(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Super Bowl is upon us, and with the matchup set between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, many in the Centennial State will be throwing Super Bowl parties complete with good food, good friends, and of course, refreshments. Here are FOX21’s top five Philly and KC-inspired beverages you can find in Colorado to show your team spirit, no matter which team you’re rooting for.
Victory Brewing Company – Downington, PA
Coloradans are no strangers to craft breweries, and if you’re looking to toast to an Eagles victory, consider Victory Brewing Company.
The brewery actually began in Downington, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, in 1996. According to Victory’s website, brewery founders Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet met in 1973 as fifth-graders on the same school bus, remained fast friends growing up, and eventually reunited to invest in their mutual love of home brewing.
The flagship brewery opened in 1996 in what was once a Pepperidge Farm factory in Downingtown, PA. Now, 26 years later, Victory has multiple taprooms around Philadelphia, and their beers are distributed to locations across the United States, including Colorado.
Their “monkey” series began with the “Golden Monkey” – a Belgian-Style Tripel ale that is refreshing enough to pair perfectly with some hot wings or spicy beer brats. If you like something a little more hoppy, Victory offers a variety of IPAs, and you can also find seasonal beers like their Festbier – an Oktoberfest style Märzen.
Boulevard Brewing Company – Kansas City, MO
Boulevard Brewing Company has been a staple of Kansas City, Missouri since 1989, when it was founded by John McDonald. According to Boulevard’s website, after a trip to Europe in 1984 opened McDonald’s eyes to the array of flavors offered by Belgian beers, he returned to a lackluster brewery scene in Kansas City.
Determined to recreate the delicious beers he’d tasted in Europe, McDonald began home brewing, visiting breweries, and learning about the creative process involved. Years later, he sold his house to raise money for his brewery, convinced investors, and moved his carpentry business out of an old brick building on Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City that had once housed the laundry for the Santa Fe Railroad — making room for what would become Boulevard Brewing Company.
Today, the brewery still stands on Southwest Boulevard, though their operation has expanded to become one of the largest specialty brewers in the Midwest. Their beers are available at liquor stores across Colorado, and feature unique and surprising flavor combinations, perfect for cheering on the Chiefs in this year’s Super Bowl.
Boulevard’s Bourbon-Barrel Quad ale is a robust ale with a high alcohol content, best paired with your pregame snacks like queso or cuts of snack meat. For a beer that pairs best with laid-back sipping and downing chicken wings, try their Unfiltered Wheat Beer, Pale Ale, or their Southwest Boulevard Lager, brewed with a hint of lime and salt.
Philadelphia Fish House Punch
If you’re hosting guests who prefer a cocktail over beer, you can offer the signature cocktail from each team’s state! And Pennsylvania’s cocktail is perfect for a big punch bowl and spooning out refills to thirsty guests.
Taste of Home identified the signature cocktail for each state, and in Pennsylvania, that’s Fish House Punch. According to Taste of Home, the Schuylkill Fishing Company of Pennsylvania, informally known as the Fish House, was founded in 1732. Their signature beverage – containing rum, brandy, peach brandy, and lemon – may be the oldest punch in the English-speaking world.
To create this potent punch, you’ll need dark or amber rum, Cognac, peach brandy, fresh lemon juice, sugar, and a big punch bowl. This recipe from Alexandra’s Kitchen walks you through creating the punch, and a decorative ice ring made in an upside-down Bundt cake pan!
Golden Glow cocktail – Missouri
The cocktail from Missouri is the perfect drink to cheer on the Chiefs, if not for its color resembling the team’s signature gold and red, then for the delightful mix between an Old Fashioned and a Tiki drink.
Taste of Home said the drink originated at the Club Continental in St. Louis during a celebration of the repeal of Prohibition. The bright gold drink is a mix of bourbon, Jamaican or dark rum, orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, and a drop of grenadine, giving that Chiefs splash of red.
This recipe from CocktailBuilder shows you how to craft the drink in a cocktail shaker. To get that solid float of grenadine on the bottom of the glass, simply turn a spoon upside down and rest the tip against the inside wall of the glass, pouring the grenadine over the bottom of the spoon. It’ll float gently down to the bottom of your glass- we recommend serving it in a martini or gimlet glass.
Tequila Sunrise
If none of the aforementioned beverages strike your fancy, you can always pay tribute to the host of the Super Bowl this year – State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Taste of Home identified the Tequila Sunrise as the signature cocktail of the Grand Canyon State. It is a bright mixture of tequila, orange juice, and grenadine, and when combined together, offers a stunning mix of colors not unlike a dessert sunset over Phoenix.
The original recipe, which Taste of Home credits to a bartender at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, consisted of crème de cassis, tequila, lime and soda water. Crème de cassis is dense, and tends to sink to the bottom of the drink, giving it that color gradient the drink is known for.
Click here to recreate Food Network’s recipe.
Modern iterations of the beverage swap grenadine for the cassis, and orange juice in place of the lime. Garnish with an orange wedge and a maraschino cherry, and toast to watching the best of the best battle it out for the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday.
