Happy Day After Thanksgiving! Did you eat turkey yesterday? Tofurkey? Something else entirely? All right. That's cool. You celebrate the day the way you best see fit. I just hope you ate something.

Now, you probably know as well as I do that there're a few elephants lurking around this post. I'll address them now and get them out of the way.

Here's the first: It is not Thanksgiving. I told you that this post would be out on Thanksgiving, not the day after it. Well, I'm consistent I guess. Making promises and delivering a day late. Sorry about that, but hopefully you'll learn if this beer's good enough to pair with all your Thanksgiving leftovers (I always found the leftovers to be the best part of Thanksgiving dinner, anyway).

Here's the second: The FCC is still expected to pull the plug on net neutrality on December 14th (I'll keep talking about this until the FCC concedes or until I close down the blog due to being unable to pay to keep it up if Chairman Pai's motion passes). This is bad for everyone--if you like using the internet please go to GoFCCYourself.com, hit + Express, type "Restoring Internet Freedom" in the Name(s) of Filter(s) field, and tell The FCC what for.

Okay, onto the beer. It's from MadTree. You know, the Cincinnati cannery that started in the Kennedy Heights neighborhood but recently expanded to Oakley with a much larger production facility that allows them to can such quality brews as Dreamsicle and Pilgrim? The one that collects money for a different charity on a monthly basis and supports eco-friendly practices? Yes, that MadTree.

Pilgrim is, as you may have guessed, the brewery's Thanksgiving ale. If you look at the brew's presence on MadTree's website, you read that this 5.0% ABV fall ale is brewed with cranberries, vanilla, and pilgrim hops (these lend it notes of lemon and berries).

I get a deep, cranberry maltiness from the ale's nose. There's some vanilla there, too. And a ton of good earthiness. I love it and it builds an immense anticipation for the swig of beer to follow. Purrl seems to agree with my assessment of the ale's aroma. She gave it seven whiffs.


If I take a swig of this beer and hold it in my mouth for a moment, I get an excellent mixture of cranberry and vanilla. There's a wheaty flavor there, and some nuttiness. I also find the aforementioned lemon and (other) berries in the clean finish that the brew provides. The whole affair is somewhat subdued, which only adds to the beer's quality. This is a expertly crafted ale.

To complement its exceptionally subtle flavor, Pilgrim has a nicely creamy mouthfeel.

You know, I loved going to my grandparents' for Thanksgiving when I was a kid. My brother and I would lay claim to the big recliners in front of the TV. All day on the holiday, while the adults worked to create the feast we'd all have later on, we sat in those chairs with Cartoon Network pouring out of the TV in front of us.

But we weren't wholly paying attention to the TV. Instead, we were focused on our Gameboys. This tradition started shortly after we acquired Gameboy Colors, saw us through our Gameboy Advances, and died sometime after we'd gotten DSs. I vividly remember spending hours upon hours one Thanksgiving in my grandfather's chair, completely absorbed in my Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town cartridge. To this day, I cannot fathom a Thanksgiving where I"m not playing video games in some fashion. Thanks to you, can of Pilgrim, for making me remember those great game-fueled Thanksgivings of yore.

I'm sure you see by now that I adore MadTree's Pilgrim. It pairs perfectly with leftover turkey and sides. It's an easy 10/10 (probably the easiest I've given so far) and it's still available in stores! Go get some now for when you dive into your turkey sandwich lunch tomorrow.