The Alcoholic German Beverage Underberg Is What You Should Drink After Thanksgiving

Every year at this time, there's a perfunctory debate over what wine to drink with turkey and stuffing: Beaujolais, Chardonnay or a crazy new natural wine no one's ever heard of?

If you've ever actually been to a Thanksgiving dinner, you know that Dad isn't going to put down his High Life in honor of the Pilgrims just because you brought some special single-vineyard Zinfandel.

But when it comes to what to drink after dinner–when the tryptophan has kicked in and the embarrassment of stuffing and pie consumed makes movement (forget dishes) seem impossible–there's an easy answer: Underberg for all.

This shockingly bitter, aggressively alcoholic Germanic beverage is meant to be taken in one swig from its handsome miniature bottle, which promises that "after a good meal" it will confer brightness and alertness on the drinker. We've done extensive and entirely unscientific testing on the restorative powers of Underberg, and we swear by this wonder of German herbal alchemy.

Underberg is available at Agata and Valentina, Dean & Deluca and a surprising number of completely un-Germanic delis as well as the new Prime Meats Delicat-Essen in Carroll Gardens.