Local Food Journal: Drink Local

Let me drop the "Happy Homemaker" act for a minute so I can talk about the most important part of Thanksgiving dinner--the drinks.  Picture it:  A whole long weekend of hassle-filled travel, family oversharing, and bland traditional food.  I saw you shudder right there, just thinking about it.

You can't talk about Thanksgiving weekend without mentioning Drinking Day, a hallowed tradition in this corner of Massachusetts.  Since lots of people get out of work early on the day before Thanksgiving, you'll find local bars and Ye Olde Watering Holes fill up early on Wednesday as people seek to fortify themselves before they return to the old homestead for the long holiday haul.

So, as we all look to tie one gently on during the extended Thanksgiving weekend, remember to opt for locally made beer, wine, and cider.

As far as local beer goes, a recent entrant is Somerville Brewing, a brand-new nano-brewery offering what they call "Slumbrew" (a play on the fond old nickname for Somerville, "Slummerville").  Initial offerings include a hoppy IPA and a honey/orange hefeweizen (unfiltered wheat beer).  I found Slumbrew in Burlington but Somerville Brewing promises additional availability as time goes on.  Even closer is Beer Works in Lowell, an outpost of Boston Beer Works, which sells growlers (half-gallons) and 6-packs at their location near LeLacheur Park.  Beer Works also sells some of their offerings in our local liquor stores.  Or, since we're talking ultra-local here, I'll just say you can find Beer Works at the packy.  Also consider longtime local staples Wachusett Brewing (Westminster, MA), Smuttynose Brewing (Portsmouth, NH), as well as Boston's Harpoon and Sam Adams, although as those last two get bigger I can't vouch for how "local" they still are.

If wine is more your speed, look for Nashoba Valley Winery's red, white, dessert, and fruit wines; they're available at our local package stores and also at the winery's location in Bolton.  Also somewhat local is Turtle Creek Winery in Lincoln, which bottles many kinds of red and white wines, one of which is sure to complement your pre-, during-, or post-Thanksgiving revels. 

A different angle, but a vibrantly old American one, is hard cider.  Chelmsford and its surroundings used to be apple-orchard central, and local history tells us that there was a cider mill for nearly every orchard.  Although the cider mills are long gone, you can raise a glass to our past and bring to the holiday table a cider from Farnum Hill Cider in Lebanon, NH.  Although it's a bit of a drive to get up there, their dry and effervescent ciders are a nice way to drink local and oh-so-American at Thanksgiving.  

So let me be the first to wish you all a happy Drinking Day, gang.  Keep it local, keep it reasonable, and keep it off the roads, will ya?!