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Super Bowl Cocktails
Posted: Wednesday, January 30, 2008
By Jack Bettridge
At this point, if you had to handicap the Super Bowl solely on the basis of cocktails (and why not?), the Giants would be hands-down favorites. I'll give you three good reasons:
Man-hat-tan.
The king of cocktails comes from a central borough of New York, the city from which the Giants also hail. The Manhattan is not the original cocktail, but it is the classiest. It fairly luxuriates in its elegant alchemy of whiskey and sweet vermouth, informed by bitters and whimsically topped with a cherry. Shake it well and crystals of ice hang in the mix, the perfect rose-colored glass through which to watch the game.
Manhattan
Three or four parts bourbon (or rye whiskey)
One part sweet vermouth
Three dashes of bitters
Garnish: with maraschino cherry
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled Martini glass and garnish with cherry.
Of course, one might make the arguments that the team is named the New York and not the Manhattan Giants, and for that matter they play in New Jersey, not Manhattan or even New York City, and there's neither a New Jersey nor a New York cocktail. But then again there's no New England cocktail and the Patriots play in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is about as New England as Passaic, New Jersey.
For the sake of argument, then, we will consider the Patriots from Boston, as that is where they first played, and take a look at cocktails named for Boston. There are two.
The first is simply the Boston Cocktail, which is a schizophrenic mix of gin, fruit brandy, sourness and sweetness.
Boston Cocktail
3/4 oz gin
3/4 oz apricot brandy
1 1/2 tsp grenadine syrup
juice of 1/4 lemon
Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.
The other is the Boston Sidecar, which is a cocktail with an identity crisis, since it is based on the classic Sidecar (brandy, triple sec and lemon juice), and simply adds rum to distinguish itself.
Boston Sidecar
1 oz light rum
1/2 oz brandy
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz lemon juice
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled Martini glass.
Besides, if the competition were to alter a classic cocktail and call it your own, New York could chime in with the Bronx Cocktail (the Bronx being where the Giants used to be when they played at Yankee Stadium), which is a Martini with the addition of sweet vermouth and orange juice.
Bronx Cocktail
2 oz gin
1/2 oz orange juice
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled Martini glass.
Of course, if I happened to being rooting for the Patriots (which I am not), I would counter all of the above arguments with these two thoughts:
a) The Boston cocktail shaker is an essential tool for any bartender, and
b) The Las Vegas bookmakers are favoring the Pats by 12 points.
Whether you're a Giants fan or a Patriots fan, the important thing is that you keep the holiday holy -- like we do at my house. Take a look:
Click on the links below for a complete guide to your Super Bowl Sunday smoking and drinking pleasure:
The Super Bowl Cigar by David Savona
The Super Bowl Cocktail by Jack Bettridge
The Super Bowl Brew by Michael Marsh
A Cigar Lover's Super Bowl
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