Category: Drink

Wines to consider for your Thanksgiving menu

“This Thanksgiving will be unlike all other Thanksgivings!”

We have heard that expression far too many times, haven’t we? We will all be hunkered down, safe in our households, seated for our traditional feast, but there will be differences around us, some subtle, some not-so-subtle. Crazy Uncle Larry who begins his Thanksgiving Day cocktail hour at 10 a.m. will be (thankfully) absent and the feast may be a bit simpler, a bit smaller. For the early afternoon, we plan to have another couple over for hors d’oeuvres in the driveway, surrounded by patio heaters! For our dinner, instead of a large turkey, we will have a roast duck. It will be smaller and simpler but still very enjoyable!

We still need to celebrate with our friends and family, and with wine paired to the extended courses. The possibilities are endless.

Chic Barcelona Brut Cava (originally priced at $14.99, on sale at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $7.99) is a bargain not to be passed up. A blend of 35 percent macabeu, 35 percent xarello and 30 percent parellada grapes, this wine hails from the Penedès region of Catalonia, Spain, south of Barcelona, where the climate is Mediterranean with continental influences meaning that it tends to have cold winters and slightly milder summers than the interior countryside produces full and fresh wines resulting in a slower maturation of the grapes. Cava is the chief wine of this region and it is made in the traditional, or Champagne, method, which means it has a second fermentation in the bottle. The color of this wine is a light straw. The tiny bubbles that rise from the bottom of the glass are not as intense as with Champagne and the nose is bright and fresh, lacking in the yeasty brioche nose one identifies with a Champagne. To the tongue, the taste is fresh and citric but lacking in length. This is an excellent accompaniment to hors d’oeuvres, and a great way to start the meal. Alcoholic content is 11½ percent.

Höpler Grüner Veltliner, 2019 (originally priced at $16.99, on sale at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $14.99) is an Austrian wine from the eastern part of the country, from vines planted along the Danube River and on the banks of Lake Neusiedl. The Höpler winery is located in Burgenland, just 45 minutes from Vienna. The soils range from gravel with some clay to rich, fertile well-draining silt. Cold winters allow the vines to go dormant, but hot summers with substantial sunshine and humidity rising from the nearby lake allow the grapes to develop a balance between fruit, flavor and great acidity. The color is straw with a strong overtone of green. The green results from the selection of greener grapes, producing a wine that is more aromatic than the wine made from grapes that are more yellow. To the nose the wine has notes of lime and minerality, along with some white pepper spice. This wine falls between sauvignon blanc (acid and green grassy notes) and riesling (tropical and mineral notes). To the taste, this wine has tropical fruit — pineapple with lemon-lime acidity. This is an ideal wine to cool and just sip, alongside the cava, to enjoy along with oysters, or to transition to the main course, the bird.

Schug 2017 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (originally priced at $32.99, on sale at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $14.99) is a blend of pinot noir grapes from select vineyards located in the western portion of Carneros, a region on the coast of the San Pablo Bay. A cool, breezy climate allows the grapes to mature slowly and retain their natural acidity, with bright flavors of red cherries, raspberries and spice. There is also a touch of tart pomegranate on the tongue. The wine is aged in large neutral oak casks and older French oak barrels to keep new oak flavors to a minimum. The finish is long and reminds me of cranberry, and therefore perfect to pair with that bird! It will nicely cut through the buttery fat of the bird’s side dishes.

So, while the Thanksgiving celebration may be small and ever so intimate, it should be savored. The pandemic will pass; the memories will live on. Happy Thanksgiving.

The ultimate day of indulgence requires the appropriate brew

Thanksgiving is the ultimate day of indulgence — savory gravy, delicious stuffing, buttery potatoes and vegetables, sweet and rich yams and flavorful roast turkey followed by a spread of sweet, rich desserts.

And you can’t just sip any old beer on the ultimate day of indulgence.

I sort of teeter back and forth when it comes to beer on Thanksgiving. On the one hand, the food of the day is so rich, so decadent and so carb-heavy that it’s almost a challenge to try to add a similarly rich and decadent brew into the mix — but richer, maltier brews work so well with the sweet, buttery foods that dominate the day. We’ve got ourselves a predicament.

On the other hand, I find that crisp, clean brews like Pilsners or bright, tart sours can cut through the fat a bit better, and that allows you to really focus in on the food you’re eating — nothing wrong with that either.

But you don’t want to feel like you held back on Thanksgiving, so how should we handle this dilemma? That is the question and I don’t have the answer because I’ve gone back and forth on what the best move is from holiday to holiday, and sometimes even from brew to brew.

