During the Christmas season, the after-dinner beverage has two purposes: to ease digestion and to keep you lingering, enabling you to end one conversation and start another with the tip of a bottle.
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After-Dinner Drinks You’ll Want to Linger Over
Like an aperitif, a digestif provides a bittersweet conclusion to the meal. The after-dinner beverage, which is popular throughout Europe, is flexible in terms of its definition and application. One may continue to drink on it after lunch.
Claire Sprouse, a consultant and co-owner of Buddy wine bar, adds, “It’s an opportunity to refresh you after a meal.” Recently, Sprouse launched Buddy in San Francisco.
She considers the post-dinner beverage to be the purview of a medium-ABV cocktail. Even if it’s a pleasant stroll, you should have a drink with a little kick to get you going if you intend to walk home.
There are numerous choices. A well-known and great option is an amaro with a bitter undertone that is loaded with healing herbs. There is nothing better than a crisp shot of Brandy, Cognac, or Calvados when it comes to the classics.
Sherry, Madeira, vermouth, and port are some of Ms. Sprouse’s favourite fortified wines when she wants a little acidity. Herbal liqueurs like Chartreuse, Bénédictine, or even Underberg might be the cure for an upset stomach.
The list goes on forever from there. Despite the fact that aperitifs and digestifs have been around for more than a century, Ms. Sprouse asserts that contemporary after-dinner beverages aren’t need to adhere to any particular paradigm. We don’t need to act as though it is the 1800s because it isn’t.
According to Ms. Sprouse, an aperitif may also be provided following a meal. Although most people start their meals with something like Champagne, I think Champagne is a nice way to end a meal as well.
Add some soda water or dry tonic for some extra zing. One of Ms. Sprouse’s favourite drinks is calvados or pommeau with tonic.
Last Words
The Nuitcap blends Cognac and vermouth with a dash of soda water just before serving to give it a last fizz. If you’re having a mixed-drinks party, whip up a last batch of Bijou cocktails and offer them in half-size, sipping servings.
Another way to participate in the fun is to lay out many bottles of wine and glasses of ice on the freshly cleared table, then take turns passing the drinks around and pouring them. A nightcap’s psychological effects are equally as significant as its physiological effects.
We’ve all spent so much time away, Ms. Sprouse pointed out, “that I think once you get in the room with others you’re seeking to lengthen that experience.”
