Wine advice so I don't look like a tool [Archive]

LondonBroil

10-10-2005, 05:18 PM

A few of my friends and I are going out to a hibachi place for dinner tomorrow night and it's BYOB. I wanted to bring along a bottle of wine to have with dinner but I don't know the first thing about wine.

I'm looking for a bottle in the $15-$20 range that would go well with hibachi (rice, chicken, shrimp, beef). I'd prefer a white wine because I'm not a fan of red but is white appropriate for the type of food?

MrWookie47

10-10-2005, 05:39 PM

The first rule of pairing wine with food is to always drink a wine you like. If you don't like red wine, don't drink it. If you want to have a cabernet with chicken, go right ahead. That said, people usually try to pair strongly flavored food with strongly flavored wine and delicate food with delicate wine so that neither dominate. Hibachi is food with strong flavor, so you'd probably want to think about a full bodied white wine. You can ask someone at the wine store about something meeting those criteria, but you could be just fine looking for a Chardonnay you enjoy. If you want to be a little more adventurous, you could try a Viognier, but a great one is someone more difficult to find in that price range.

samjjones

10-10-2005, 05:40 PM

First, I would suggest saki. Failing that, I would skip the wine, and suggest a Japanese beer, such as Kirin Ichiban.

peachy

10-10-2005, 05:48 PM

white would be ok with this

quick rule for some situations - white meat - white wine, red meat - red wine

by no means is this solid and there are some exceptions....bottom line always drink something u like...u dont have to be completely proper about it 24/7

nolanfan34

10-10-2005, 05:51 PM

I'd consider a Pinot Gris, or even a good dry Riesling. Those are usually good pairings with spicy/Asian foods, IMO.

miajag81

10-10-2005, 05:52 PM

[ QUOTE ]
First, I would suggest saki. Failing that, I would skip the wine, and suggest a Japanese beer, such as Kirin Ichiban.

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This is good advice.

10-10-2005, 06:07 PM

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First, I would suggest saki. Failing that, I would skip the wine, and suggest a Japanese beer, such as Kirin Ichiban.

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This is good advice.

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I agree with these 2. I'd also suggest you call ahead and make sure they'll be able to provide refrigeration for the beer. And if it's your saki, how will they warm it?

nyc999

10-10-2005, 06:09 PM

If everyone will be eating different meals, I would suggest either a Pinot Noir if you like red, Reisling if you prefer white. These are versatile wines.

Heavier wines like Chardonnay or Cabernet may not only overpower the dishes, they may actually clash and cause a less positive dining experience.

Ulysses

10-10-2005, 06:10 PM

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And if it's your saki, how will they warm it?

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Yuck.

Ulysses

10-10-2005, 06:12 PM

[ QUOTE ]
First, I would suggest saki. Failing that, I would skip the wine, and suggest a Japanese beer, such as Kirin Ichiban.

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Excellent advice. I would skip sake for now, it's too easy to get a bottle you won't like. Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi, etc. are all great ideas.

LondonBroil

10-10-2005, 06:22 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
First, I would suggest saki. Failing that, I would skip the wine, and suggest a Japanese beer, such as Kirin Ichiban.

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Excellent advice. I would skip sake for now, it's too easy to get a bottle you won't like. Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi, etc. are all great ideas.

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Where would I go about buying Japanese beer, a liquor store or a beer distributor?

miajag81

10-10-2005, 06:28 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
First, I would suggest saki. Failing that, I would skip the wine, and suggest a Japanese beer, such as Kirin Ichiban.

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Excellent advice. I would skip sake for now, it's too easy to get a bottle you won't like. Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi, etc. are all great ideas.

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Where would I go about buying Japanese beer, a liquor store or a beer distributor?

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Any decent beer/wine/liquor store should have the ones Diablo mentioned. I would go for Sapporo or Asahi; Kirin is pretty bad compared to the other two.

MrTrik

10-10-2005, 06:42 PM

Sapporo is my favorite from Japan. Yup, going to have to get some of that soon, it's been a while.

ethan

10-10-2005, 07:01 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Excellent advice. I would skip sake for now, it's too easy to get a bottle you won't like. Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi, etc. are all great ideas.

