“He knows the wine list better than anyone in the restaurant and is your ticket to a good selection. “If you have any questions on the wine list, ask the sommelier for advice,” Warren says. If you have sophisticated wine drinkers in your party, order the pricier beverages. If your guests normally drink wines under $10, then don’t break the bank by ordering expensive wines they probably won’t enjoy.

“If they love cabernet sauvignon, don’t get pinot noir for the table.”Īlso establish price points for the wines you are going to order. “If they only drink Barefoot moscato, you will need to find sweeter than normal wines to accommodate their ‘sweet’ palate,” she says. To get started, consider your dinner companions and the type of wines they normally drink. Someone should be the “director” of the table to order the wines for your dinner or gathering at a restaurant, and guide everyone in choosing the wines that best fit your group, Warren says. “But to make the wine ordering go smoothly, enlist the sommelier to make the wine decisions under your supervision.”

“It doesn’t matter if you look like a novice. Master sommelier Randa Warren says selecting wine at a fine-dining establishment needn’t make a novice get sweaty palms. Ordering wine like an expert is easier than you might think. But there are only 12,000 bottles available globally, so good hunting to you. Try Nikka Coffey Gin, which uses a variety of botanicals (including yuzu, sansho pepper, amanatsu and shequasar) for a tart nose and sweet after taste. Japanese gin Only making its way to American shores in mid-2017, Japanese gin has bowled over fanciers across the country. Lagers, made with fewer hops, less alcohol content and more clarity, have made a comeback. They are certainly popular, but perhaps a bit pigeonholed into being the drink du jour of the hipster crowd. Lagers over IPAs India pale ales are delicious with hints of different flavors, depending on the aromatic hops used to brew them. Simplicity Three-ingredient cocktails offer a refreshingly simple sip, and a return to such ineffable concoctions seems to be taking hold again. Besides, it’s cool to knock back a cold draught of sweet mead (while wearing breeches and a surcoat, of course). Mead Fermented honey has seen a resurgence thanks to the hit TV series Game of Thrones. Or sip a Violet Femme for a “glass of violet goodness.” Try the Black Widow, made with Kraken black-spiced rum, blackberry brandy, lemon juice, angostura bitters and NOIR’s own cherry-ginger bitters. She and proprietor George Adams have carefully crafted signature cocktails that strive to evoke NOIR’s atmosphere – inspired by cinema of the ’40s and ’50s with hard-boiled crime dramas, cynical attitudes and a touch of sexual impulse.

The edgy young woman – a master of combining flavors to titillate the senses in both cocktails and the seasonal cuisine NOIR is also known for – knows exactly where to go with drink suggestions once she knows your liquor of choice, whether it’s vodka, rum, bourbon or tequila. Order already in mind, cocktail craftswoman and chef Rachel Suitt will likely ask you, “What’s your spirit?” If you slide up to the bar at NOIR Bistro and Bar in Oklahoma City without a drink Rachel Suitt makes an art form of mixing cocktails at NOIR. Rachel Suitt at NOIR in OKC concocts mixtures that match the drinker’s preference of spirit.

Pour decisions bar