With respect to these two competing narratives, I’d like to offer a few suggestions from both lines of thought to help you drink your way through Thanksgiving.

Carry On Bohemian Style Pilsner by Great Rhythm Brewing Co. (Portsmouth)

This is crisp, clean, light and so, so easy to drink. You can enjoy this without really having to think about it. This would be a nice choice during appetizers, or honestly, really at any moment on Thanksgiving day.

Georg Munich-Style Dark Lager by Schilling Beer Co. (Littleton)

While this is rich and offers layers of complexity, what stands out to me is that it’s quite dry and easy to drink. I think you get some notes of toasted caramel that would do very well alongside a piece of warm apple or pumpkin pie.

Rye IPA by Stoneface Brewing Co. (Newington)

I haven’t tried this one but I’m intrigued by this brew, in particular because I think the bitterness and the earthiness from the rye would really cut through the richness of the day. The brewery indicates this beer is “bold and malty,” which is a bit different than your typical IPA. This one seems like a good choice on turkey day.

Pandora’s Kettle #4 by Concord Craft Brewing (Concord)

This Berliner weisse is tart, bright, and quite refreshing. Brewed with apple and cranberry, this is perfectly seasonal—and a great choice to sip with the meal or right after when you’re trying to give your belly a bit of a break. At 3.7 percent ABV, you can have more than one.

Vendel Imperial Stout by Kelsen Brewing Co. (Derry)

This is the one you grab when you just decide to go all in on Thanksgiving. This beer holds nothing back. It’s incredibly rich and creamy with big notes of chocolate and coffee. Savor this one slowly on the big day.

Working Man’s Porter by Henniker Brewing Co. (Henniker)

This is dry and robust but it’s also very, very drinkable, making it a nice choice when you’re embracing the decadence of the day but not trying to go too overboard. It’s that dry complexity that I think pairs quite well with Thanksgiving fare.

What’s in My Fridge
DDH Pulp Daddy by Greater Good Imperial Brewing Co. (Worcester, Mass.) Wow. This one comes at you with hop ferocity. The brewery states that it is its hoppiest beer — double the hops of its little brother, Pulp Daddy (which is also quite hoppy, as is the youngest brother, Pulp). This is a hop-lover’s dream: a tropical juice bomb that pulls no punches. The dry hops adds another layer of complexity and freshness that really allows this beer to stand out. Cheers!

Featured photo: Happy Thanksgiving. Courtesy photo.

Give the world’s oldest fine wine a chance

Whenever I think of sherry, the fortified wine, I cannot help thinking of Frankie Vallee singing “Sherry, Baby” in that Jersey Boys falsetto voice. Wait, I may have said too much, and yes, I occasionally tune into “60’s on 6” on Sirius radio!

Sherry (the wine) has a bad reputation, linked to proper ladies drinking ever so politely from little glasses. However, it should not have such a limited audience. It is more than a beverage option for tea, served with small sandwiches and polite fruit creams. It should be served chilled and enjoyed along a fireside, wrapped in a blanket.

Sherry has a long and storied past. At about 2,000 years old, it is the world’s oldest fine wine, made principally from the palomino grape, along with a couple of others in Jerez, Andalucia, Spain. It has been imitated in other regions, but never with any success outside of Jerez. In fact, the EU has dictated the name can only apply to wines from Jerez. It can range from the driest, most delicate fino to the richest, most pungent oloroso. The wine is made in a traditional manner. The grapes are harvested and the wine is made in exactly the same manner as any other dry white wine, but in the following year the wine is fortified with alcohol and other wine to raise the strength to 14.5 percent. A skin of naturally occurring yeast, called flor, forms along the surface of the wine, which makes a barrier between the surface of the wine and the air within the cask, preventing the wine from oxidizing and imparting that “nutty” character sherry has. The amount of flor on the wine determines the direction the sherry will take, from fino, which is fortified to 15.5 percent, to oloroso, 17.5 percent.

On the bottle labels you may find the term “solera system.” One might call this “quality control.” It is a system of mixing young wines with older wines to ensure consistency, but it is more than that. Typically, there are four tiers to the stand of oak barrels sherry is stored in. Each year two thirds of the wine of the oldest in the tier will be blended with one third of the wine of the following year’s vintage. The wine is tapped off from each successive barrel, allowing new wine to be replenished in the top level. The fino soleras are emptied periodically to maintain the freshness of the wine. A good fino has spent five years rotating through these barrels. The oloroso soleras, however, may not be completely emptied.

