Super Bowl LVII: 2023
The Jazz Bath (Kansas City Chiefs)
I will be the first to admit that this wasn’t one of my more inspired cocktail names (dynasties do start to pose a challenge that way…) The name started as a joke, riffing on that dumb State Farm commercial starring Patrick Mahomes that was everywhere that season, and, well, I just never came up with anything I liked more. Plus it amused me, and the more I considered it, I found it led me to some really fun cocktail ideas: a bath bomb in a glass. In other words, a sparkling wine cocktail, which I had never done for the Super Bowl before. I was interested in something fruity and/or floral and equally open to red or yellow (having previously already done one of each for the Chiefs), and I finally landed on a hybrid between a limoncello spritz and an Aperol spritz. I also chose to lean into the bath bomb concept with some fun garnishes: edible glitter along with pomegranate seeds, which floated delightfully in the bubbles. Who’s ready for their jazz bath?
The Hurts So Good (Philadelphia Eagles)
This ended up becoming basically a spicy Midori margarita on the rocks—but it was delicious! Green was of course the starting off point. I considered options besides Midori, but I got nudged toward tequila by some other cocktails I turned up online in my research (the Bald Eagle and the Screaming Eagle), and once I headed that direction, Midori seemed like a nice complementary choice. The green was a little vivid for the Eagles’ darker shade, but blue curaçao proved a nice color as well as flavor adjustment. And the jalapeño balanced out the sweetness of the Midori and also made it, you know, hurt a little more. Come on baby, make it Hurts So Good!