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maybe it is less about the flavor, and more about the feel... but I cook a lot of mexican / southwestern inspired food - so naturally i often turn to a nice homemade margarita with dinner...

that said, beer and wine are more likely WITH the meal, the margarita is more of a help while preparing the meal...

My sweetie is fairly obsessed with his homebrewed Kombucha, so sometimes he drinks that with dinner. In the summer, it's sun tea for both of us (when it's not beer).

I pretty much never drink alcohol - not because I have some bias against it, I just don't like most of it! The only ones I do like are froofy mixed drinks that don't taste like booze.

Consequently, beer or wine is never on our menu. My first choice would be soda, but I can't have many of those per day (too many calories), so usually end up with either water or my latest favorite drink is Fuze Slenderize. My boyfriend always drinks soda.

I'm not a picky eater, but I guess I AM a picky drinker. I only like a few things, so it keeps it simple! Soda, Fuze or water.

One glass of wine with dinner surely shouldn't make it difficult to get up the next morning! Or affect your exercise routine. I can drink a whole ton more than that with no ill effects the next day. Unless you have serious impluse control problems and can't stop whilst there's still wine left in the bottle, I say enjoy that glass of wine.

Sox,
Alcohol tolerance is *hugely* individual. One glass of wine will make me fuzzy headed, tired, and headachy, and it will definitely make me sluggish the next morning. Clearly, your alcohol tolerance is greater than some other people's.

I'm generally a water-with-meals person.

Homemade iced tea, not too cold.

A recent non-alcoholic drink I have been making -- fill a pitcher with about a cup of boiling water, add a few squirts of light agave and a handful of fresh rosemary. I let it sit for about an hour and then squeeze 3 lemons into the mix (toss in rinds), fill with water and ice and give it a good stir. It's refreshing, not too sweet, and perfect for warmer weather.

We make our own carbonated water at home, so if it isn't wine, it is carbonated tap water. If we are having Mexican food, then it's usually a cold brew.

Tea, juice or seltzer.

bkg0712 - we do something like that with basil and lemon! Just tear some basil and slice a whole lemon and add both to a pitcher of water. Really delicious!

I'll have to try it with the rosemary...sounds wonderful!

usually its tea or water.. mm sweet tea.

I was surprised tea was not an option -- maybe it's the latent Texan in me. We either have seltzer (not fancy) or iced tea, unsweetened.

We got a Soda Club machine about a year ago and I looove it. Its helped me kick the wine with dinner habit that I had gotten into. Sometimes I spruce it up with lemon or herbs and other times I just drink it straight...

wow, do people always drink the same thing with dinner every night? now i'm wondering if it's weird that our choice of beverage totally depends on the day, our mood, and our meal. sometimes it's wine. sometimes it's beer. sometimes it's tap water from the brita pitcher, with or without a lemon wedge. sometimes it's milk. and, finally, sometimes it's soda.

here's to variety, i guess!

@bkg0712 and @laetitiae i love the herbed H20 suggestions! definitely going to try those. (i also recommend water with a fresh cucumber slice or two.)

Yeah, I don't drink alcohol, but I definitely don't drink the same thing every day/night. Flavored waters, juice, milk, tea, ginger ale, soda (usually if out to dinner, rarely at home), sometimes coffee and other stuff. Mostly depends what we have around and what I'm eating. Recently I've fallen in love with Izze, especially the clementine flavor.

Also tasty is something simple, like a strawberry ginger ale or a juice and tonic water mix.

I second the soda club!

Water from a water cooler because the soft water in our tap is nasty and no one wants to purchase a filter.

I rarely order wine with dinner. I don't like to complicate the tastes in my mouth with flavoured beverages. I've been like that for YEARS.

WON
http://whatsonmyplate.wordpress.com

I've been either pregnant or breastfeeding for several years now, so have well and truly converted back to plain tap water with ice.

Usually unsweetened iced tea.

I love tap water. I have no problem drinking it all day.

juice

tap water. ours tastes a little funny though so we have a filter jug.

if not tab water then beer or a sugar free carbonated flavoured (lemon, lime, grapefruit) mineral water, at least until my stockpile runs out as my supermarket stopped stocking it.

We drink filtered tap water most of the time now, but for most traditional meals it is sweet tea. I was also surprised it was not an option. As a child, that is what we had every night with supper and what I still think is necessary when I am trying to be a good hostess.

Neither my husband nor I drink very much alcohol anyway, and definitely not with meals.

I'll third the Soda Club (now Sodastream) suggestion. Refreshing and light, it's perfect for when we don't want wine or beer.

I hate wine.

I have either milk, juice, or water for dinner, depending on my mood.

I don't drink alcohol at all (by simple choice, no religious, political, health or other reasons behind it). I avoid sodas, juices and any other drink with sugar or sugar substitutes and I can't stand warm drinks (tea/coffee etc) with a warm meal.

So I'm happy to drink tap water, since we have our own well and filter system. I also enjoy milk with my meal. I'm 30 years old and I'm not ashamed to say that milk is one of my favourite drinks. Wouldn't trade it for all the wine or beer in the world.

To answer Sox's question about why a glass of wine makes me groggy, I saw an almost immediate change once I had a child. It just takes a bigger toll than it used to. Sad but true.

What all good children of the South drink with their meals, iced tea. Some like it sweet, some not, but always iced tea, even in winter. Let me qualify: At least on my little patch of the Deep South.

Tonya, do you never cook and eat your own dinner - only ever eat out? Or did you just say that because you assumed the question was about eating out?

About the alcohol tolerance thing, I think it has a lot to do with the type as well. Last night I drank a bottle of sweet white (5-point-something standard Australian drinks) and barely felt tipsy, but I feel groggy and headachy after 1 glass of red wine, even with food.

I would vote beer if it would let me vote!
We are home brewers so beer is our 1st choice water or wine 2nd. We both can't stand milk so never that, occasionally a stiff drink.
:)

Grew up drinking nothing but milk.

Now I usually drink water or a beer.

I drink wine but I dilute it with water. I know it sounds weird, I like the taste but I don't like getting buzzed over tuesday spaghetti.

I rarely like to drink wine with food, maybe some foods like cheese..but not with a meal. I guess I am weird, I like to have them individually! So usually it's milk, water or juice! Sometimes a beer.

Green tea hot or iced.

1.) Buy an at-home seltzer maker. That way, you can enjoy carbonated water without plundering from groundwater resources and you can add a nice kick to it by serving it with lemon, lime or orange slices, or even mixing it with juice.

2.) No-alcohol beer.

3.) Home-made iced tea.

I love to make a pitcher of natural flavored water. Add one thinly sliced lemon and half a thinly sliced cucumber as well as a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger and some mint leaves to about 2 liters of water. Let it sit overnight, absolutely delcious.

We usually drink water with dinner. Maybe beer with Mexican food. If we have sweet tea, I drink that. No wine with dinner since it makes me feel quite sleepy the rest of the evening and after mt girls go to bed I have a lot I need to get done.

Sweet tea!

Today...ginger beer (it's non alcoholic) that I made.

Mostly I have something hot- tea, coffee, hot water and something cold- juice or watered down juice, sparkling water from my soda machine, plain water, etc.

For me it's Blue Diamond chocolate-flavored almond milk, easy on the ice. yum! If I feel like making the effort, I'll make a pitcher of tamarind cooler- with the paste purchased from my favorite Indian restaurant.