Fortunately Harpoon Brewery has come to the rescue with a holiday offering meant especially for Thanksgiving. Harpoon is one of the original and bigger breweries of the craft brew movement with facilities in Boston and Windsor, Vermont.
The beer is called Grateful Harvest...and in a word - it's "good".
It is advertised as a cranberry ale and you can see and taste that it is. The ale is amber in color but with a hint of red evident. It claims to be sweet with a tart finish. I can taste the tartness of the cranberry alright. But I'm always hesitant when a beer warns me it has a sweet side. There are no such worries here. The beer is nicely balanced, and neither any sweetness (which I really don't detect) nor tartness is overpowering.
The beer is advertised as going well with turkey. I haven't had the opportunity to test that claim, but it does give Thanksgiving feast hosts an option for the beer lovers at your table who would prefer a brew to a glass of Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. I know I'll have some on hand.
The added bonus is that Harpoon Brewery donates a $1 to a local food bank for every six pack of Grateful Harvest sold as part of their "Harpoon Helps" campaign. They say the food bank is chosen based on where the six pack is purchased. So you can feel good buying the beer as well as drinking it.
I am giving Grateful Harvest Cranberry Ale from Harpoon 8 mugs out of 10. And they get a little bonus for the food bank donation.