A drink sets the mood, says Manoj Basnet (Manny), owner of Manny’s eatery and Tapas Bar at Jawalakhel. And could there be a better way to set the mood than drinking your favorite drink with food that complements it perfectly?
For drinks to give you a buzz and not get your body coordination out of whack, you need to be aware of how much drink your body can take. For that, you need to first understand your drinks. Different drinks have different alcohol percentage. Someone who can have five beers or five glasses of wine may not be able to drink even two pegs of whisky or brandy.
According to Manny, in the end, it all just comes down to mathematics. Know your drink before inviting people over this weekend and play the perfect host with your knowledge of liquor and how to serve them.
For a dinner party
Champagne
Champagne is a variety of wine that is why it is also known as sparkling wine. The wine has to be fermented in the bottle again and carbonated for the fizzy effect.
Champagne should be served cold, at about seven degree Celsius. Crystal flutes work best for champagnes as they are rougher than normal glasses and thus more bubbles form in your drink. You should never chill the champagne flute, or add ice to champagne. Chill the unopened bottle for 20 to 30 minutes in a bucket of ice, or if you don’t have that, 3 to 4 hours in the refrigerator works as well. You should keep in mind that champagne should never be placed in the freezer. “After you open the bottle, place it in ice until the whole bottle is finished,” says Manny. It is served at dinners as cocktails before food.
Red wine
The next thing to be served at a dinner is red wine. Red wine generally goes with red meat and therefore is served with the main course. Although most people think red wine should be served at room temperature, it should be served a little chilled. 15 degree Celsius is thought to be the best temperature to serve red wine. However, unlike the champagne, it doesn’t need to be placed in an ice bucket. Leave the bottle on the table to slowly warm so that the second glass has a slightly different flavor than the first. “If you are eating chocolate items for dessert, you should continue drinking red wine, as the two go together astoundingly well,” says Manny.
Detox drinks
Red wine is also supposed to be healthy for the heart, if it is consumed in moderation. A glass every few days could do your wonders for your heart health. “But make sure you don’t use it as an excuse and over drink it. There isn’t much use of a healthy heart if your kidney and liver are failing you,” he says.
White wine
Sweet white wine is generally served after dinner as everyone mingles after a good meal. However, if your main course consists of fish or seafood rather than meat, change your red wine with the white. The flavors in red wine overpower fish and it isn’t as fully appreciated. White one also goes better with white meat such as chicken and pork. Sweet wine goes very well with desserts as the fresh taste cuts through the heavy sticky flavors and leaves you feeling well fed and refreshed.
To hang out
Beer
Beer has a low alcoholic content and is ideal for when you are hanging out with friends for a long stretch of time. It creates a buzz that lets you enjoy the conversation and a couple of it won’t really harm your body at all. In fact, when consumed moderately, beer is thought to be beneficial for your kidney.
The best thing about beer however is that it goes well with almost anything you order off the menu. From pizza to chicken tikka, you can’t really go wrong with pairing food with beer. Beer also stimulates appetite making you appreciate your meal even more.
Punch
While making a punch, make sure that you don’t put equal parts of alcohol to juice or soda. A slightly lower level of alcohol makes the drink a lot less potent and it becomes a lot easier to carry on with through the night. The difficulty with this, however, is the pacing of the drink. When there is almost no taste of alcohol and it just tastes like a sweet flavored concoction, people tend to gulp it down and end up drink more than they wanted to. “The trick to avoid this is to serve the drink in small glasses so that even if they refill it a few times, they aren’t going to be having too much,” says Manny. Punches go well with fried food, barbecues and junk food like chips and onion rings.
While celebrating
Most people think champagnes are what you should be drinking to celebrate. However, with its low alcoholic content, it can be had whenever one pleases. The true celebratory drinks should be hard liquors. “Russians, although known for their habit of drinking vodka, never drink it without reason and we should learn from that,” says Manny. Hard liquor takes its toll on our body, the kidney and liver to be specific, and they should never be had on a regular basis.
Hard liquor goes really well with spicy food and pickled food. The briny taste of vinegar complements the sweet taste of bourbon and helps cut the burn caused by alcohol. Brandy, with its high level of alcohol and the imagery it gives of a posh elderly drinking it, actually pairs really well with chocolate brownies. Hard liquor should never be watered down, and are meant to be consumed neat, especially ones that have been aged. However, you should take care to not drink these liquors on an empty stomach, because not only will it make you drunk faster but it also harms the stomach lining.
A word of advice
Manny, in his years of bartending, has seen a lot of people intoxicated and unable to remember anything the next day. Although he made a living whipping up drinks, he would still like to advise people to drink responsibly and to remember that it comes with a price. “Drink a glass of water in between drinks and then drink more when you are done to flush alcohol out of your system as well as keep dehydration at bay,” he says adding that you should never drink so much that you black out, as that means something has snapped in your brain and that is never a good sign.
