Planning Holiday Meals? Don't Forget The Drinks!

'Tis the season! Time to start planning that special holiday meal for friends and family. But each year, as you carefully consider your time-tested recipes with the intent of wowing your guests, how much thought do you put into the beverages they will quaff with the meal?

Even with special menus, we often have a tendency to give the drinks that go with the meal second billing -- basically something to wash it all down. But just like an accomplished actor in a supporting role, the drinks you serve can make your meal -- the star of the show -- really shine.

As with any menu, it's always best to offer both nonalcoholic drinks alongside more spirited choices. Coffee, tea and water always do nicely with a meal. This year, maybe try a nonalcoholic sparkling cider to give your Christmas feast some pizzazz.

Wine, of course, is usually considered to be the table companion at most special meals. Because of the number of varieties, the choice can often be a bit overwhelming. Domestic craft and imported beers are increasingly making an appearance at special dinners, creating even more of a conundrum when deciding what to serve at your holiday meal. The question that used to start with "white, rosé or red," now is followed with "or porter, pale ale or pilsner?"

Liquid Solutions to the rescue!

Below are some ideas and suggestions for wines and beers to serve to accompany your main dish at your holiday table. These are merely suggestions, however. Feel free to use these ideas as a jumping-off point for your own fluid explorations.

All-Around Winners

For many, it just wouldn't be Christmas if you didn't begin or end the festivities with a glass of Champagne. And how can you blame them? Bubbly is just so ... effervescent!

If you get no kick from Champagne (or sparkling wine if it's not from the Champagne region of France), a full-bodied chardonnay can be rich enough to cope with all the trimmings that accompany your feast, and will probably be suitable for many starters, too.

A syrah or shiraz would be a good red wine counterpart to the chardonnay.

If, like me, you choose to serve beer with your Christmas dinner instead of wine, try a nice Belgian or Belgian-style (meaning it wasn't made in Belgium) lambic laced with fruit. Raspberry, called "framboise," is an excellent choice, as is peach or "péche" which can seem a lot like a bubbly chardonnay. Spritzy, light and crisp, lambics are the "Champagnes" of the beer world -- but they are often more complex than dry sparkling wines. Serve a lambic in a champagne flute just as you would traditional bubbly.

For an overall beer choice for your meal, try a locally or regionally microbrewed amber to cover your bases. Other styles that fit the bill would be a nice porter or perhaps a pale ale with a hint of hops.

Turkey Time

If roast turkey and all the trimmings gets top billing on your table, try pairing the meal with a chardonnay or a white Rhône or burgundy. Or, break out of the "white wine with poultry" mindset and see red with an aged Spanish rioja or a big zinfandel.

In the beer world, a nice, malty amber beer is a good accompaniment to roast turkey. Or take a cue from the Germans, who enjoy their spit-roasted poultry at Oktoberfest celebrations with an Oktoberfest beer made especially for the occasion. You can find many German imports in stores that carry a wide variety of beer, or you might be lucky enough to still find a locally craft-brewed version.

Duck, Duck, Goose

If you are going for the traditional roasted goose or duck for your holiday feast this year, you can go with a wine or beer with a little more "oomph" to it because these birds typically have more fat content -- and more flavor.

A red wine might be your best bet with duck or goose. Try a pinot noir or a mature red burgundy. Another option might be to help cut through the extra fat on your palate with a dry white Riesling.

The same concept applies to a beer to accompany your duck or goose. Old ales, strong ales, stouts and barley wines are a few beer styles that would have the backbone to support these strong-flavored birds. Or go with a white or wheat beer, or a crisp, Czech-style pilsner, to help balance it out.

Hammin' It Up

White wines are good with pork, "the other white meat," so you can't go wrong with a chardonnay, or even a gewürztraminer. If you want to go with the reds, try perhaps an aged claret or a syrah or shiraz.

Best bets for beer would include ambers, Oktoberfests, bocks, fruity cherry or cranberry lambics and white or wheat beers.

There might be another entrée besides the ones listed above that will grace your holiday table. Or perhaps you are being asked to bring the beverage to a holiday meal, and you don't know what is being served. If that's the case, just go for those Overall Winners and you should be safe.

And have fun experimenting. Who knows? You might start a new holiday tradition at the dinner table.