Category Archives: Thanksgiving

Last-minute wines for the Thanksgiving win

24 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Thanksgiving, Wine

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112015_thanks_turkey_glasses

Between handling airport pick-ups and stocking up on essentials from cranberry sauce to ingredients for your great aunt’s famous stuffing, it’s tough to find time for wine. That’s why we’ve put together a list of last-minute favorites that will pair beautifully with your Thanksgiving dinner and impress even the most discerning in-law.

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Photo credit: Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler

The Mosel is home to some of Germany’s very best Rieslings, and Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler Riesling QbA is no exception. Riesling and Thanksgiving are well-matched, since the wine’s lightness, acidity and fruitiness make it a perfect companion to sweet dishes like candied yams as well as rich sides like stuffing. Boasting an 88-point rating from Wine Spectator, Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler Riesling QbA offers great flavors of peach and ripe apple. Hints of cream and honey give this wine a delightful finish that will pair perfectly with your first, second and third helpings of turkey.

There are many reasons to love Pinot Noir. But one of its signature strengths plays a critical role during the holidays: It’s hard to find a food it doesn’t complement. This year, we’re toasting with Pinot Noir that hails from one of America’s hottest wine-making regions, Willamette Valley, Oregon. Kudos Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton District, Willamette Valley, is a perfect wine to give thanks with on name alone. It also happens to be a wonderfully flavorful wine with notes of black cherry and raspberry accented by aromas of white pepper, spice and rose.

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And last, but certainly not least: Muirwood Chardonnay Reserve Zanetta Cuvee, a wine that often makes our recommendation list, given its incredible value and delightfully expressive qualities. Produced from two vineyards in California’s famed Monterey County, it possesses flavors of pear and peach with a finish of vanilla and spice that lingers on the palate. The ripe fruit flavors of the wine counterbalance the richness of many Thanksgiving dishes, as well as the savory, earthy flavors of turkey.

Between last-minute grocery store trips and wondering again why you decided to host Thanksgiving, stop by Total Wine & More, and we’ll be ready with the most essential ingredient when it comes to celebrating the holidays.

You can also shop our Thanksgiving selections online by clicking here.

What did the Pilgrims drink?

20 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by in Beer, Cider, Thanksgiving

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Basket of fruits and vegetables

Only two contemporary accounts of the first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621 are known to exist. They describe the wild turkey bagged by the Pilgrims and the venison brought by members of the Wampanoag tribe. But neither answers the critical question: What did the Pilgrims drink?

There was no California Pinot Noir for the first revelers – there wasn’t even a California. Yet despite their Puritanical inclinations, the Pilgrims certainly would have been interested in having alcoholic beverages on hand. In the early 17th century, potable water was hard to come by. Beer, cider and spirits, with alcohol levels that kept bacteria at bay, were safe choices.

Pilgrims packing for the journey on the Mayflower, which would last 66 days, had been urged to bring provisions including beer, cider and “aqua-vitae,” or distilled spirits. It’s hard to imagine those kegs and bottles weren’t drained by the long trip, the grueling winter and the busy spring and summer setting up the Plymouth Colony.

Pumpkin Patch Mini-Pumpkins

So historians assume the Pilgrims got to work brewing fresh beer. Early crops of barley, a critical ingredient in the standard recipe, did not thrive. But the settlers “were a resourceful lot and would have found ways to make fermented drinks from whatever they had available from the land,” notes Rob Hill, a Certified Cicerone™ and author of the Total Wine & More “Guide to Beer.” Happily, native pumpkin – perhaps known to the settlers as pompion – was available in abundance. Pumpkins are filled with fermentable sugars, so for Pilgrims pumpkin was not a flavoring (as it is in most modern pumpkin ales) but a substitute for malts in the brewing process.

Also growing wild around the Cape Cod settlement: apples. Cider had been a popular drink in Europe for centuries by the time the Pilgrims pushed off for North America, so they knew just what to do with the crab apples they found. Apples could be pressed into fresh juice, which could be made into hard cider. (Later, they found a way to further distill cider into the spirit applejack.)

Close up of apples in wood crate in apple orchard

It turns out the Pilgrims were quite the trendsetters – their table included beers and ciders that, almost 400 years later, are modern seasonal favorites. A pumpkin beer has the perfect autumn flavors to complement Thanksgiving dinner. And the refreshing effervescence and acidity of dry hard cider means it’s still a great choice to accompany a rich Thanksgiving meal.

The pilgrims didn’t have cranberry sauce (sugar was a scarce commodity) and they didn’t have pie (wheat flour, for crust, would come later), but it’s likely they enjoyed beer and cider at their first Thanksgiving. Visit Total Wine & More to find pumpkin beers and ciders that’ll add a bit of history to your 2015 feast.

Here’s to a very happy Friendsgiving

13 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by in Cider, Cocktails, Gin, Thanksgiving, Whiskey

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View from above friends toasting wine glasses

The good news: Thanksgiving now comes twice a year. The bad news: Your favorite pants only have so much elasticity. Although the main event may still be 12 days away, this Thursday you can mark a new tradition—Friendsgiving. This faux holiday is an occasion for close friends to get together and mark the start of the holiday season before departing for their respective family homes. Like Thanksgiving, it involves two of Total Wine & More’s very favorite things—food and drink. To get you into the Friendsgiving sprit, we share some go-to punch recipes that are perfect for parties of all sizes.

