If there’s one thing better than Thanksgiving, it’s beer.
Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much. However, you don’t have to choose – Thanksgiving and beer go together like, well, turkey and gravy, and Lithermans Limited has caught on to that.
The Hall Street brewery is always busy, and the days leading up to and following Thanksgiving are no different. There are a couple special events on the horizon, as well as some new beers coming out, and everything will be well worth your time.
First, let’s start with the beers. For the first time, Lithermans has made a plum-based beer, called Under My Plum, which was released Friday. It’s a sour ale, and I was lucky enough to try some early last week before it was officially released.
It has the tartness you’d expect from a sour, but it isn’t too strong – there was no puckering going on while tasting it. The color is a pinkish purple, similar to the color of ruby red grapefruit juice, and the aroma is decidedly fruity. It’s an extremely juicy, tasty beer that’s hard to put down once you take a sip.
The other new beer isn’t exactly “new” as in new to the world, but it’s new for 2018, and that’s Quadracalabasia, a Belgian quad. Lithermans releases this beer annually around this time, and it’s their pumpkin and graham cracker offering. Note that I did not say spice – this is not a pumpkin spice beer like you usually see.
The quad is made with pumpkins from Concord’s Apple Hill Farm, and the pumpkins were roasted at the Concord Regional Technical Center at Concord High, so it’s a highly local production. It’s also highly delicious (I got to try it before the release) – thick, dark, sweet, rich, pumkiny. It’s everything that Shipyard’s Pumpkinhead is not, and that’s a good thing.
The quad, which has in the ballpark of 11 percent alcohol by volume, will be released the day before Thanksgiving, and it will come in wine bottles. This will be the perfect thing to bring to Thanksgiving dinner, or to just sit around the house chugging whenever you want.
The aforementioned events are tied into the new beers, and the holiday.
The first is the release of Quadracalabasia and extended hours on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, which has become the brewery’s busiest day of the year. They’ll be open from noon to 8, so you can stop in and stock up. The quad will only be available at the brewery, at least to start.
Lithermans will also be open for Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, from noon to 8. There should be plenty of Under My Plum, Quadracalabasia and all the other Lithermans offerings available. For more info, go to lithermans.beer.
