Before and during
Drink choices at a Jerez tablao
What the drink on a Jerez tablao ticket can be, how sherry styles differ, and where tapas and extra glasses fit around a one-hour flamenco show.
Book flamenco in San Miguel ↗Quick answer
The ticket for the flamenco show at La Guarida del Ángel includes one drink of your choice. The booking page lists white or red wine, sherry, sangria, water, beer and soft drinks. Tapas, Jerez wines and extra drinks are sold separately, and you can have them before the show or during it.
The drink on the ticket
The booking page says the ticket includes a drink of your choice and lists white or red wine, sherry wines, sangria, water, and beer or soft drinks. It marks dinner and additional drinks as available to purchase. In practice this means you can have a glass of something local while you watch, or a soft drink if you prefer, and you will not be asked to pay extra for that first one. Anything beyond it is your own order.
If you choose sherry
Wikipedia calls sherry a fortified wine made chiefly from Palomino grapes grown near Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia. Spanish law reserves the name for wine from a zone in Cádiz province that links Jerez, Sanlúcar and El Puerto de Santa María. Sherry is also the drink the whole city is known for, so choosing it at a Jerez tablao is the most local use of your included drink, though nothing obliges you to take it.
Styles in a sentence each
Wikipedia sorts the traditional styles by how they age. Fino is the palest and driest, kept beneath a skin of flor yeast. Manzanilla is a very light fino from around Sanlúcar. Amontillado begins under flor and then meets air, ending darker than a fino yet lighter than an oloroso. Oloroso ages oxidatively for longer and comes out darker and richer. Palo cortado starts like an amontillado and drifts towards oloroso. Which of them are poured at the tablao is for the staff to say.
Tapas and Jerez wines for sale
The booking page says a selection of tapas and Jerez wines is available to purchase, and that you can eat dinner before the show or dine during it. It marks the food as extra, not part of the ticket. The venue's home page describes a tabanco, El Rincón de Lola, serving Jerez wines, breakfasts, tapas and home cooking. Neither the booking page nor the venue publishes a menu in the places this guide draws on, so ask on the day what is available.
What a tabanco is
Jerez's tourist office describes tabancos as old sherry shops that serve tapas and where flamenco is sung. A tabanco is therefore a different thing from a tablao: a place to stand and drink, where flamenco may happen, as against a place to sit and watch a show that is booked in advance. If the idea of a glass of sherry beside live singing appeals, a tabanco is worth a separate evening, and the tablao is the booked, one-hour version.
Sherry beyond the glass
Wikipedia says Jerez-Xérès-Sherry is a Denominación de Origen Protegida and that the Jerez denominación was the first Spanish one to be recognised, in 1933. That gives the word on a bottle some weight: a sherry is a regulated product, tied to a defined zone. The booking page's list of included drinks also offers wine, sangria, beer and soft drinks, so the sherry is a choice and not an obligation. Whatever you pick, it is the venue's list that decides what is in stock.
Timing the glass
Because the show lasts an hour and the booking page says you can dine before or during it, the practical choice is between eating first and eating as you watch. The start time on your confirmation sets the clock for both. Allow time to arrive, settle and order before the start. The booking page says dining during the show is possible, and staff at the venue will explain how service works on the night.
If you would rather not drink
The included drink can be water, beer or a soft drink according to the booking page, so the ticket does not push you towards alcohol. Sherry and wine are the local choice but not the only one. If you are driving, travelling with someone who is, or simply prefer a soft drink, nothing about the ticket changes. The flamenco show is the same either way, and the drink is a courtesy attached to it.
Frequently asked questions
Is a drink included?
Yes, one drink of your choice: white or red wine, sherry, sangria, water, beer or a soft drink, as the booking page lists.
Is dinner included?
No. Dinner and additional drinks are available to purchase and are not part of the ticket.
Can I eat during the show?
The booking page says you can dine before the show or during it.
What is fino?
The palest, driest traditional sherry, kept beneath a skin of flor yeast, according to Wikipedia.
Sources