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Sapporo makes a great beer called Sapporo Black Stout Draft, but about 4-5 years ago I stopped seeing it in liquor stores. From what I understand it's still available in the US, just not near me. The name's somewhat misleading - it's more of a deep reddish-orange color and generally not what you'd think of as a stout. It's more of a dark lager - smooth, slightly sweet, but with a nice bitterness as well.

I think it's the best beer they make, but the standard Sapporo lager is good too. I might go with the Sapporo Reserve if you can find it.

Beer is definitely the right way to go with this meal.

Boris

10-10-2005, 07:19 PM

Why would you ever suggest beer with a meal instead of wine?

limon

10-10-2005, 07:22 PM

Boris

10-10-2005, 07:23 PM

well call me crazy but I have to disagree with everyone telling you to go with beer instead of wine with your food. IMO, beer simply doesn't go well food. before food, yes. After food, yes. But not with the meal. Go the store and spend $20 bucks on a bottle of wine, any wine, and you will likely get something that is potable, and better than beer with your food.

ethan

10-10-2005, 07:24 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Why would you ever suggest beer with a meal instead of wine?

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Is this a Diablo-specific question? Or is the implication that wine's always a better option than beer with food?

If it's the latter, I disagree.

edit - I guess it's the latter. There are meals where I'd definitely want wine, meals where I'd definitely want beer, and some where I'd be happy either way.

STLantny

10-10-2005, 07:24 PM

[ QUOTE ]
well call me crazy but I have to disagree with everyone telling you to go with beer instead of wine with your food. IMO, beer simply doesn't go well food. before food, yes. After food, yes. But not with the meal. Go the store and spend $20 bucks on a bottle of wine, any wine, and you will likely get something that is potable, and better than beer with your food.

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Im the opposite, I like wine by itself, and love a good beer with a meal.

Boris

10-10-2005, 07:28 PM

Wine is always better with food than beer.

STLantny

10-10-2005, 07:28 PM

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Wine is always better with food than beer.

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No, its not.

Ulysses

10-10-2005, 07:29 PM

Boris

10-10-2005, 07:30 PM

well you're in the minority, which is OK. except that you shouldn't give advice in a what wine goes with dinner thread.

miajag81

10-10-2005, 07:35 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Wine is always better with food than beer.

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So you'd rather be drinking a glass of merlot or something at a BBQ than a cold beer?

Boris

10-10-2005, 07:36 PM

When I'm eating, yes.

miajag81

10-10-2005, 07:39 PM

I'd say you're definitely in the minority in that respect.

bravos1

10-10-2005, 07:41 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Wine is always better with food than beer.

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Yeah, 'cuz wine goes w/ Chili Dogs MUCH better than an ice cold beer! /images/graemlins/confused.gif

STLantny

10-10-2005, 07:42 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Wine is always better with food than beer.

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Yeah, 'cuz wine goes w/ Chili Dogs MUCH better than an ice cold beer! /images/graemlins/confused.gif

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Maybe in san fran, or the village they do.

Boris

10-10-2005, 07:44 PM

Chili dogs don't count as food.

anyways, we're not talking about the entire universe of food. We're talking about going out to a meal with friends. Of course you could be a nit and find one particular "food" that might taste better with beer. But it won't be anything you'd serve to dinner guests.

ethan

10-10-2005, 07:45 PM

[ QUOTE ]
well you're in the minority, which is OK. except that you shouldn't give advice in a what wine goes with dinner thread.

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If you're going to insist that a randomly-chosen $20 bottle of wine will better accompany any meal than any bottle of beer, I think you're in a minority as well.

I think Japanese or Korean BBQ is actually a pretty good example of a meal that'd be best with beer.

Boris

10-10-2005, 07:57 PM

I'm gonna stand by my statement. And I think if you took a random sampling of people, most would agree with me if you did a taste test. And I'm a beer lover. I love beer and only like wine. But honestly, there are no really good beers that go well with food. All of the food beers are very mild tasting light beers. I mean if you're going to suggest Kirin to go with the meal, you might as well suggest Coors Light. It will do just as well as a complement to the food. And before you go off on me about the Coors Light suggestion, think reasonably about how it tastes. Coors light is not a bad tasting beer. It is simply a beer without very much taste.

