The Best Super Bowl Party Drinks, According To A Chief Cocktail Officer

When it comes to jobs Millennials want, the role of “Chief Cocktail Officer” has to be at the top of the list, which is why I jumped at the chance to speak to the resident CCO at Drizly, Your Online Liquor Store, to find out what makes the best Super Bowl party ever.

The first thing that should come to mind is the food. You can’t have a Super Bowl party without copious amounts of all the grub you do everything in your power to avoid the other 364 days a year.

However, the next thing any popping Super Bowl soiree needs, aside from a television screen fit for a movie theatre, is booze. And not just any booze, you need the best alcohol pairings to accompany all that food for the biggest sporting event of the year.

Trisha Antonsen, Drizly’s Chief Cocktail Officer, knows this, and she wants to make sure you know it, too.

Oftentimes, people attempt to impress at a party by trying to make some fancy cocktail. But creating a cocktail with upward of six or seven ingredients leaves you with limited drink options, an expensive grocery list and more of a hassle than is necessary.

According to Antonsen, basic is best. She told Elite Daily,

[If you’re] keeping it super simple, to like two ingredients, there are [cocktails] like screwdrivers, whiskey and cola, gin and tonic, vodka-cranberry or Paloma and Captain and ginger, which are very classic in keeping it to the one-to-one ratio or two-to-one ratio.

You don’t have to bring out all the garnishes and the cocktail shaker, you can just mix those right in a glass.

Save the Ramos Gin Fizz for a smaller gathering. You shouldn’t be stressed out about making complex drinks for 15 people at a Super Bowl party.

Keeping it simple on the cocktails is key, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a little creative when it comes to the main attraction — the beer.

I don’t know about you, but at this point in my life, I’d rather not drink watered-down light beer at a party. That doesn’t mean I want to break the bank on beer, though, either. There are going to be a lot of suds consumed, so I still want to keep it light and cheap.

Antonsen has a few options you might’ve overlooked the first time down the aisle. She told Elite Daily,

Recently, my friend from Denver has turned me back onto Coors Banquet. The flavor is actually really good, nice and icy. Heineken Light is a little more on the expensive side, but in city areas it’s competitive with other light beers. The flavor is good, it’s low in calories and it’s a good name brand.

Molson Canadian Light is flavorful and low in calorie. You’re going to be drinking a lot of beer on Super Bowl Sunday, so why not go for something a little bit lighter so you don’t overindulge too much?

I don’t think I’ve ever had Molson Canadian Light, but a flavorful, low-calorie beer is definitely something I could get into on Sunday. And considering the Broncos are playing in this year’s Super Bowl, going the Coors Banquet route would be a more than appropriate selection.

Those are good beers to get the conversation started, but you still want to make sure your Super Bowl party is the most lit it can possibly be. Antonsen has some strong advice for how you can take your beer game from a short completion to a 50-yard bomb. She told Elite Daily,

If you want to try something different, I would suggest going with an amber or red ale. It still has a lot of good flavor and it’s something that not a lot of people are going to typically think about.

Sam Adams does one called Brick Red. New Belgium Fat Tire is from Colorado and it’s really, really good, too. Tregs Hopback is also an amber ale, but it fits a bit close to an IPA because it’s a little more hoppy.

There’s also a whole category of beers called daytime IPAs. A typical IPA is six to seven percent alcohol, and these are about five [percent].

Pilsners also are really, really good. Brooklyn Pilsner is out of New York. Victory Prima Pils is out of Philadelphia. Lagunitas has one. Oskar Blues has one, that’s the Mama’s Little Yella Pils. [They’re] lighter in flavor, for sure, but not completely devoid of flavor like some might find with light beers.

Now that you know what beers to grab before Sunday, you should probably know how to pair them with all the glorious eats you’re going to be filling your belly with.

If you’re taking your taste buds south of the border, Antonsen says,

For anything in the Mexican realm, I personally like an IPA, [like] Ballast Point, or a Mexican lager, [like] Corona, Negra Modelo or Dos Equis. The reason I personally like IPAs for the spicier stuff, Mexican food and buffalo wings, is it brings out those citrusy, spicy notes in the beer really well.

Maybe you’re more into ribs and brisket, in which case, Antonsen says,

If you were going to go for barbecue, red ales and ambers are really good with that. Hard ciders, like the apple-flavored ones, [also work]. German-style pilsners go really well with that, too. Think about what they eat in Germany — they eat a lot of grilled meat. Really rich and flavorful layers.

For your Super Bowl staples, like chips and dip or crudit, Drizly’s CCO is a fan of wheat beers. When it comes to dessert, assuming you haven’t already passed out on the couch in a drunken food coma, it’s finally time to break out something a bit heavier, like a stout or a porter.

The Super Bowl is a marathon, not a sprint, which is why I asked Antonsen if she has any recommendations for a halftime drink that will keep the party going. Her answer caught me off guard. She told Elite Daily,

Sparkling wine is actually one of the best types of pairings for all the foods that are going to be at your table. It helps cut through buttery and creamy, salty and rich.

Antonsen recommends trying Taittinger Domaine Carneros, Chandon and Gruet Brut.

The manmosa, which is beer and champagne, might also be a good thing to help pump the brakes and clear the palate.

With all the alcoholic beverages and salty, fatty foods being consumed on Super Bowl Sunday, your Monday morning hangover is all but inevitable, but there are few tricks to try other than just drinking water. According to Antonsen,

[You should take a] pickleback shot at the end of the night. Pickle juice is full of salty electrolytes.

You can always go with the hair of the dog on Monday morning, but your employer may frown on alcoholic beverages in the workplace, as well as you being a little tipsy for the 9:30 am client meeting.

Follow Trisha Antonsen’s advice and you and your crew are sure to come out on top by the time the clock hits zero on Sunday night. Cheers!

source http://allofbeer.com/2017/12/06/the-best-super-bowl-party-drinks-according-to-a-chief-cocktail-officer/