Wine and Beer Pairing:
In general, chicken is often paired with a Chardonnay, Vin Gris, Riesling, Merlot, Gamay Beaujolais, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir, (Lighter) Cabernet Sauvignon. But smoked chicken is different. If the smoke flavor is not too dominant, a Pinot Noir, Rioja, or Chianti can be a great pleasure, with the wine's acidity serving as a refreshing counterpoint to the meat's texture. You might also like a Cotes du Rhone or a Malbec.
Beers that you might consider going from light to dark and more flavorful: Lagers, Pilsners, Blond Ales, Hefenweizens, and IPAs.
Cost:
This can be a very reasonable meal costing $1.00-$1.50 per plate plus your side dishes. Note that I think a typical 6 lb. bird is a little big to split into legs and breasts for 4 servings, so I more commonly put all the meat off the bone and cut into smaller bit sized pieces giving everyone some skin, white and dark meat in smaller portions that yield about 6 servings per bird.
Time and Effort:
This can be a very efficient meal as it takes very little effort and minimal clean-up although I have to admit I always find myself wanting to procrastinate on cleaning up the racks and water/drip tray in the smoker, but once I do it, I am glad I did it right away and it only take s 5 minutes or so. The key factor here is the time it takes to complete this meal being over 5 hours, so it really tends to be something done on your day off.
Alex Approved:
This is a dish Alex will gladly eat if put in front of him, but it is not quite such a favorite that he will go to the fridge and get leftovers himself. I think it is more the effort of getting the meat off the bone that is the issue.
Leftovers:
This is another dish I always make in quantity specifically for leftovers. I usually cook two whole birds, each split into halves for cooking. After cooking and cooling, I split some into quarters for a future meal and some I peel all the meat off the bones and chop it up for use in sandwiches, salads and burrito bowls and ad hoc dishes. I put all the leftovers in Gladware and store in the fridge for up to a week.
Health:
This is a pretty healthy meal, but skin-on bone-in chicken, which is super flavorful, is not as healthy and a boneless/skinless chicken breast. If you are maintaining a heart healthy diet then just be aware that this chicken has about half your heart healthy saturated fat daily allowance (14g) and nearly your full cholesterol allowance (200mg).