Thanksgiving snuck up on me this year, but there’s still time for me — and you — to start looking for beers to accompany that special meal.

For big dinners, I like to keep it simple and find one beer that will pair with everything on the table. Instead of trying to navigate multiple beers with the array of dishes, pouring one beer allows you to sit back and enjoy the meal. If you want to mix things up a bit, think of a beer to go with dessert. I covered that in this column last year.

For most families, the Thanksgiving meal revolves around a main protein. In many houses that is turkey, but it can also be a ham, roasted lamb or even a vegetarian option. So in looking for a beer, I start with the main dish.

Saison DuPont is not only one of my favorites, it’s the perfect Thanksgiving beer. It works with any main dish, from meats to fish to vegetarian, and easily stands up to all of those delicious starchy and vegetable side dishes.

Brasserie Dupont is a small farmhouse brewery in Belgium that has been brewing world-class saison since 1844. The current version of Saison Dupont was developed in the 1920s and is now considered the classic version of the style. This saison is light, dry and highly thirst-quenching, making it easy to drink and perfect for pairing with food.

Saison Dupont has a wonderful coppery blond color and a tad more carbonation than your regular beer. The extra fizz creates beautiful rising bubbles in the glass and helps the aroma jump out at you. Take care when pouring this beer — do so slowly into a tilted glass — because of the large, white, pillowy head of foam it delivers. The aroma is a mix of citrus rind, peppery spice and a musty note, like you’d get from a wonderful French or Italian white wine.

On the palate, this beer has a delicate softness that allows it to accentuate the foods you’re eating rather than overpower any individual flavor. With turkey, Saison Dupont’s slight acidity, mild malt sweetness and touch of spice help bring out its natural flavors. The high carbonation and bone-dry finish are perfect for fatty meats such as ham or leg of lamb because it cleans the palate with each sip. Soft fruit notes of lemony citrus and apricots, combined with a hint of peppery spice, make it work with side dishes such as buttery sweet potatoes and savory stuffing. It’s even excellent with cheese and charcuterie pupu platters.

With so much to prepare on Thanksgiving, give yourself a break and make the beer part easy. You can pop open a bottle of Saison Dupont while you’re prepping the food, then keep on drinking it through the meal. You might want to grab more than one bottle to last the feast.

Tim Golden, a certified cicerone, shares his obsession with all things craft beer on the third week of each month. He is part owner of Village Bottle Shoppe in Kakaako.