Kansas City Food Blog

​Anybody can bring a bottle of wine to a Thanksgiving dinner. It is an easy way to say thank you to the host without having to get anywhere near the oven. However, if you want to be a better guest and make sure there's something to talk about when the conversation inevitably hits a lull, consider bringing the ingredients for a holiday cocktail. One note of advice: Give the host a heads up that you're bringing a mobile bar.

You wouldn't think you could pair fruit sodas and spirits, but if you spend a bit more and think ahead, you can do a lot better than Sunkist and vodka. Consider the Grape & Grain -- Rye combined with grape soda, which apparently mimics the flavor of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on rye bread. Umamimart has an extensive list of artisanal sodas to pair with the bottles in your liquor cabinet.
 
If you're looking to take advantage of what you already own, the Wichita Eagle looks at the various concoctions that can come out of a well-stocked home bar. The Cranberry Honey Punch (green tea, cranberry juice cocktail, tequila, honey and cranberries) sounds like a Thanksgiving take on a margarita. Holidays are always more festive with tequila.

If you can't stop thinking about cranberries, a sloe gin cocktail is the right choice. Sloe gin is a deep-red liqueur, made by steeping sloe berries in gin. The end result is a refreshingly sweet cocktail that would go best with dessert. Consider this a lighter alternative to port or dessert wines. 

If you still think you want to bring a bottle of wine, swap in a bottle of mead -- the honey wine can go great with ham or turkey, and a decent bottle is about what you would spend on a standard red or white.

[Image via Flickr: wstryder]