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TailGreater: Picking the conference champions by their signature cocktails
Tears as a mixer are not recommended. Instants/Getty Images

TailGreater: Picking the conference champions by their signature cocktails

Last week on TailGreater, we did something a bit different in picking the winners of the divisional round of the NFL playoffs based on well known breweries from the state. Our picks that week... didn't go all that well. In an effort to redeem our 50% hit rate from last week, we're going to give it another shot today on TailGreater. Only this time, we're going to be examining these teams on the merits of their city or state's signature cocktails. So hey, at least if we're wrong this week, you can mix up the cocktails on your own and enjoy themed drinks for the games!

NFC Championship Game
Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, 3:05 p.m. ET/12:05 p.m. PT, FOX

Green Bay Packers: Wisconsin Old Fashioned 


Old Fashioneds are different in Wisconsin. (Image via Wisconsin Supper Clubs)

Now before all of you who have never been to Wisconsin start sharpening your pitchforks in response to me claiming that the state owns the Old Fashioned, allow me to explain. For Wisconsinites, an Old Fashioned is not based on rye or bourbon – it's essentially a different drink there – a concoction including brandy, a sweet simple-syrup-and-bitters combination, a splash of lemon-lime soda, and a folded slice of orange with a maraschino cherry nestled inside. So yeah – not the simple bourbon cocktail you and I know and love. 

The classic Wisconsin Old Fashioned was developed after the Columbian Exposition in Chicago back in 1893, when the Korbel brothers showcased their brandy for the first time. The Wisconsinites that attended the event took notice, and began to swap the bourbon for brandy back in their hometown. The addition of the orange-and-cherry combination to the drink was a holdover from the prohibition era, when juices and fruits started becoming more and more popular as a way to make a dwindling alcohol supply last longer, and since that made for a very sweet drink, bartenders diluted the mixture a little bit with some soda. What resulted was a wonderfully sweet cocktail that is perfect for bracing Wisconsinites both against the cold, and against the looming specter of the Atlanta Falcons offense.

Oh, and if you want to make yourself one of these beauties, Edible Milwaukee has a recipe, along with a more complete history of the cocktail

Atlanta Falcons: The Georgia Peach


The Georgia Peach is perfect for those balmy 60 degree January evenings in Atlanta. (Image via Drink Kings)

Surprising absolutely nobody, the cocktail representing the Atlanta Falcons goes heavy on the peach flavor. The Georgia Peach is a cocktail that has almost endless variations, from a version with cranberry juice and vodka, to ones that require the muddling of actual Georgia peaches. 

According to the Georgia Peach Council, Georgia peaches actually predate the Revolutionary War, with Franciscan monks introducing peaches to Georgia back in 1571, so they really are a historic fruit down south -- that might explain why there are no fewer than 71 streets in Atlanta with some variant of "Peachtree" in their names.

If you're in an area where you can get delicious fresh peaches, feel free to muddle them in your glass before making this drink to give it a more authentic flavor. Once you've done that, this recipe from Drink Kings will get you the rest of the way by adding peach schnapps, Southern Comfort, and a healthy dose of orange juice.

Edge: Green Bay Packers

AFC Championship Game
Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots
Sunday, 6:40 p.m. ET/3:40 p.m. PT, CBS

Pittsburgh Steelers: The Lebo Fizz


The Lebo Fizz is an alcoholic drink for those who hate the taste of alcohol. (Image via Better Homes) 

The Lebo Fizz, though not from Pittsburgh proper, is an historic cocktail with roots in nearby Mt. Lebanon. From the 1940s through the early 1970s, Mt. Lebanon had been a dry community. This meant that when bars started popping back up in the '70s, bartenders and mixologists had to work quickly to try to establish an identity, not just for their own bars, but for the drink culture of the town they called home.

The Lebo Fizz, developed by Robert Smoker of the R/A Lounge, was one of the first cocktails created after alcohol returned to Mt. Lebanon, and was the most popular drink at Smoker's bar for years. Though there is no specific recipe online for the drink, PopCityMedia dug up a newspaper interview with Smoker where he describes the drink so that you can make it yourself at home. Per Smoker, here's how you do it:

  • 2 oz vodka
  • 12 oz lemonade
  • 2 peach halves
  • Ice

To make the fizz, simply throw all the ingredients into the blender and mix until it's an icy slurry.

New England Patriots: The Ward Eight


The Ward Eight: The only good thing that politics ever gave us. (Image via Liquor)

The Ward Eight cocktail is as Bostonian as a test-tube baby containing the DNA of Ben Affleck, Mark Wahlberg, and the starting lineup of the 2007 Red Sox. The story goes that the cocktail was created at a victory party for local politician Martin Lomasney back in 1898. (Interestingly enough, the party itself was held before the election. Lomasney and his supporters apparently thought his election was a foregone conclusion). Lomasney was running for the state legislature in Ward Eight, and that's how the cocktail got its name. 

Lomasney won the race, of course, and The Ward Eight became etched into the history of Boston's cocktail culture. The drink itself is light and simple, a mixture of rye, citrus, and grenadine. According to Drink Boston, the key is to get good, real grenadine syrup – the stuff that's still made with pomegranate, and not that bright-red goop that's mostly food coloring and high fructose corn syrup.

If you want to try to make the drink at home, Esquire has a recipe for the drink, as well as a brief history of the cocktail from cocktail historian David Wondrich.

Edge: New England Patriots

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