn’t all that exciting. Select a few options from each of these categories:
• Session IPAs: Low-ABV IPAs like Founders All Day IPA (4.7%), Boulevard Pop-Up Session IPA (4.2%).
• India Pale Lagers (IPLs): Hoppy lagers like Samuel Adams Double Agent (5%), New Belgium Shift (5%).
• Pale lagers: All-malt, quaffable lagers like Full Sail Session (5.1%), Notch Session Pils (4.0%).
• Malt-forward: Classic malty styles like Stoudt’s Scarlet Lady ESB (4.8%), O’Hara’s Irish Stout (4.3%), Uinta Baba Black Lager (4%).

Stage Two: The meal
Thanksgiving menus vary too much to go into specific pairings here, but there are a few can’t-miss styles you can serve to enhance any dining experience. Since we’re accustomed to the ritual of popping open a fine bottle of wine for the course, you’ll get bonus points if your beers of choice come corked and caged (or, at least, in fancy capped 750mL bottles).

Serve: I like farmhouse styles here, as well as beers that share similar characteristics with red and white wines. For variety, pick up a bottle or two from each of these categories:
• Table beers: Low-ABV farmhouse beers like Stillwater Classique (4.5%) or Jester King Le Petite Prince (2.9%) complement but don’t intoxicate.
• Farmhouse ales: The earthy spice, sharp lemon and crisp carbonation of saisons like Lost Abbey Red Barn Ale, Funkwerks Saison and Prairie Ale work perfectly with turkey.
• Belgian darks: Enjoy the vinous dark fruits from a Belgian dark strong like North Coast Brother Thelonious or throw a slight curve ball with a tart, fruity Oud Bruin like Verzet Oud Bruin Editie 2013.
• Belgian lights: As in color, not ABV. Nebraska Melange a Trois (a Chardonnay-barrel-aged tripel) or Allagash Tripel offer a plethora of light fruits to pair with your meal.
• Bubbly: Swap out the Champagne with a prickly, effervescent biere brut like Bosteels Deus or Calicraft Buzzerkeley.

Stage Three: The after party
At this point, everyone’s bloated and either sprawled out in front of the fireplace or watching the Steelers vs. Ravens in the final Thanksgiving matchup (or both). Time for a digestif. Now is when you break out the big stuff—those boozy malt bombs that calm the stomach, warm the chest and please the taste buds with a slow-sipping 8-ounce pour.

Serve: Barleywines, imperial stouts and old ales all work. Bonus points if you go deep into the cellar and grab something special. Pour these into your snifters:
• Barleywines: Savor the dark fruits of Dogfish Head Olde School Barleywine and its monstrous 15% ABV.
• Imperial stouts: Pop open that bottle of Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin, a rich imperial oatmeal stout, that you picked up earlier this year.
• Old ales: Samuel Smith’s Yorkshire Stingo is stacked with layers of malt depth.
• Cellared: Be “host of the year” by opening up rare, aged bottles like Three Floyds Dark Lord, Cigar City Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout or Westbrook Mexican Cake.