The first pour of wine or spirits on Turkey Day sets the tone. Ideally, your pre-meal Thanksgiving drinks are some combination of delicious, versatile, and fun. Maybe it’s a glass of bubbles you hand to guests when they walk through the door. Maybe it’s something you can serve in that beautiful punch bowl you’ve been dying to polish up, like the great recipe below from our whiskey editor Susannah Skiver Barton. It may be something to mollify your hangry family while they watch the game or the parade and snack on a cheese board. Or it’s a moment of zen you savor in the kitchen alone, long before anyone arrives. (As far as I’m concerned, Thanksgiving is like the airport past security: a judgment-free zone where it’s perfectly acceptable to start drinking at 8 a.m.) 

The libations below are all gastronomic and tasty on their own. They’re all light-bodied, not too boozy, and pop-and-pour. The punch can be made ahead, to give you one less thing to sort while you stress over timers and oven space.

Thanksgiving Drinks For Before the Meal

Aaron Burr Cidery Sullivan County Homestead Cider ($24, 500ml)

Made from wild apples that this venerable cidery—which played a major role in putting serious cider back on the map in the U.S.—forages across New York’s Sullivan County. Salty, refreshing, energetic, and palate-cleansing, with a nice subtle bite of tannin at the end. Great with cheese and charcuterie and whatever else you and your guests will nosh on before the big meal. Low-alcohol, so you can pace yourself for a marathon day of eating and drinking. - Jon Fine

2023 Ruth Lewandowski Cuvee Zero Rosé ($27)

If you want to skip right past the sparkling and white wine options, this rosé will give you a noseful of Thanksgiving fruit and spice. Winemaker Evan Lewandowski crafts this cuvée from Portuguese varieties grown at some elevation—including Touriga Nacional, Souzão, and Tinta Roriz—mostly from Fox Hill Vineyard in Mendocino County, with a bit of Sauvignon Blanc for some lift. Ripe red cherry, rhubarb, raspberry, white pepper. It’s juicy, with some nice grip from tannic varieties. Pairs well with those bites of turkey you keep sneaking in the kitchen when no one’s watching. - Sarah Parker Jang

2022 Arnot-Roberts North Coast Trousseau ($44)

This Cali red is light and bright, enjoyable to sip on its own but a pleasure with food as well: a nice “transitional wine” that will take you seamlessly from hors d'oeuvres to the main affair. A blend of grapes from three different vineyards in the North Coast, made with mostly whole-cluster fermentation, and aged in neutral barrels. It's pale, even a little orange in the glass. Herbal and earthy, with sweet spices and ripe red fruit. - SPJ

2022 Julien Renard Mosel Riesling ($45)

No one is going to get bored or impatient while drinking this wine. From grapes grown on steep terraces in the Terrassen-Mosel, aged on the lees for 10 months in barrel and five months in stainless steel tanks before its bottled unfiltered. Dry, with laser-beam acidity. There’s a pleasing phenolic grip on the palate, with mouthwatering salinity, and notes of stone and smoke, almond, ripe apples, roasting herbs, apricot, and peach. There’s a lot of layers here, and all of them are a joy to sift through while waiting for the meal to come together. - SPJ

2022 Domaine du Gringet Aubeterre Roussette de Savoie ($68)

This bottle suits the choose-your-own-adventure mode of the hours before the big meal: you can save room for all the fixings and sip on something that stands on its own, or whet your appetite with small bites and a food-friendly, refreshing white wine. This is the first vintage from this estate since Vincent Ruiz took over the vineyards and winemaking after the passing of Dominique Belluard in 2021. It’s the only Altesse wine made at the property, from vines planted by Belluard in the 1990s. Aged on the lees for nine months in concrete eggs, then unfined and unfiltered before aging in bottle for another 10, this wine is all about texture and sapidity, with notes of ripe stone fruit, white mountain flowers, and crushed rocks. - SPJ

2020 Domaine du Pélican Cuvée S Brut Nature ($75)

This is a unique sparkler that’s a knock-out when served alongside a cheese board. It’s dry and easy-drinking, yet complex: baked apples, almond paste, a hint of honey, white peach, and Jurassien salinity. With a bit of air, it comes alive. Made from 100 percent Savagnin from Domaine Marquis d’Angerville’s outpost in the Jura, with no dosage and no added yeasts. Include some Comté cheese in your pre-game spread—it’s the other star agricultural product from this region, and pairs perfectly with Savagnin. - SPJ

NV Champagne Minière F&R Brut Zéro ($85)

This Champagne will strike a cheerful mood, making it perfect for the first toast of the day. Brothers Frédéric and Rodolphe Minière have been making wines from their family’s old vineyard plots northwest of Reims since 2007. Frédéric apprenticed with Anselme Selosse in the 1990s and gained an appreciation for barrel-aged Champagnes: the brothers’ wines spend several years in oak. This cuvée is fresh, with the majority of the blend coming from the base vintage. It’s rich, despite zero dosage, with notes of golden apple, lemon peel, Bosc pear, jasmine, and ginger, with bright acidity and a fine bead from seven years aging on the lees. - SPJ

Basic and Bubbly Bourbon Punch

Pre-meal time is cocktail hour. And on a day when your hands are full (literally) preparing food, you need a cocktail that takes little effort to prepare—and zero to serve. 

Enter punch. It's a make-ahead, for-a-crowd, one-size-fits-all solution and it's infinitely customizable. There are four components to include and a handy rhyme to help you with the proportions: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak.

So that's one part sour—citrus, like lemon or lime juice. Two parts sweet—usually sugar, but could also be honey, agave, or maple syrup. Three parts strong—that's your booze. And four parts weak—club soda, tea, fresh apple cider, or less boozy booze, like sparkling wine. You don't have to adhere to this ratio religiously, but it's a good place to start.

Punch is a canvas for your imagination and personal tastes, and, above all, a great way to use up half-full bottles of random spirits in your liquor cabinet (and that cheap Prosecco someone brought to your last party). Below is a basic recipe you can tweak. Swap in a different spirit, or split the base. Use a combination of grapefruit and lime, or lemon and orange. Just remember to chill it all ahead of time, and fill your punch bowl with plenty of ice when serving.

• 3 lemons and 1 grapefruit, peels and juice separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 liter strong black tea
• 1 bottle of bourbon
• 1 cup sparkling wine or club soda
• Lemon wheels, mint leaves

Muddle citrus peels and sugar in the bottom of a pitcher or punch bowl and let sit a few hours or even overnight. Add tea and bourbon and stir to combine. Just before serving, add sparkling wine or club soda and garnish with lemon wheels and mint leaves. - Susannah Skiver Barton