Super Bowl LVI: 2022
The Coop There It Is (Los Angeles Rams)
1.5oz gin
1.5oz yellow chartreuse
3oz soda water
Stir all ingredients together over ice in a highball glass
The name for this cocktail sprouted from my endless love for 90s nostalgia in all forms, in conjunction with the Geico commercial that was everywhere that season which delightfully featured Tag Team and “Whoop! There It Is.” That year, this was the only entry in my final four that was NOT specifically pegged to an existing drink, so it felt like there was open-ended potential, but since the name was in reference to Cooper Kupp, I eventually gravitated towards a riff on a Pimm’s Cup. I had started out imagining it would be blue but eventually pivoted to yellow, mostly because the yellow chartreuse felt like the most interesting choice for the cocktail, much more so than blue curaçao.
The Ja’Marrtini (Cincinnati Bengals)
1 part* orangecello
3 parts vodka
Several dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Absinthe
(*I recommend using 25ml as a part, because of all the players age 25 and under on this 2022 team, but if metric isn’t your jam, adjust accordingly!)
Chill a cocktail glass and rinse with absinthe (to taste.) Shake orangecello, vodka, and bitters over ice and serve in chilled glass. Who Dey!
I seriously considered the Who Dey? for my first time crafting a Bengals cocktail, but since that will remain an evergreen option, I decided that naming the drink after Ja’Marr Chase felt more timely and more fun. Orange is my favorite color, so I was really excited about this one! It was obviously going to be some kind of riff on a martini, but that leaves loads of options. The color seemed paramount, and while I started out thinking that likely meant orange curaçao, I discovered but in my research that orangecello was a thing and that turned out to be the winner, paired with vodka to let the color shine through. I was also interested in some kind of Louisiana tie-in since both Chase and QB Joe Burrow are LSU alums. I ended up with two: both the Peychaud’s bitters (which also enhanced the color nicely) and an absinthe rinse à la the sazerac (which contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the orangecello.)
