Bent Water Brewing’s Thanksgiving Timeline

Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays of the year to celebrate. It’s a day filled with food, fall activities, parade and football-watching, and if you’re anything like us: beer! 

Now that we’re officially less than a week away from the big day, we wanted to share what we consider to be the ideal way to spend Thanksgiving Day with friends and family.

Sit back, get hungry, and enjoy the first annual Bent Water Brewing Thanksgiving Timeline! 

8:00/8:30 a.m. – Run/walk in your favorite local Turkey Trot. Some of our local favorites are the Wakefield Turkey Trot around scenic Lake Quannapowitt, and the Wild Turkey Run in Salem. 

10:00 a.m. – Home to hydrate, clean up — and Chill with the perfect shower/post-5k beer.

11:00/11:30 a.m. – Meal prep, welcome your guests, and enjoy appetizers. Cheese and crackers go great with a well-balanced Shaka Pale Ale, especially if you choose a sharp cheddar.  

2:30 p.m. – Time for the main event! Now, at this point, a lot of people might consider switching to wine or a different beverage with their meal, but we have a few suggested pairings that might make you reconsider. In our opinion, beer can oftentimes pair even better with food than wine does, because there is so much range to the different styles of beers that we offer. Pro tip: split these beers up with friends so that you don’t get too full (that’s what the meal is for). 

— Super Sluice Double IPA and stuffing: the big citrus aroma and tropical fruit notes from Super Sluice play nice with the savory nature of the stuffing. 

— Thunder Funk, our nod to the classic West Coast style IPA, is one of our most requested draft beers in restaurants because it goes so well with a wide range of food. With a restrained bitterness and well-balanced citrus and pine notes, Thunder Funk goes particularly well with some of the staples – roasted turkey and mashed potatoes (especially if you’re generous with the gravy).

— Our original imperial stout, Relic Twenty-8, brewed with coconuts and blackberries, complements a rich dish like sweet potatoes. 

3:30/4:00 p.m. – Clean up and head outside for a game of pickup football or other fall outdoor activity. Bonus points for raking leaves into piles for the kids to jump into.

5:00 p.m. – Post-football/outdoor activity and a crisp, refreshing Premium Lager!

6:00 p.m. – Pie time! Whether you’re diving into pumpkin, apple, pecan, or blueberry, Jolene Porter with its subtle notes of roast and chocolate, pairs nicely with any of them. And it’s a low ABV dark beer, so you get the flavor without taking up too much stomach space (that should rightly be reserved for pie). 

7:00/7:30 p.m. – Guests have left. The sink is filled with dishes and the dishwasher is running. The house is relatively quiet, and there’s still football to be watched. It’s time to break out a slow sipper and put your feet up. Manhattan Relic, a variant of our Relic Twenty-8 imperial stout aged in rye barrels with orange peel and cherries, is the perfect end of Thanksgiving treat to celebrate surviving a long day of celebration.

Whether you take some or all of these suggestions, we hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving with friends and loved ones.