Sherry comes in a variety of styles. Fino is the palest and driest of the Jerez styles. It has a citric quality to it. Amontillado is aged beyond five years and has a light shade of almond to it. It is still dry but more complex, rich and spicy. Oloroso sherries spend about 10 years in the solera and while still dry are mixed with other sweet wines to produce “cream sherries.” Sometimes sherries are made from other grapes, such as muscatel or Pedro Ximénez, a grape dried in the sun to produce extremely sweet wine. Sherries can be dated but dating them follows a complex formula because of the mixing of vintages, and sometimes there are individual vintages from single casks, but these are rare and can be pricey.

So, what sherries are available in New Hampshire? Sadly, the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets have somewhat meager offerings. Of the 76 stores only four varieties of sherries are offered in many of the stores. This is unfortunate because there is a wealth of types of sherries to explore. Our first is Dry Sack Medium Jerez-Xérès-Sherry, available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $13.49 per bottle. This wine is the color of weak tea and has a dry “nutty” character to it.

Our next sherry is Savory & James Fino Deluxe Dry Sherry, available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $9.99 per bottle. The color of this sherry is a very pale straw. To the nose and mouth it is a very dry, light sherry with strong citric notes. One can compare this to a dry vermouth.

Our last sherry is Harveys Bristol Cream Solera Sherry, available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets at $13.99 per bottle. Perhaps the standard by which all other sherries are compared, it is a rich, smooth, full sherry with creamy notes, as its name defines.

Pick up a bottle or two to enjoy by the fire as the weather gets cooler. And remember, you don’t have to invite Grandma to enjoy new experiences with this fine fortified wine.

Sylvester Graham would hate this article. For the purposes of this week’s cocktails, here’s what you need to know about Graham, who died in 1851:

• He didn’t invent the graham cracker — he encouraged people to grind their own flour (he said white bread was made from “tortured wheat”). Some mills started producing a rougher-ground, whole-grain flour that they called Graham flour. Graham crackers were made using this flour.

• He was horrified by alcohol.

• He was very impatient; he couldn’t understand why Americans didn’t just listen to him and change their lifestyles instantly (he basically thought pleasure and anything that gave you pleasure — alcohol, meat, sex — is bad for you).

So, here’s our first tie-in with Sylvester Graham: What’s with all the exotic ingredients, Cocktail Boy?

I’ve been looking back at the last several cocktails I’ve written about and I’m pretty sure some of you have been thinking to yourself, “OK, this drink sounds very interesting, but do I really need Nepalese orchid pollen to make it?” The most exotic ingredients in today’s drinks are cocoa nibs and grapefruit juice. (No, not together.)

The bad news is that Cocktail No. 1 will take you a week to make.

Cocktail No. 1 – The S’mores Martini

After making chocolate vodka last month, I decided to see if I could make graham cracker vodka (Sylvester Graham connection No. 2).

I’ll spare you the experimental methodology, but in short, it works.

Graham Cracker Vodka

1 sleeve (135 grams) graham crackers

3 cups 80 proof inexpensive vodka

Combine graham crackers and vodka in a blender. Blend at whatever speed pleases you for one minute. Feel free to chuckle evilly as the graham crackers meet their fate.

Pour into a wide-mouthed, airtight jar.

Store in a warm, dark place for a week, shaking twice daily.

(And this is really important) On Day 7, DO NOT SHAKE THE JAR.

Gently pour the clear liquid through a fine-meshed strainer, then through a coffee filter, into a labeled bottle.

Strain the remaining graham cracker glop overnight, then filter and add to your bottle.

S’mores Martini

2 oz. chocolate vodka

2 oz. graham cracker vodka

3-4 miniature marshmallows, for garnish.

In a mixing glass (see below), pour equal amounts of chocolate and graham cracker vodka over ice.

Stir gently but thoroughly.

Pour off, into a chilled martini glass.

Garnish with toasted miniature marshmallows, much like you would a conventional martini, with olives.

Some bartenders make standard, conventional martinis by pouring an ounce or so of vermouth over the ice in the mixing glass, stirring it around, then pouring it out. The vermouth-washed ice adds just enough vermouthiness to the gin to make a solid dry martini. I suspect that if one were to wash the ice in this drink with creme de cacao before mixing in the chocolate and graham cracker vodkas, it would deepen the flavor even more. That would stretch the boundaries of Sylvester Graham-like simplicity and humble ingredients, though.

Observation No. 1 – Is this idea a bit cutesy and Food Networky?

