Maybe there’s yet another Thanksgiving tradition that this non-US Doper hasn’t heard of, but what do you serve with the big meal? My family eats turkey for Christmas - so far my offers to cook goose have fallen on deaf ears - and I’m always the one to decide what to drink. Here in Australia Christmas dinner can be in 40C heat, but I don’t know what - if any - effect that has on the choice for the banquet’s beverage choice. I tend to go for a sparkling red - a fizzy malbec or shiraz. What do you folks drink with your meal? Turkey confuses me, I never know whether to go for a sharp Italian-style white like pinot grigio, a pinot noir style or the (Australian) traditional sparkling dry red.
I drink whatever the host has provided, being a good guest (unless it’s Everclear or something horrid like that).
Personal preferences, merlot, chardonnay or Pepsi. All depends on how the turkey is prepared, I guess.
Most years- traditional oven-roasted
Last year - turkey with roasted garlic & honey barbeque sauce, cooked on the outdoor grill. (Yum!)
Goose! Hey. Suggest it again. I made it for Christmas last year and it was great (and would probably call for a burgundy I think.)
But turkey- personally I would go for a crisp dry white. Particularly to offset the bland carbohydrates you tend to eat at Thanksgiving- sweet potatoes etc.
But my family tends toward beer or whatever is toated in in a jug, no matter what I cook, so what do I know?
A good rose’ wine. For the kids and those who would prefer not to drink, I make up a simple punch of half orange juice and half of either Sprite or sparkling water, depending. (The kids tend to like the Sprite - it’s sweeter after all.)
Usually cheap champagne (the only kind we ever drink). Sometimes red wine.
Sometimes soda-Pepsi usually
We have the family over-we have the biggest house- Recently our “Guests” have started bringing liquor. Probably because they are mostly of age now.I think that I will drink whatever they bring.This year the head count is up to 25.
In the past I’ve served hard cider. It went over really well, even with the non-cider drinkers.
Dry Blackthorn is pretty good, but if you can find a cider from Normandy grab it! Don’t bother with the sweet ciders like Woodpecker or Ace.
Lighter Belgian ales are good with turkey too.
It is a daring choice, but my selection is usually water.
I strongly dislike alcohol with food. And I dislike wine, period.
A light, unassuming red…probably a Sonoma County Pinot Noir this year. Most everybody we’re having over prefers red wine.
We’ve done burly, self-absorbed-bordering-on-the-obnoxious white wines in the past, though.
Cider’s not a bad idea, though. That’s even more “Yankee” than a California wine.
I drink Budweiser. I have Thanksgiving dinner with a certain group of family and friends every year, and regardless of whose home I’m at, they always buy me Budweiser, which is known to all as my favorite cheap and widely available beer. Luckily, nobody finds it unusual to drink beer at Thanksgiving. In fact, most of the other men also drink it.
The question of what wine to have at Thanksgiving is actually sort of a low-grade classic poser. Turkey, being poultry, usually calls for a white, but there’s the white-meat-dark-meat conundrum, and some people also serve ham or roast beef or other meats. Plus maybe you get asparagus, or beets, or other heavy vegetables, so red could be good also. Half the meal goes with one kind, half with another. A dark, spicy wine like Shiraz (called Syrah outside Australia) will overwhelm the mashed potatoes, whereas a chardonnay will get lost amid the cranberries. What to do?
Champagne is an excellent idea, if you can find one that’s nice and smooth, without the “bite” of a cheap one. Stay away from Freixenet, for example; it’s okay if you’re serving fifty people a glass apiece at New Year’s, but it gets icky if you have more than one glass during a meal. My favorite affordable with-a-meal champagne is Veuve Cliquot, which runs about fifty bucks a bottle. If that’s too much for you, stick with a Domaine Chandon. Look for a Blanc de Noirs if you want the hint of blush.
The “traditional” solution is to go with a Beaujolais Nouveau. It’s a Nouveau because it arrives in stores literally weeks after the grapes are picked, instead of fermenting and aging for months or years. Most BVs are decent (go with a LeBoeuf if you’re uncertain), but they’re hardly subtle. Very grape-y, lots of fruit, not very sweet: in general, a nice, simple, middle-of-the-road red that helps the meal but that isn’t good for much of anything all by itself. Note, they don’t age well at all, so if you buy one, drink it within the first couple of months, or you’ll end up with a bottle of vinegar.
The rosé might be a good idea, as it compromises the flavors of white and red. Trouble is, finding a really good rosé is pretty tough. The most common blush in the U.S., White Zinfandel, is basically Kool-Aid, and is too sweet for a sustained meal.
They are out there, though. My preferred Thanksgiving meal from the last couple of years is, in fact, a blush. V Sattui, at the north end of Napa Valley, makes a truly excellent Gamay Rouge. (Wine geek trivia: Gamay is the grape Beaujolais is made from, but Napa Gamay isn’t actually true French Gamay.) The Gamay Rouge has just enough complexity to be fun, just enough fruit that the inexperienced drinker can enjoy it, and a very smooth, light red-wine taste. You can’t get V Sattui anywhere but directly from the winery; check out their website if you’re interested.
Not that my opinion counts for much but I’ve always liked white wine or cider at Thanksgiving.
Kitty
Jeeze Don’t you love wine drinkers 
just enough complexity to be fun, just enough fruit that the inexperienced drinker can enjoy it,
I have gone to my Aunts house for Thanksgiving dinner for as long as I can remember and without fail we always have the little green bottles of Coca Cola just like she used to have as a little girl.
When she was a little girl her father used to serve the little bottle of cokes as a special treat and I guess she still see’s the little bottles that way. We do not have them at any other time of the year, just on holidays. I think the coke even tastes a little better. 
I’ve got a nice bottle of Biltmore House Chenin Blanc all cooled down in the fridge. Thinking of taking it over to my friend’s for Thanksgiving, but wondering if it’ll be too sweet? I don’t know much about wines but I tasted that one before buying and it’s incredibly sweet. Oh well, I don’t think anyone will care that much!
I could never get my turkey to drink with me.
I know it’s stupid, but someone was gonna say it, and I wanted to be first.
As a transplant from the south, I go for iced tea.
Somebody always brings wine, but the tea drinkers in my family predominate.
Gotta second Cervaise’s rec for blanc de noir champagne (sparkling wine). Korbel has a reasonably priced decent one, about $15, less on sale.
Beaujolais Nouveau is a tradition around my house, as it’s
1)cheap, or relatively so
2) light and fruity enough to complement enough of the meal, and still has enough acidity to cut across the fat
and
3) usually delivered among much hoopla the third thursday of November. T-Day being the fourth Thursday, this seems like a no-brainer.
Gewurztraminer is also an excellent choice, as it’ll go with pretty much anything, even ham.
I haven’t been able to find sparkling reds other than Lambrusco anywhere, so I made my own sparkling Shiraz this year, and it seems more than adequate,especially as my per-bottle cost is something like $2.50.
Gotta love homebrewing.
Screw that wine stuff. Dr Pepper, Egg Nog, or Mt. Dew.
–Tim