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Whether you are planning a small intimate dinner party with your closest friends or a large get-together, choosing the right drinks for your guests is key. The last thing that you want is to have drinks that no one can sip on during awkward conversations. You want something that everyone can enjoy, and that will pair well with the food you are serving. Here are some tips on how to choose the perfect drink for your next dinner party.
What Type of Dinner Party is it?
One of the first questions you will need to ask yourself is “what type of dinner party is it?”. The type of dinner party will heavily influence the available drinks. If you are having a rather formal dinner party, then perhaps it would be best to serve something like wine, whereas if it is a celebratory dinner party, then a nice bottle of bubbly is in order, with a few pre-dinner cocktails.
If you are just having a dinner party with friends, and it isn’t anything serious, you should be sure to offer a variety of drinks; something like a few hard liquor options, red and white wine, as well as a brand of beer or two. You will also need to consider whether the dinner party is inside or outside. If it is outside, you need to have somewhere cool to store the drinks; nobody likes a warm beer.
How Many People Will Be Coming?
The next big consideration to make would be how many people are coming to the dinner party; the more people that come to the party, the more drink options you need to make available. More importantly, some drinks are more expensive than others, and some drinks can serve more people than others. For example, hard liquor like vodka or liqueurs can be mixed or served with ice as shots, and these will go a long way.
You will also need to think about the guests themselves. If your guests are very health conscious and they don’t drink, you will need diet soda or fruit beverages. If they are slightly older, wines, whiskey, or cocktails are always popular choices.
Consider the Food You are Serving
Of all the considerations you will need to make, considering the food when choosing your drinks is probably the most important. This is because the drinks you are serving need to complement the food, it should not replace it or clash with it. If there is a clash between drinks and food, you should always consider changing the drinks first.
To make this easy, here is a brief but helpful list of food pairings you should try:
- Savory and salty: you should try to complement this food with soft drinks, such as fruit juices. You should also consider pairing these foods with wine, something like a medium-bodied red or full-bodied white.
- Oily: when it comes to oily foods, you need to pair these with soft drinks that have light bubbles, as well as beer that has a subtle caramel. Lastly, in terms of wine, a light-bodied white will work well, as well as champagne.
- Barbequed meats: the best choice for this food would be beer, since any sweet flavors will make the BBQ sauce taste better. Wine is also a good choice, more specifically red, as well as any cola.
- Creamy: rich foods are often complemented well with a light wine, as well as a light beer.
There are many guides online that can help you pair foods together, but most importantly, the drinks you serve should not clash with the foods.
Consider the Weather
Finally, the last consideration you will need to make is what the weather will be like on the day of the dinner party. If the weather is cold outside, the last thing that you want to do is serve chilled wine, since this will make your guests cold and uncomfortable.
Similarly, if you are having an outdoor barbeque-type dinner party, having hot chocolate or exotic coffees won’t leave your guests feeling refreshed. If the dinner party does go later into the night, a round of coffee before the guests leave is always a great touch.
