Holiday wine and spirits pair well with hearty meals, provide health benefits
Most people don’t realize serving the right kind of drink with a holiday dinner can really enhance a meal.
For this upcoming holiday, I suggest wine, but if you are not a “vino,” then I suggest getting a nice, full-bodied bee r. Lagers are nice and hoppy, stouts are dark and full-bodied, and the pilsner is hoppy yet dry. A typical lager should be paired with a hearty meal, such as soups and burgers. Stouts are best served with desserts, but you can also have it with any type of dark meat. The pilsner is the oddball; any simple pilsner can be paired with lighter-colored foods such as chicken, pasta or even a salad.
If you aren’t completely sold on having a beer with dinner, think about the health benefits. An article featured on eatright.org lists seven health benefits to drinking beer which include less likeliness of heart disease, lowered the risk of kidney stones, it is packed full with a fiber and it provides the body with Vitamin B.
Although all of these are great reasons to start drinking beer, you only get these benefits if you drink smart. Do not over-indulge on it.
Next is the great area of wine, such as the one on this wine blog. To start off, there are red wines, white wines and blends. Like beer, not all wine tastes the same. If you are serving something salty, choose a champagne; the tartness of the champagne helps set off the salty taste of the food. Pinot Grigio, which is not sweet but not too dry, is good with light meals such as salads and fish. Chardonney is another white wine but is much dryer than any other white wine; this is also best with fish. Rieslings are best served with spicy or light dishes; the sweet and bitter combination offsets the spicy-ness of the meal.
Heading on to the red selections of wine, we shall begin with a Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir’s are, for the most part, not very heavy and they are not too dry — the perfect in-between — they are also best served with “earthy flavors” like mushrooms, pizza and pastas. A Zinfandel is more toward the dry side and can be a mixture of different grapes. Zinfandel’s are best served with pizza or any type of mousse. And finally, the Cabernet Sauvignon; Cabernet is best served with meat, preferably red meat. Cabernet is just about the driest you can go when choosing wine so do not pick a Cabernet if you do not like dry or bitter tasting wines.
Wine also has many of the same health benefits as beer. Many people believe that drinking one glass of red wine a day is good for your heart. This is true, but something that many people do not realize is that white wine does the same thing. The trick is, to get something a little drier because sweet wines do not have as many antioxidants as red wines do.
Now if I have yet to convince you to pop open a beer or bottle of wine for the upcoming holiday, I am not sure what there is left to do. Beer and wine are both complimentary to your meal and have several health benefits. You do not have to buy the most expensive thing out there — a $3 bottle of wine is fine.
The main point to take away from this is that whether it be beer or wine, whatever you like, is what is important. Do not get a bottle of Riesling because I said it goes well with turkey, get what tastes good to you and that will surely be enough.
