Drink the Oscars: just the right drink for each of the best picture nominees

Drink the Oscars: just the right drink for each of the best picture nominees

As a companion to our 2012 Academy Awards drinking game, which tells you when to take a swig, we here at the Dish thought we’d bring you a little helpful instruction on just what to drink during your Oscar party this year, depending on which film you’re hoping to see walk away with the big prize at the end of the night.

For fans of The Artist
With the advent of the talkies, silent film star George Valentin turns to the bottle, in this case whisky, for solace. You could turn to a nice, cheap bottle of Dewar’s White Label. ($23.95 at the LCBO)

For fans of The Descendants
As Anthony Lane put it in his New Yorker review of the movie, “The first thing you need to know about Alexander Payne’s The Descendants is that it takes place in Hawaii.” Accordingly, why mix a classic tiki drink like a Mai Tai or an Atlantic Breeze?

For fans of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (wherever you are)
In this adaptation of the Jonathan Safran Foer bestseller, nine-year-old Oskar Schell, traumatized by 9/11, wanders around New York in search of information about his father. Is there anything more refreshing after a long traipse through the city—for a nine-year-old at least—than a silver pouch of Capri Sun?

For fans of The Help
This one’s a no-brainer. The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi. Your only option: a mint julep (or ten).

For fans of Hugo
Hugo Cabret, the shy and curious protagonist of Martin Scorsese’s film, is an orphan who lives in the Gare Montparnasse in Paris. If he were a little older, he might be inclined to sample the Castaway IPA from Kona.

For fans of Midnight in Paris
Gil Pender, the hapless Hollywood hack at the centre of this Woody Allen flick, tries mightily to impress the arty, Lost Generation crowd he falls in with after a little motor car-assisted time travel. One surefire way to burnish your Gallic cred: a bottle of Pernod ($26.45 at the LCBO).

For fans of Moneyball
With the Oakland A’s sponsored by the good folks at Anheuser-Busch InBev, you’d better be drinking Bud Light—with lime!

For fans of The Tree of Life
Terrence Mallick’s latest features booming 20th-century orchestral music, the beginning of the universe and, yes, dinosaurs. We can’t think of anything short of absinthe that could compete.

For fans of War Horse
What do horses drink? Water? You should probably drink water.