Thanksgiving is a food holiday first and foremost. This is the main reason, while most hosts obsess over How to cook and carve the perfect turkeyWhat you drink often becomes an afterthought. With the world’s many great wines, liquors and cocktails (or craft beer), it can be hard to think about the liquid side of a meal. So we asked dozens of experts how they deal with the drinking situation in their family get-togethers. Here’s what we learned about the best Thanksgiving drinks to try this year.
Drinking before dinner means cocktail hour
For some drink connoisseurs, the run-up to sitting down is all about cocktails.
Chateau Montelena Winemaker Matt Crafton He knows everyone expects wine at the meal, but he likes to start the evening off old-fashioned.
“Aside from the harvest, Thanksgiving is really my first chance to learn about the new season, and to be really grateful for all that we have,” Crafton says. “Whiskey is my go-to these days, so my favorite pre-dinner cocktail is a spiced Old Fashioned that incorporates a blend of cinnamon, cloves, and star anise along with orange bitters. It’s killer. Just please don’t ruin it with a maraschino cherry.” The wine is easy: Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. It will pair with anything on your table and show your guests that you have incredibly good taste.”
It is a path similar to Kenneth McCoypartner in The house of rum.
McCoy explains, “If I’m going to drink at Thanksgiving, I like to start with a Manhattan rye with Poulet au Wild Turkey and Antique Vermouth. As the day progresses, the red wine goes great with the meal, preferably something from France. After dinner, I like types of wine.” Rare whiskeys like Black Maple Hill Small Batch Bourbon or BMH 21yr rye, (and I’m lucky enough to own both).”
Wine with dinner (or maybe a cocktail?)
Turkey was carved out, and wine became the natural choice. It’s easier to serve throughout a meal, more importantly, but it tends to play best with food.
Zachary Peaseowner and director of Beverages in New York my friend dukeRed wine is the culmination of a day of drinking.
“We have a very elaborate Thanksgiving ritual starting with Bloody Marys with stupid and elaborate garnishes and then a cocktail theme for the rest of the day, red wine with dinner, and pretty much the rest of the evening. A friend of the past 16 years to a gathering we called Wine Lips because everyone brings a bottle and everyone wakes up the next day with red lips.”
But not everyone goes the red wine route for dinner.
Elizabeth StewartDirector at Majorelle V Lowell Hotelrecommends a cocktail that combines all the flavors of the season.
“The Garnet blush is a delicious drink that translates from fall to winter,” she explains. “The warm spice in the cider base captures the flavor of fall, while the splash of cranberry juice is homage to traditional dishes enjoyed during the winter holiday season.”
Here is the recipe:
Agate blush
- 2 ounces seasoned rum (Jerry’s Sailors)
- 1 ounce calvados
- Fill apple juice (about two-thirds of a cup)
- Top with cranberry juice and a little soda
- Garnish with three fresh cranberries on a skewer
In a large glass filled with ice, fill 2/3 with applesauce. Next, add Calvados and Sailor Jerry’s Spiced Rum; stir briskly. Add some cranberry juice and soda water. Garnish with three fresh cranberries on a skewer.
“For Thanksgiving,” he explains Will Whiteowner and director of Beverages in New York Master of Heaven“I generally drink wine or whiskey, because it’s easy to pour and easy to sip. However, being the family bartender, I always end up bringing basic tools to make some kind of cocktail that I can whip up quickly. In the past couple of years, I’ve brought some delicious rye whiskey, and a bottle A little absinthe, and some Peychaud bitters to make a Sazerac or two for my particularly thirsty family members.”
After dinner and dessert
Of the dozens of experts we spoke to, nearly all of them said they’d rather finish a big meal with an amaro.
“Amari, which are traditionally shared at the end of a meal, are especially popular during the holidays when friends and families gather around the same table,” he explains. Tad Carduccia national ambassador for Amaro Montenegro. The Amaro Montenegro, in particular, is a great choice for the holidays because it provides the perfect balance of bitter and sweet, and is wonderfully spicy and herbal.
Brandon Lesterbeverage director at Asset Restaurant in New York, prefers Montenegro because it’s “balanced with a hint of sweetness at the end, which complements notes of candied orange peel and toasted walnuts.”
Ryan GavinNew York beverage director Gran TivoliAmaro and fern are a must after a big Thanksgiving meal, he says.
“My current favorite is both from the Marche region of Italy. Amaro Sibylla is sweet, robust, and bitter.” It has the perfect balance to help digest that last turkey leg you probably didn’t need. If you’re feeling adventurous and love bitter flavours, I love Millet Vernet. It’s more bitter but perfectly balanced with just enough sweetness to coat the palate and make you feel a little better.”
To serve, Gavin recommends either keeping your amaro in the fridge and serving it neat, “or serve it over a few ice cubes. If you can’t wait to get over dessert, an amaro poured over vanilla ice cream is perfect, too.”
What guests should bring
Marshall Minayaa beverage director in New York City ValerieBring a taste of home with you, he says, to make it personal.
My favorite spirit to gift someone is something homemade. I’m a huge fan of Brooklyn They’re a five-minute walk from my apartment,” Minaya says. “I can’t get more than that locally. My favorite among their ranks is 77 Rye.”
If you prefer to go the wine route, Alexander Lapratpartner at Atrium DUMBO, Beasts & Bottles, and founder of LaPratt New York, suggests going with cabernet sauvignon, which he considers a crowd-pleasing variety.
“One of my favorites right now is Trinchero’s BRV 2013 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Trinchero uses sustainably sourced fruit from their own vineyards in mountain appellations at Atlas Peak and Mount Vedre,” explains LaPratt. “This wine displays a fruity profile of dark berries, plum, and cassis that are rounded off with hints of licorice, saddle leather, cloves, nutmeg, and a hint of vanilla—which is sure to work well with all the baking spices on your holiday table.”
Trinchero Napa Valley 2013 BRV Cabernet Sauvignon [$80; wine.com, trincheronapavalley.com]
The only Friendsgiving cocktail you need
Cocktail salad and whiskey connoisseur Aaron Goldfarb He knows the advent of Friendsgiving celebrations is mostly due to the fact that eating a “huge, gourmet, tryptophan-filled meal is always fun.”
for his new book, Gather around cocktailsGoldfarb wanted to create a cocktail with “a little oomph, a cocktail that mimics the flavors in the leftover sandwich, The Gobbler”.
The Gobbler
Written by Aaron Goldfarb
- (makes 8 cocktails)
- 12 ounces of Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon
- 4 ounces Laird apple cider
- 4 ounces spiced cranberry syrup (recipe next)
- 24 dashes, the bitter truth, the original celery bitterness
- Stuffing cubes for garnish (recipe follows)
In a pitcher, premix by combining bourbon, apple cider, and syrup, and stir. (I like to put it back in a bottle of Wild Turkey once blended.) To make individual drinks, pour 2 1/2 ounces of the batch into a rocks glass and top with three dashes of bitters and a large ice cube. Garnish with a stuffing cube on a toothpick.
Spiced cranberry syrup
- 2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup of water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- Juice and peel of 1 orange vanilla bean, divided
- 1 star anise
Place the cranberries in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Add sugar, wine and water and simmer until everything is combined. Remove from heat and add cinnamon sticks, orange juice and zest, vanilla bean and anise. Stir together and allow to cool to room temperature. Strain into a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use, or up to 2 weeks.
- Stuffing cubes
- Stuffing residue
- Drizzle olive oil
- leftover broth
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the filling into 2.5 cm cubes, place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip onto the cubes. Drizzle with the broth and bake until dark brown and crunchy.
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