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Beers to Serve at Thanksgiving

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craft beer thanksgivingWe should all give thanks for a holiday that’s centered around eating and drinking. No presents to buy, no stressful obligations – just enjoying an all-day meal with the people we love.

Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to crack open a beer or three. Here are a few of our favorites to try this year.

Festive Thanksgiving Beers

Getting Started

Thanksgiving is a long and leisurely affair, and you’ll have plenty of downtime while you chop veggies, wait for the turkey to roast, and watch football. Start with a smooth, easy-to-drink beer that will tickle your taste buds without leaving you napping on the couch before dinner is served.

Lagers
Lagers tend to be bright, crisp and approachable. Pace yourself and choose one with a low to medium ABV – it’ll keep you happy through a laid-back afternoon of cooking. Pilsners, German-style bocks or golden lagers are all excellent choices.

Belgian-Style Ales
Ranging from light, fruity witbiers to malty, spicy dubbels, Belgian-style ales offer a wide variety of flavors to help you work up an appetite. Start with something light-bodied and work your way up.

Try: Namaste

Main course

You know you’ll want to try a little bit of everything … and then a little more of everything. These beers are versatile and pair well with many different flavors, so they’ll take you through all the helpings you can manage.

Saisons
Saisons often pair well with poultry because of their citrusy, floral notes. Try one to bring out the best in your turkey and cranberry sauce.

IPAs
That little burst of hops in a good IPA can balance a rich, hearty meal and make everything on your plate taste that much better. Go for one that has a bit of a bite – but not so much that it will overpower your food.

Try: 60-Minute IPA

Dessert

After a tough day of filling your belly with delicious food and drink, you deserve a little more indulgence. Treat yourself to an unapologetically decadent brew to accompany your pumpkin or pecan pie.

Stouts
Comfort food in a glass, stouts are rich and creamy – the ideal companion to dessert. Opt for a chocolate or oatmeal stout, or one with spicy or malty notes.

Brown Ale
This warm ale offers just the right amount of smooth and spice. It is the perfect beer to warm up to.

Try: Punkin Ale

Don’t forget to stop in for our Pre-Thanksgiving Bash at your local alehouse the day before Thanksgiving!

Craft Beer 101: Stouts & Pils

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pilsner beerFall is the time of year for hunkering down and indulging in a few of our favorite brews and bites. Let’s take a look at two very different but equally well-loved beers that are just right for the season: the stout and the pils.

What is a Stout?

A stout is a satisfying (some might say downright decadent) beer – creamy, rich and full-bodied. It’s made with roasted barley or malt, which gives it its signature deep brown or black color. A good stout should have a thick, foamy head, ranging in color from light tan to brown. A common misconception about stouts is that their dark color makes them bitter, but on the contrary; they tend to be silky, smooth and easy to drink.

Traditionally, stouts were brewed strong at high gravities. But in recent years, craft brewers have diversified the types of stouts they make, and many are now available with lower alcohol content.

Stouts are malty and offer a complex array of flavors, from chocolate to coffee. They pair very well with both sweet and savory foods. A pint of stout is a particular favorite with cold-weather comfort foods: burgers and steaks, pot roast, chocolate truffles or apple pie.

What is a Pils?

The pils (or pilsner) is one of the most popular beer styles in the world. The first pilsner was brewed in the Czech town of Pilsen in the 19th century, and it’s seen many different variations and adaptations since.

The key to the pils’ success is that it’s so darn likeable. It delivers a crisp, clean flavor, as well as a light to medium body and a pale color with a white head. It has subtle malty and spicy hopped notes, but it’s overall a simple and very drinkable beer.

Pilsners are also versatile for food pairing, and they complement a long list of dishes. A pils makes a great companion to everything from grilled sausages and spicy pad Thai to creamy cheeses and sweet pound cake.

Dogfish Head Beers to Try

Chicory Stout

This is one of the earliest Dogfish Head beers, and it’s still available in small batches on draft only in our brewpub. It’s made with roasted chicory, organic Mexican coffee, St. John’s Wort and licorice root, plus hops and oatmeal. It’s amazing with food, especially chocolate.

Piercing Pils

This winter seasonal favorite is a Czech-style pilsner brewed with white pear tea and pear juice during the boil. The sweet fruity flavors blend perfectly with the spicy hops for a refreshing and complex beer.

Book Your Hoppy Holidays Party!

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holiday party

“Jingle Bells,
Dogfish Ales
Craft beer all the way!
Awesome food,
Off-centered mood
Book our alehouse today!”

It’s time to book your holiday parties! Don’t want to get lost in the crowd? Make yours one to remember and the one your guests loved….make it off-centered!

1. We have the beer!

Go figure, we have tons of beer! But the cocktail lovers can order their mixed drinks and sip them too. Complete with some of the friendliest (and sometimes funniest) bartenders around.

2. Can’t beat the food!

Why research venues and caterers when you can book here and have both? With great food options for even the pickiest eaters, we guarantee everyone will find something they love. Trade in the cold cut finger sandwiches for alehouse wings and more.