Yes, but if you find yourself with chocolate and graham cracker vodkas, the Universe sort of demands that you do it.

Observation No. 2 – Shaken versus Stirred

For years, I’ve heard martini snobs sneering at the whole James Bond, shaken-not-stirred concept. But for the sake of … um, I’m not actually sure what … I decided to make two different versions of this martini, one shaken brutally in a Boston shaker (the kind with two halves) and one stirred in a mixing glass.

Shockingly, there was a real difference, and not a small one. The shaken martini had a different look, a different mouth-feel and even a different taste than the silkier one made in the mixing glass. By comparison, it seemed like it was made in a frat house. The stirred one was delightful and civilized.

Does this mean that you’ll have to invest in a special mixing glass and long spirally bar spoon? I did, but I suspect you could do just as well with a glass measuring cup and the blunt end of a butter knife. But let’s say you suffer from a Sylvester Graham-like impatience. Try this instead:

Featured photo: S’mores martini. Photo by John Fladd.

The right beer can enhance any meal

Pairing beer with food shouldn’t be that hard — but sometimes it is.

You can get as in-depth with pairing beer with food as you can with wine. I don’t, personally, but similar to wine, the right brew can elevate the overall eating experience. But it doesn’t need to be complicated.

Especially as our palates turn to richer fare, comfort food and homestyle staples, you do want to think about your beer choices and how they might impact your taste buds. For example, I wouldn’t opt for a rich coffee stout with pizza and I wouldn’t choose a juicy New England-style IPA with apple pie.

I suggest spending a minute to think about what you’re going to be eating and what you’d like to drink. I don’t think you’ll need a chef or a sommelier to break it down for you. You’ve got this.

You want to think about what you want the beer to do for your experience. Do you want it to complement the flavor profiles of the foods you’re eating or do you want it to stand on its own?

Aside from Thanksgiving, which, wow, is just three weeks away, you’re probably eating a lot of chicken wings and chili while you watch football and you’re probably enjoying more roasts and stews as the weather has cooled. Thinking about chili and wings, both of which tend to have a little (or a lot of) spice, you’ve got a few options.

IPAs, in general, such as the Hazy Rotation New England IPA by Great North Aleworks in Manchester or the Damn Sure Double IPA by Henniker Brewing, tend to stand up to spicy food, without completely overpowering your palate. IPAs tend to be able to stand on their own more than other brews, but if the food you’re eating is more subtly flavored, IPAs can take over, so be careful.

Saisons can be a versatile choice for pairing with food — they’re often fruity and spicy on their own. They also vary greatly from brew to brew — just something to keep in mind.

Pilsners and lighter brews are just fine too, but I do tend to think you’ll lose their nuanced flavor in the face of spicier foods.

With a beef stew, I tend to move toward drier stouts, such as Irish stouts or American stouts, like Stout #3 by Throwback Brewery in North Hampton, that offer complex layers of flavor but without much sweetness. I’ll save sweeter stouts with notes of chocolate, fruit and coffee, such as the Black Cat Stout by Portsmouth Brewery or Stoneface Brewing Co.’s Porter with Chocolate & Cherries, for pairing with dessert.

Brown ales, like the Paradigm Brown Ale by Kelsen Brewing Co., are another nice choice for pairing with stews and roasted meats.

Thinking about Thanksgiving, you know the fare is going to be rich, sweet and slathered in gravy. With that in mind, I’m looking for something a little lighter, like a Pilsner or a fruity wheat beer, both of which allow you to appreciate the buttery goodness of mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie and mounds of stuffing — and also turkey. Another interesting option for Thanksgiving is to explore the world of sours — the tartness from sours can cut right through rich, fatty foods.

If you really want to get it right, ask the brewer or the beer expert at your local store. They’ll be able to tell you exactly what kinds of foods pair well with their beers.

What’s in My Fridge
Relic Twenty-8 Imperial Stout by Bent Water Brewing Co. (Lynn, Mass.) I’ve been loving the stouts by Bent Water over the past few weeks, and the Relic Twenty-8 is another tremendous choice from this brewery. This is a perfect imperial stout that is rich, fruity and complex. A seasonal offering for the holidays, Bent Water makes this with toasted coconut and blackberries and those two flavors balance each other quite well. But I’m also picking up notes of dark chocolate and maybe a little coffee, too. This is decadent and, at nearly 12 percent ABV, a brew best savored during a quiet afternoon or evening by the fire. Cheers!

Featured photo: Kelsen Brewing Company’s Paradigm Brown Ale pairs well with richer foods. Courtesy photo.