This post is focused on TW Pitchers' Snake Bite. While this isn't a Thanksgiving beer at all, it's enough to pair well with the season. When my old roommate picked me up a sixer while she was vacationing in Myrtle Beach, I wasn't sure what to expect. After having one can, I knew I had to save the rest for a late-November post.

TW Pitchers' Brewing Company is a San Francisco-based brewery that specializes in shandies. Founders Tommy and Wilson moved out to California after graduating from college in Massachusetts (where they pitched for their baseball team). They're dedicated to bringing quality craft shandies to you, so you should throw them a bone and hit up their Our Story webpage. 

Snake Bite is one of their three core beers. According to the brewery's Beers page, Snake Bite is an Americanized British blend of cider and lager. It also has some some cranberry in there for tartness. This 5.1% ABV brew is touted as blending its parts to provide a refreshing, balanced shandy. 

The beer's bouquet isn't what I initially expected. It's cranberry tartness on the fore with a sweet backing of apple and malt in the finish. It's strange and also strangely good. Unless you're Háma. You see, usually I use Purrl for this bit but tonight Ham's the only cat I could readily find. He took half a whiff and immediately backed away, refusing to sit still for my camera. 

Snake Bite's taste is also oddly good. It's apple sweet first, which gives way to cranberry tartness and, finally, more sweetness (attributable to malt) at the end. It's a whirlwind of flavor that works well.

The mouthfeel has a light carbonation--it's more juicy smooth than bubbly.

And now we get to why I was saving this beer for the Thanksgiving season: The first time I drank it (and when I take a swig from my newly-opened can) it reminds me of jellied cranberry sauce. You know, that jello-esque cranberry side that can be sliced into circular chunks? Yeah, that's the one.

See, when I was growing up, that was my family's main method of incorporating cranberries into Thanksgiving dinner. Sitting at the table, I'd stab off a chunk of my slice with a fork and then stab that same fork (with bit of cranberry goop still on it) into my turkey. The inexplicable mixture of juiciness and dryness in the bird paired perfectly with the bitter tang from the jellied cranberry sauce. It's one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories, and hats off to TW Pitchers for letting me relive those family feasting times with each swig of Snake Bite.

This an exceptionally good shandy. The mixture of apple juice, cranberry juice, and, I presume, lager make for a delightful Thanksgiving treat. I'm giving TW Pitchers' Snake Bite an 8.5/10. Here's hoping (if you live in Ohio like I do) that you don't have to go all the way to South Carolina to find this stuff!