3. Contagious atmosphere!

Holiday cheer is in the air and so are good times and great memories. Everyone here is in in the spirit, and your guests will be too.

4. Make your own!

Want to theme your holiday party or have some ideas? We’ll help you create whatever you have in mind. After all, your holiday party only happens once a year.

Whether you are looking to host 10 people or 50, we can do big or small. Move away from the bland, cookie cutter festivities you have come to expect, and let us host your Hoppy Holidays!

New Craft Beer Alert: Higher Math

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higher math craft beerDogfish Head fans are the best around! And we mean it. Thanks to your support, Dogfish Head Brewery is celebrating 20 years of crafting beers. What better way to say “cheers to 20 years and 20 more” than with a new brew?!

Enter Higher Math! This brew is a golden strong ale fermented with sour cherry juice and cocoa nibs. As the story goes… “Way back in the early ’90s, a 20-something waiter in New York City named Sam got a taste for small American ‘microbrews.’ A do-er, Sam stopped by a homebrew store and embarked on the first batch of his very own beer. On the way home, he spotted a bag of cherries at his local bodega and thought they’d make his beer a little more interesting. He was right, and the day after he and his friends enjoyed that first batch, he started researching what it would take to open a brewery.”

This limited brew clocks in at 17%ABV, so sip lightly and get it while you can! Gaithersburg, Fairfax, and Falls Church Alehouses plan to start tapping this beer Wednesday, November 4th at 7pm. Give it a go with some of our alehouse ribs.

Bonus Brew! Pennsylvania Tuxedo makes its way to Fairfax and Falls Church on November 6! Stop in for the tapping of this spruce-infused pale ale. Made in collaboration with family-run outdoor clothing company, Woolrich, Pennsylvania Tuxedo is a concoction of grassy citrus kick complemented by the resinous conifer notes of fresh green spruce tips. The brewery goes out and picks the fresh tips to assure quality and flavor.

You can guarantee these beers will not come around often and you may wait awhile until their return, so get your hands on a pint before we are tapped out.

Build My Burger Contest!

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build a burger contestIt’s all about being off-centered and original! If you are a fan of the alehouses, then you know that every week, each alehouse has its own Burger of the Week. Available for one week only, these burgers offer an unexpected ingredient, a weird combo, or just something to make you say, “they put that on a burger?!” Whether it’s the Mighty Meatball Burger, The BLT ranch, or The Punkin Spice Latte Burger, it’s all about being different.

The tables have turned and we want our fans to show us just how creative they can be! Now until November 1 at 11:59pm EST, submit your burger recipe (and a picture if you build it!) for a chance to have your burger picked as a Dogfish Head Alehouse Burger of the Week. We have three alehouses and will feature a different burger at each location, so you have three chances to win.

The burger masterminds who win will be able to redeem a free Dogfish Head Alehouse Burger every week for the rest of the year! Yup, that is one free meal a week of any burger on the menu including future Burgers of the Week.
Need inspiration? See the burgers we’ve come up with on our blog, Head’s Up, or check out our Pinterest “Burgers of the Week” board. You can enter as many burgers as you want – just don’t enter the same burger more than once.

Time to kick back with a Dogfish beer and let your creative juices flow!

Craft Beer 101: Lagers

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craft beer lagersWhat is a Lager?

All of your favorite beers, whether they are IPAs, stouts or brown ales, fall into just two categories: lagers and ales. Many of the lagers popular in the United States are pale, light-bodied brews with low to medium alcohol content. But it’s a misconception to think lagers aren’t as exciting or inventive as ales. There’s a wide range of different styles of lagers – some crisp and carbonated, some malty and rich – and you’re sure to find one that strikes your fancy.

Lagers are brewed with a particular kind of yeast that ferments from the bottom, not the top like the yeast used for ales. And while ale yeast ferments rapidly at warm temperatures, lager yeast ferments at cooler temperatures and takes longer to mature (often several weeks). Lagers often have a cleaner, less yeasty flavor than ales.

Ales have been around for thousands of years, but lagers are still pretty new on the scene – appearing over the last few hundred years.

What Are Some Popular Styles of Lager?

American Pale Lager

This is probably the style you’re most familiar with seeing in the US grocery store aisle. American pale lagers are extremely light in flavor, color and aroma, contain around 4 to 5% ABV and are served very cold.

Pilsner

The pilsner, originally hailing from the Czech Republic, is a global favorite, offering a well-balanced and malty flavor.

Bock

Bock beers are a traditional German style of lager, and varieties range from helles (light and refreshing) to doppelbock (dark and strong).

Dortmunder

This crisp, golden lager delivers well-rounded notes of hops and malt – with moderate carbonation and bitterness.

Dunkel

Dunkel beers are low in bitterness and high in maltiness often with sweet notes of caramel or chocolate. Dunkel means “dark” in German, and these beers range from coppery red to deep brown.

Why Drink Lager?

Lagers are generally approachable and easy to drink. Whether you’re looking for a bright and bubbly beer to sip during warm weather or a toasty and filling pint to enjoy in the fall, there’s a lager out there for you.