There are several legitimate reasons to drink beer with every meal on Super Bowl Sunday. For football fans, it’s essentially a holy day meant to be observed. Nothing is more important than “the big game,” and for many, watching football demands beer.
Then there are people like Michael D. Morgan — author of Cincinnati Beer and cohost of the Brew Skies Happy Hour podcast. Morgan is a recognized authority on all aspects of Cincinnati beer, which includes its consumption. Morgan says he doesn’t care for the Super Bowl and isn’t shy about his reasoning, but for folks like him, drinking beer is still an excellent pastime when football is the last thing you want to watch.
Regardless of your motivation, preparation is needed if you want to drink beer all day without ruining your whole weekend, Morgan says.
CityBeat: Do you have any big plans for Super Bowl Sunday?
Mike Morgan: I have an abstract respect for the con of the Super Bowl. As a grift, it’s brilliant.
A bunch of billionaires have duped an entire country into accepting that the largest annual day of profitability in their multi-billion dollar for-profit businesses (which are already heavily subsidized by taxpayers) is now treated as “an American holiday” where every red-blooded capitalist is supposed to do their part to help make obscenely rich people richer — even if it’s those people “who watch for the commercials” to help drive viewership numbers up so that the ad revenue of those commercials can climb even further into the stratosphere.
The whole thing is a con, and I’ve got better things to do on any given Sunday than to be a mark.
CB: In that case, you’re uninvited to our party. Still, we plan to drink beer all day, so how can we do that and avoid total ruination?
MM: I think the keys to successful endurance day drinking are pretty simple. First and foremost, is water, water, water. You have to stay hydrated. Second: food. You have to have good food sticking to your gut.
CB: What are “stick to your gut” kinds of foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner while day drinking?
MM: Well, I’m not a big breakfast guy, so I usually just go straight for lunch. If you’re gonna get serious, Herb and Thelma’s [Tavern] cheeseburgers, or a Dunlap [Cafe] double cheeseburger – those are a really nice place to start with lunch.
CB: Dinner-wise, do you have the same kind of method with a high-protein, high-fat, high-carb kind of meal?
MM: Yeah. I mean, usually just because that’s what sounds good when I’ve been drinking.
CB: As long as the Super Bowl party has more than chips and dip, we should be fine. What style of brew should we consider when buying beer for the day?
MM: Low ABV (alcohol by volume) beers –and when I say low ABV beers, I’m not going crazy. I’m not talking about Michelob Ultra. I just mean if I start out with [MadTree’s] Psychopathy, I’m gonna have to moderate or things are gonna go sideways. [Editor’s note: Michelob Ultra has an ABV of 4.2% while MadTree’s Psychopathy is 6.9%.]
CB: Lighter beers are the best route for long haul drinking. Something like lager or pilsner?
MM: Right.
CB: So, eat heavy entrees and drink lighter beer while staying hydrated. Is it that simple?
MM: I think the real secret is you cannot stop. One of the problems with drinking is you don’t make your best decisions when you’re doing it. But the thing that I think people screw up most is they talk themselves into, “I’m going to quit drinking for a bit,” or. “I’m going to take a nap.” And you’re done. You’re always done. When you do that, when you get out of the game you can never really get back in it and you’re just gonna feel like shit for the rest of your day, or evening and night. So, you’ve got to moderate, but you gotta stay in the game.
Michael D. Morgan’s latest book, Cincinnati Beer, is available at arcadiapublishing.com and local bookstores. Brew Skies Happy Hour podcast: brewskies.beer.
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