halacha - Does the blessing for bread cover beverages?

Are drinks considered food that generally comes as part of the meal and therefore drinkable without an additional blessing during a meal on which the only blessing recited was the blessing for bread? If so, is it because even a beverage can be in the category of a food which is eaten with bread or for some other reason?

Note: In general food that comes generally during the meal is covered by the opening blessing for the bread as it is all considered supplemental to the bread.

Answer

You can't eat without drinking! That is the idea of drinks being secondary to the meal and exempt from a bracha. (Psak of the [Shulchan Aruch 174:7][1], see there for the machlokes). An exception is wine which, although it is part of the meal, retains its bracha because of its prominence (SA OC 174:1).

There is a debate on the practical usage of hard drinks. Many acharonim say to make a bracha since you don't drink them for quenching the meal. The minhag is like the Magen Avraham that says that you don't make a bracha as it is an appetizer. The Aruch haShulchan takes the latter idea as obvious.

Something thick like a milkshake may have a different halacha.