Breakfast beer, and something special with Caffè Lena
2 weeks until Thanksgiving, 2 things to get you in the mood for it.
Breakfast beer and pre-turkey pairings
Hosting Thanksgiving this year? Saratoga has everything you need for the perfect “I’m the one in charge here” pre-game.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — Thanksgiving is an eating and drinking marathon — there’s no time for amateur mistakes. Here are the top (local!) adult beverages to pamper your palate, from breakfast beer and anti-frazzle bubbles, to what to pair with those pre-feast nibbles.
Pace yourself
It’s around 10 a.m. and you’ve ticked off multiple items on your to-do list. You deserve to crack into one of Whitman Brewing Company’s freshest American Amber Lager, dubbed Big Iron, which hit the streets on Nov. 6. According to director of sales Sam VanDemark, it pairs well with the spirit of Thanksgiving, pouring out golden copper with a balance of malt and hops. (Pairs perfectly with a little nibble of pie crust no one will miss.)
When you’ve accomplished a few more tasks and given yourself time to properly digest your Big Iron, August Rosa — Pint Sized proprietor — recommends a Märzen beer from Common Roots Brewing Company. Fritzi is named for Elfriede “Fritzi” Weber (1918-2012), matriarch of Common Roots’ founders, Bert and Christian. It’s perfect for putting out the fires (real, imagined and metaphorical) that are cropping up on the homefront from the kitchen to the game room.
Refreshing, caramel-kissed, with just enough bite, it also happens to sip beautifully with handfuls of salted nuts and popcorn you’re fueling with as you finish filling that pie you just baked.
Welcoming guests + official kickoff
As guests arrive, the best way to get the party started and to toast to your (thus far, thankless) effort is with Dr. Konstantin Frank’s 2021 Brut, which part-time Saratoga Springs resident and Dr. Konstantin Frank’s sparkling wine vintner Barbara Frank says she keeps on hand to welcome guests. Think refreshing and bright, with notes of green apples, and the toasty complexity that comes from that second fermentation in the bottle.
Is it snack time yet?
You’re in charge, so the answer is yes.
A wine that pairs perfectly with convivial chats over typical Thanksgiving pre-feast snacks (cheese, charcuterie, cocktail wieners, all things phyllo) is an off-dry Gewürztraminer, an aromatic white, with notes of roses, lychees, and tropical fruit.
Mike Corey, maestro at American Wine Society Saratoga, always pops a bottle of Gewürztraminer at Thanksgiving’s kickoff. This grape rose to prominence in Alsace, France, but New York’s talented winemakers are creating delicious quaffs with it that belong at every feast.
Everyone sit down already!
The meal is cooked, the table is set, and it’s time to begin. Riesling, a classic wine that could take you from appetizer through entree to dessert, thrives in New York.
Keuka Spring Vineyards, which is also located in the Finger Lakes, with 800 acres under vine on Keuka and Seneca lakes, also has a freshly expanded footprint in Saratoga Springs. (When we chatted they were days away from opening…at 15 Spring Street across from the park.)
Of the 30+ Keuka Spring Vineyards makes, Autumn Mannning — Keuka’s EastNY regional manager — says she is most fond of the classic Riesling for Thanksgiving.
“It’s perfect with cheese, cranberry sauce, turkey, stuffing,” she says. “Pretty much everything you’ll have on the table.”
Stay tuned for our next installation, which will take you from the meal through the dessert course.
Check out Kathleen Willcox’s next-level wine, food and travel Substack, Good + Tasty!
IN PICTURES
Congrats to downtown’s Indulgence Bakery, which recently celebrated its new ownership at a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. Dig into more details at bitesofindulgence.com.
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‘Giving thanks’ vibes Sat. with Caffè Lena
TrueSongs shines a light on six local nonprofits through a special evening of personal story-telling and song.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — What could possibly put you in the spirit of giving thanks faster than shining a light on six local nonprofits during one very special evening with Caffè Lena?
Enter “TrueSongs 2025; Stories of Courage, Resilience & Community,” Saturday night’s spotlight on six people whose lives were changed by a Capital Region organization that prioritizes creating a healthy community. Its spirit really struck a chord — since doing this interview, the show outgrew Caffè Lena and was moved to UPH!
“We want to show that this good work and this caring and this love — this urge to have a healthy world — exists all around us,” says Caffè Lena’s executive director, Sarah Craig. “It’s not just fractious debates, wars and hunger — this kind of caring that’s a basic human instinct keeps on keeping on no matter what happens out there in the world.”
Each person will not only take the stage to tell their own story (during a spoken word performance perfected by professionals), but will also take in their story being told in song. Performers include Crys Matthews, Emily Barnes, Sirsy, Rachel Sumner, Reese Fulmer, and Dan Berggren.
“Each person goes up and tells their first person story about their journey, a real arc of crisis and things being resolved as a result of the support through this nonprofit,” Craig says. “And then that speaker is also working with one of our professional songwriters to get the emotional experience of it and draw out those little details that make you feel what the person went through.”
Grab your ticket for the 7 p.m. show on Saturday Nov. 15 — now moved to UPH — at caffelena.org.
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