Big Play Cocktails

The Super Bowl is three days away and whether your team made it to the big game or not, it’s grounds to throw a party. So hook up your new flat-screen TV, prep the grill and pull out some fine bottles from your liquor cabinet. Liquor cabinet? I know what you’re thinking—your guests are expecting chips and dip and enough freezing-cold cans of beer to make a fraternity jealous. No need to take a timeout. I’ve drawn up a new (party) play.

Drinks that combine brewskies and spirits (or even champagne) are showing up on bar menus across the country. This trend has brought two old friends—beer and a shot—even closer together. Sunday is the perfect time to shake some up. To get everybody in the mixology mood, start off with a round of simple Micheladas. (It’s basically a dressed up beer.) If the team you’re rooting for wins, try the celebratory Black Velvet. And if they lose, console yourself with a beer Margarita. Either way you’ll have something to really cheer for.

Black Velvet

Contributed by: Jim Meehan

INGREDIENTS:

• Guinness Beer
• Champagne (or sparkling wine)
• Glass: Highball

PREPARATION:

Fill a highball glass halfway with Guinness Beer. Fill the glass up with champagne or sparkling wine. Be sure to pour the bubbly over a spoon into the glass.

Marvelous Frothy Margarita

Contributed by: Kathy Casey

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5 oz Tequila
• .5 oz Cointreau
• .5 oz Simple syrup (one part sugar, one part water mixed together)
• .5 to .75 oz Fresh lime juice (to taste)
• 1 oz Beer (Bud Light or Corona)
• Garnish: Lime wedge
• Glass: Tall

PREPARATION:

Fill a shaker with ice and add the rest of the ingredients. Shake vigorously until very cold. Pour into a tall glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Mrs. Meehan’s Michelada

Contributed by: Jim Meehan

INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz Negra Modelo Beer
• 3 Dashes Lea & Perrins Worcestershire
• 3 Dashes hot sauce (Cholula or Tabasco)
• 1 oz Fresh lime juice
• 1 Pinch celery seed
• Garnish: Lime wedge
• Glass: Pint

PREPARATION:

Rim a chilled pint glass with a mixture made up of equal parts black pepper, kosher salt and celery seed. Add the lime juice, celery seed and sauces to the rimmed glass. Top with frosty Negra Modela Beer. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Jim Meehan runs PDT in New York City. Last summer, at the Tales of the Cocktail conference, he was named the American Bartender of the Year and PDT was named World’s Best Cocktail Bar. He is also one of Liquor.com’s advisors.