Ulysses

10-10-2005, 08:01 PM

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But honestly, there are no really good beers that go well with food. All of the food beers are very mild tasting light beers.

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How about one of these beers (http://www.suppenkuche.com/beer.html) with one of these meals? (http://www.suppenkuche.com/dinner.html)

Boris

10-10-2005, 08:12 PM

That's what I'm sayin bro. Take Pilsner Urquell. One of my favorite beers. I'd rather drink it alone and I'd rather drink water with my spatzle. Maybe I'm going against CW here but I think I'm making the world a better place by upsetting the apple cart.

BTW - if you ever get down here, there is a German joint across the street from my office. It is entirely unremarkable except for the sweet looking owner and the spatzle. They also have Fernet if it comes to that.

toddw8

10-10-2005, 08:12 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Of course you could be a nit and find one particular "food" that might taste better with beer. But it won't be anything you'd serve to dinner guests.

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Bullshit. You may like wine better with your food, but don't try to pass it off as a fact that wine compliments food better. Beer represents a much larger range of flavors than wine and can be just as complex. Also, beer doesn't overpower the flavors of food like wine can.

If you are interested in learning more about beer complimenting food read this. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006000570X/qid=1128988523/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1583820-8171929?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) Garrett Oliver knows his stuff.

And for the OP, this would be my suggestion:
http://beer.istephen.com/images/262_bottle.jpg

By it may be pretty hard to come by depending on where you live.

ethan

10-10-2005, 08:32 PM

That site doesn't allow remote linking to its images.
http://img428.imageshack.us/img428/2401/262bottle7ul.jpg

It's very good. $12-15 may be a more than OP is willing to spend on a beer, though.

edit - link (http://beer.istephen.com/beer.php?number=262) to that site's review of this beer.

MrMon

10-10-2005, 09:01 PM

Wine and Indian food do not mix. Same for much of Mexican cuisine, stuff above Taco Bell level. In general, heavy spices and wine just don't mix. Beer works much better in those cases.

Talk to any knowledgable chef and they'll tell you what does and doesn't work. It's all about complimentary flavors.

Cancer Merchant

10-10-2005, 09:19 PM

If all else fails, bring a bottle of decent plum wine for an after dinner drink.

10-10-2005, 09:33 PM

I strongly suggest "Hawai'ian Punch" WARM.

Like Chevy Chase said in "Nothing But Trouble", there is nothing better after a long day on the road than some nice, warm, hawai'ian punch.

PhatTBoll

10-10-2005, 09:40 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Beer represents a much larger range of flavors than wine

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I /images/graemlins/heart.gif beer, but this makes me think you have little experience with wine. Also, your link doesn't work.

To the OP: I tend to go with beer at these places. But you will likely have good results with one of these: Gewurztraminer (preferably from Alsace), sparkling wine like Champagne or Asti (to complement the spice), or New Zealand sauvignon blanc (just cause it rules).

STLantny

10-10-2005, 09:42 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I strongly suggest "Hawai'ian Punch" WARM.

Like Chevy Chase said in "Nothing But Trouble", there is nothing better after a long day on the road than some nice, warm, hawai'ian punch.

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, one of my favorite movies of all time, I havent seen this in forever.

tonypaladino

10-10-2005, 09:43 PM

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And if it's your saki, how will they warm it?

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Yuck.

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There are lots of sakes that are served cold as well.

Ulysses

10-10-2005, 11:27 PM

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[ QUOTE ]
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And if it's your saki, how will they warm it?

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Yuck.

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There are lots of sakes that are served cold as well.

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That was my point. Good cold sake = delicious. Hot sake = yuck.

tonypaladino

10-10-2005, 11:31 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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And if it's your saki, how will they warm it?

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Yuck.

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There are lots of sakes that are served cold as well.

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That was my point. Good cold sake = delicious. Hot sake = yuck.

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I like Hot Sake too. Theres a resurant in union square that has outdoor tables, and there's nothing beter than sitting there drinking hot sake when its like 50 degrees out.