Why not make your Super Bowl party a cocktail party?

If nothing listed below works for you, try a Mai Tai!

Super Bowl Sunday is always a great excuse for a party.  While “beer” may pop into your mind as you plan your Super Bowl party, Utah cocktailians know that less filling cocktails are a better choice.  The secret of success is to offer tall (and therefore more dilute) drinks.  For Super Bowl cocktails, your best bet is to have ingredients for a variety of easy-to-mix, long drinks available to please all of your guests.  Select some cocktail recipes based on three or four liquors (e.g. Rum, Gin, and Tequila) so you have something to please everyone, invest in some citrus and mixers, grab some glasses and straws, and you’re ready for the kick-off. 

Cocktails or beer, you should keep in mind that four or five hours of drinking is too much. Pace yourself, have lots of soft-drinks and water available, encourage your guests (and yourself) to take it easy and alternate hard and soft drinks, and, of course, know when to stop.  Always drink responsibly…

Here are some simple, classic long drink recipes, check out the ingredients and find some that sound good, then stock up and enjoy your cocktail fueled Super Bowl party!  Find a cocktail that sounds good and find the link to the left.

Margarita Cooler – starts with the ingredients of your favorite Margarita, but you mix this Tequila-based cocktail cooler style. Think of it as a Margarita without the salt.  I recommend a Blanco or Plata (Silver) Tequila in this cooler.

The spicy tartness of this dark Rum cooler makes the Dark and Stormy one of my favorites.  The Dark and Stormy is a simple cocktail with only three ingredients: Gosling’s Black Seal® dark rum, ginger beer, and lime juice, and in Bermuda (home of the D&S) they generally leave out the lime.  I prefer lime in mine, but you should experiment to determine your preference.

El Diablo is a Tequila-based cocktail that counts Crème de Cassis and Ginger Beer among the ingredients is even spicier than a Dark and Stormy.  The combination of Plata Tequila with the heat of the Ginger Beer is, well, diabolical.

The name Gin and Tonic is a dead giveaway of what’s in this Gin classic, but don’t forget to serve it with a lime wedge.  The Gin and Tonic was invented by the British in eighteenth century India to offset the taste of the quinine they were drinking to combat malaria.

Rum and Coke is a long-time favorite that is simplicity itself, but don’t forget the lime.  I consider it an essential ingredient of a Rum and Coke, rendering the Cuba Libre non-existent.  (I used to make snap judgments of bartenders based on whether or not they automatically gave me lime with my Rum and Coke.)

For the Tom Collins I have a unique recipe; one taste of this cooler should overcome any objections your friends might have to the blue color.  You may consider the venerable Tom Collins to be too pedestrian for your tastes, but when made correctly it can be quite a treat. 

Gin Rickey: it shouldn’t take long to gather the three ingredients for this 100+ year old cocktail, and even less time to mix it.  Legend says it was invented by Colonel “Joe” Rickey who was a lobbyist in Washington, DC. Finally, a lobbyist does something useful for everyone.