Super Bowl cocktail showdown

(AP)

Super Bowl XLVI is not only an east coast affair, but thanks to the Giants improbable return to the championship game this year, it's also a grudge match, revisiting the teams' match-up from just four years ago.

With the stakes so high, the region's best bartenders are looking to stoke their customers' team spirit with a little high proof cheerleading. After all, beer may be the gridiron drink of choice under normal circumstances, but the Super Bowl championship calls for a little more firepower.

The array of drinks created by some of New York and New England's most celebrated mixologists is staggering. Some are as simple and straightforward as a run up the gut. Others are nearly as complicated as a Bill Belichick defense, and possibly as potent.

We surveyed the field from mixologists in these two rival cities  -- New York and Boston  -- and their drinks aimed at celebrating the success of the hometown team, and brought the best of the best to play.

Giants

Recipe: The TequELI Manning

This drink from mixologist Walter Easterbrook at New York City's The Lobby Bar in the Bowery Hotel is a twist on a margarita. It mixes tequila and Tabasco for a fiery punch, but has a sweet hook from the agave nectar and elderflower liqueur.

Recipe: The Big Blue

The Big Blue is very blue. The fruity drink made with Blye Curacao and peach snapps, delivers a deceptively powerful punch worthy of Lawrence Taylor himself.

Recipe: The Blueberri Bounce

The Blueberri Bounce, a concoction by Chelsey Dunkel, mixologist at trendy bar Bounce Sporting Club in New York, combines fresh and tart blueberries with just enough sweetness and effervescent ginger.

Patriots

Recipe: The Old Ipswich Patriot

The Old Ipswich Patriot is a layered creation with five ingredients – one for each of Tom Brady's trips to the Super Bowl.

Recipe: Pat the Giant-Killer

This drink takes locally distilled bourbon, limoncello, lemon and lavender rose syrup in the mixology equivalent of a two-point conversion.

Recipe: A Brady's Man

This drink is a looker in the glass, with the complex herbal sweetness of Drambuie combined with the punch of Irish whiskey and citrusy pilsner.

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