Column: Why you should bring craft beer to Thanksgiving dinner

Beyond the volume of food many of us have for Thanksgiving, there’s also an expectation of quality.

Lots of people eat traditional foods, sure, but also the best versions of everyday foods. The meal and, really, the entire weekend are about family and friends, leisure and bounty.

For craft beer enthusiasts, it’s also a time to crack a couple-three of the special bottles they have acquired over time.

This is the time of year when a lot of breweries are making and releasing big beers, sure, but more important, it also is the time of year when they traditionally have made and released them. That means, older aged beers are another year better, if you’re into that kind of thing. If you aren’t, this might be the year to look into it.

It’s easy to forget, but if you live on the Delmarva Peninsula you probably live fewer than 10 miles from a craft brewery, which means you have access to probably a dozen or so beers most people never will try.

The Thanksgiving weekend is a great time to fix that inequity by bringing beers from home to share. This might be especially true if you don’t consider yourself a beer drinker, because there are a lot of beers out there right now that can change your idea of what a craft beer is, and they come in really big bottles.

Large format beers, sometimes called bombers, are specialty beers in 750-milliliter bottles. More often than not, they are filled with beers that are complex, difficult or expensive to make or that will continue to age in the bottle; sometimes all three. One thing they all tend to have in common is that they don’t taste anything like traditional beers and all pair very, very well with better foods. They can have higher alcohol and sometimes be a little bit boozy, but in a flavorful way.

There are very few breweries in the area that won’t have a couple specialty bombers you can grab right at the bar, but most good liquor stores will have an impressive selection. The upside to getting the bottle at the brewery is that you get to go to the brewery. Also, especially in the case of some of the smaller places or rarer beers, there might be things there that just can’t be purchased elsewhere.

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Large format beers are the perfect size for sharing, so lots of people have mini beer tastings, setting up four or five small glasses for sharing. Plus, if you’re having it as part of dinner, you get to try a bunch of different beers without getting any fuller than you normally would (not that that matters a bunch on Thanksgiving).

In broad strokes, amber and dark beers really complement turkey and ham, but there also are a ton of fruity, spicy ales that will make the meal pop. If you’re among the people who like to mix their cranberries with their mashed potatoes, than maybe an aged sour might be your thing. It’s another great reason to pick up your Thanksgiving beers at the local brewery; sometimes they are available for tasting.

Beers that are more than 12 percent alcohol might be best reserved for dessert or after dinner. Imperial coffee stouts come to mind, as do pretty much anything described as a barley wine.

Of course, lots of breweries don’t have large format bottles or rarities stacked on their shelves, but all sell beer in growlers and many sell “crowlers,” 32-ounce packaged-to-order cans.

Growlers and crowlers are popular, especially among craft beer fans, because they represent a chance to bring really fresh beer wherever they’re going. They’re also popular because most breweries don’t bottle or can every beer they make.

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A brewery will have experimental beers on tap as well as beers that are popular in the taproom but for which there isn’t enough demand to ship in bottles or cans. Lots of these beers are (again) complex and worth savoring.

If you have the time and inclination, maybe try a flight of beers and think about which of your traditional Thanksgiving dishes will go with it. With so much food and so much time, for those of us who are lucky enough to have the whole weekend, there’s definitely going to be a combination if you try enough iterations.

But the best part of sharing is that, especially among four or more people, someone is going to discover a new favorite beer and that is a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season.

Whatever you decide to bring, bomber, growler, crowler or six-pack, remember to ring the doorbell with your elbows.