With Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season fast approaching I decided to put together a new recipe for cooking Turkey on the Big Green Egg. Last year I had great success with an Apple Juice Brined Turkey. It came out fantastic and everyone loved it. This year I want to do something using beer (imagine that) 
so I did a bit of research and decided to do a Brown Ale based marinade. I’ve never done this before so follow along and see how it came out:
The Marinade
Once I decided to use a Brown Ale I settled on using one of the classic English Brown Ales as the base, Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale. It has a nice malty flavor without a lot of hops, which can become bitter when cooked. To the beer I added some Apple Cider, spices, and oil to create the marinade. Here’s the recipe:
- 20oz Brown Ale
- 20oz Apple Cider
- 12oz Hard Cider
- 1/2 cup Canola Oil
- 2 Oranges quatered
- 3 Bay Leaves
- 1tsp Whole Peppercorns
- Mix all the ingredients in a stockpot and simmer for 10 minutes and allow to cool.
- Pour over Turkey and marinade for 12-24 hours. Turn Turkey once or twice to coat evenly.
The Cooking
After a nice long, 18 hour soak in the marinade I took the Turkey out of the fridge and set it on the counter while I fired up the Big Green Egg. I got the temperature of the ‘egg to 275 or so, added some Apple chips that I soaked in water, and then cooked the Turkey over indirect heat for about 3 hours. I covered the top of the Turkey with foil for the last hour to keep the breast from drying out. Once the temp in the thigh reched 175 or so, I removed the Turkey and let it sit under a foil tent for 30 minutes. Here’s a video showing the prep of the marinade and the cooking of the Turkey:
The Eating And The Beer Review
When it came time to eat I was really looking forward to having some of the Nut Brown Ale. The Turkey came out perfect and had a nice sweet smokey flavor. I made some mashed potatoes and Spinach to go with the meat. Here’s the video review of the beer and of Dinner:
Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale is a very good beer. I really enjoyed it and it paired perfectly with the Turkey. The beer had a slight buttery/nutty flavor with hints of caramel. There was just a touch of hop bitterness as well. Drinkability is excellent and the 5% ABV goes down smooth. The only thing I wanted more of was a bit fuller flavor, but it is still a great beer and definitely one of the classics that you need to try for yourself.
Here is the score:
- Appearance- 8 points (out of 10)
- Smell- 7 points (out of 10)
- Taste- 17 points (out of 20)
- Drinkability- 9 points (out of 10)
Total 41 (out of 50) Points- A 4 Mug Rating
The Leftovers
The Turkey came out great. The Apple Cider and beer combo was very tasty. The Apple smoke was very nice as well. I think I am going to make this for Thanksgiving this year. Maybe some of you will try this as well. If you do please let me know what you think.