It doesn’t get more seasonal than cider. Thanks to its sweet and refreshing apple flavor, cider is a nice complement to just about anything your friends cook up. Chilled Cider Punch, courtesy of Saveur, is a great idea for pre-dinner drinks and like the very best recipes, it’s easy to make.

Chilled-cider

Photo credit: Saveur Magazine

Chilled Cider Punch (Serves 15-20)

  • 8 cups apple cider
  • 1 750-ml bottle dry hard cider
  • 3 12-oz. bottles ginger beer
  • 1½ cups Irish whiskey
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Several dashes orange bitters
  • Sliced oranges, for garnish
  • Cinnamon sticks, for garnish

Combine the ciders, ginger beer, whiskey, lemon juice and bitters in a punch bowl. Stir. Top with orange slices and cinnamon sticks. Serve over ice and enjoy!

Gin may be a polarizing spirit, but could you think of a better time to enjoy a spirit that’s known for its “piney” profile than the start of the holiday season? Food & Wine’s Mother’s Ruin, which is aptly titled given the obstacles matriarchs face this month – from cooking a 20-pound turkey to keeping the familial peace – will convert even gin’s biggest critics.

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Photo credit: Food and Wine

Mother’s Ruin Punch (Serves 8)

  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup chilled club soda
  • 1½ cups gin
  • 1½ cups fresh grapefruit juice
  • ¾ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ¾ cup sweet vermouth
  • 2¼  cups chilled Champagne or sparkling wine
  • 3 sliced grapefruit wheels, for garnish

Add sugar and club soda to a large pitcher and stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in gin, grapefruit and lemon juices and sweet vermouth and refrigerate until chilled, approximately 1 hour.

Pour punch into a large bowl. Slowly stir in Champagne and add grapefruit wheels on top of the punch. Toast to your mother’s formidable spirit and enjoy.

When it comes to food and drink, there are few as passionate as author, TV host and foodie extraordinaire Alton Brown. That’s why we follow his lead when it comes to whipping up one of our favorite winter drinks, the beloved Hot Toddy.

Hot Toddy (Serves 13)

  • 1 lemon, sliced
  • ½ cup natural brown sugar
  • 4 cups water
  • 2½ cups Scotch whisky
  • Nutmeg, freshly grated

Combine the lemon, sugar and water in a 2- to 3-quart slow cooker set on high. Cover and heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves completely, for 20 to 30 minutes.

Stir in the Scotch. Set the slow cooker to low, serve with lemon slice and nutmeg and return for seconds.

While we may be fresh out of nutmeg, Total Wine & More has all the spirits and mixers you need to help make these recipes a reality – and make you a Friendsgiving legend. Stop by our stores to stock up for our favorite new holiday or shop online.

Craft Beer and Thanksgiving, the Perfect Pairing!

16 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by in Beer, Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving Day often involves relaxation and social time with family and friends, some football on TV, and the anticipation of a big evening dinner. Thus, different beer styles will nicely suit the multiple courses of the evening and keep the taste buds tantalized!

Before dinner: Terrific pre-dinner beers offer clean crispness and plenty of flavors to a fresh palate, with moderate alcohol that won’t overpower the senses. Abita Amber Lager is an easy-drinking Vienna-style lager that’s golden caramel in color with a toasted, bready malt character nicely balanced by mild hop bitterness. For more hop-forward character, Victory Prima Pils is a straw golden colored German Pilsner-style beer with heaps of hops imparting an herbal bite over layers of soft and smooth malt flavor. These pre-dinner lagers slake your thirst and keep the palate clean while prepping it for the food to come.

With dinner: Thanksgiving in my family has always included a traditional turkey dinner with popular trimmings such as stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, potatoes, squash and a green vegetable. Several beer styles with autumn-like colors can pair nicely. Bell’s Amber Ale and Scuttlebutt Amber Ale are orange-amber in color and won’t overpower the food with a mild floral, fruity hop character that’s well balanced by sweet malt undertones. With brown gravy and/or the darker meat of the turkey, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale-style beer can complement nicely. Adriaen Brouwer Dark Gold Ale pours deep burgundy in color and offers sweet, bready caramel malts, dark fruit and mild roast character delivering flavorful complexity with an engaging vinous essence. This style is stronger in alcohol; the Adriaen Brouwer is 8.5% ABV.

With dessert: The trend toward increasingly darker beer colors with each course of the day can carry through dessert. Thinking apple, pecan and pumpkin pie here, perhaps with vanilla or chocolate ice cream, both the Schwarzbier and Stout styles come to mind. A Schwarzbier (“black beer”) is a dark lager style originally from Germany that is moderate in alcohol and, as its namesake implies, is a clear dark brown, almost black color. But motor oil it is not. Examples including Samuel Adams Black Lager, and Xingu Black from Brazil, are relatively light-bodied dark beers on a base of pilsner malt in which the dark hue is derived from additional, specialty malts. Decidedly malty in aroma and flavor character with little hop influence, this style evokes caramel and chocolate notes with a very subtle undertone of roasty bittersweetness. It’s smooth and highly drinkable. Alternatively, Stout will generally provide more body and higher alcohol. Pike XXXXX Extra Stout, at 7% ABV, is virtually jet black in color with an espresso-cream tan head. Fresh roast coffee aromas with notes of bitter sweet chocolate and hops deliver a rich and complex character of roasted flavors, caramel, licorice, and hints of vanilla and oak to complement and balance the sweetness of the dessert.

Rob Hill
Certified Cicerone®
Author of Total Guide To Beer
Now available in iTunes Bookstore as a FREE download
Follow me on Twitter! @TWMBeer