Editor’s note: With a rotating selection of fourteen local and global craft beers on tap, a couple of cask beers on barrel, hundreds of bottled varieties in the case, and homemade mad-scientist contraption that fills growlers using a counter-pressure system that keeps the beer notably fresher than alternative pouring methods, Park Slope’s Bierkraft could be called the mothership of the craft beer renaissance in Brooklyn. Bierkraft cellar manager Matt Barclay has turned us on to more great beers than we can count. Here, he offers his Thanksgiving picks.
By Matt Barclay, cellar manager at Bierkraft
Here are my Thanksgiving beer picks, I’m starting off with two growler-only beers, both local, and both really good.
Draft Beers (available for Growler fills)
Greenport Harbor Leaf Pile: A more traditional pumpkin beer. Brewed with the usual pumpkin pie spices: ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. It’s much more composed and crisp than most, sweet but not at all cloying.
Barrier SaazSquash: Not your usual fall gourd beer. This is brewed with Butternut Squash, Sichuan peppercorn, ginger, and clover honey. Spice and squash up front, but the finish is full of prickly tingle from the Sichuan peppercorn.
Bottles
Pretty Things St. Botolph’s Town: This is a year-round offering, but works perfectly this time of year. It’s also a thank-you note itself. Dann Paquette, one half of the couple at the heart of Pretty Things, worked for several years in the north of England. Up there, they brew a little differently than the rest of England: a little stronger, a little darker, and a little richer with lots of oats. St. Botolph’s is his homage to these beers and is versatile enough to work with the turkey and dessert.
Sly Fox Dunkel Lager: Despite the big boom in canned beers, for whatever reason, there aren’t all that many great craft lagers in cans. Sly Fox’s fall seasonal Dunkel Lager is a step in the right direction. Big, bold malt but still crisp and drinkable.
Founder’s Breakfast Stout: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Even on Thanksgiving. You’ve got a long day of cooking and eating and whatever else. Founder’s Breakfast Stout is a big, high-octane stout, brewed with coffee and chocolate, which should keep you going in the face of tryptophan.
Bierkraft is located at 191 5th Avenue, between Union and Berkeley, in Park Slope