The proper brew for the Super Bowl

In this year's Brew Bowl, Pittsburgh and Green Bay play defense.

Iron City, the emblematic Pittsburgh beer, doesn't exactly make you reach for a second. As for Green Bay, unless you're downing locally at the Titletown Brewing Co., the choices will have to take you out of town. Devotees of the Super Bowl teams can do pretty well by expanding the geography to take in all of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Packer people, complete with their official cheeseheads, of course, may line up for the brews of Miller, and, sufficiently lubricated, turn nostalgic about Pabst Blue Ribbon, Blatz and Schlitz, too. Or, for a more productive drink, the armchair warriors of Lambeau Field can seek the livelier brews from New Glarus and Leinenkugel.

Their Steeler counterparts easily can seek comfort in a statewide repertoire that includes the fine and varied suds of Victory Brewing, Tröegs, Weyerbacher and Stoudts.

It all would have been more fun and more drinkable if the 49ers reached the big game. You could down Anchor Steam or Liberty Ale. Had the Bears made it that far: Goose Island's many very good options.

But this is all a mix of resignation, lamentation and fantasy.

Stick with locals and sip along with winners from the Brooklyn Brewery and Cooperstown's Brewery Ommegang; Southampton Publick House and Blue Point Brewing; Brick House Brewery and Black Forest Brew Haus; and small craft breweries such as Fire Island, Greenport Harbor, Blind Bat and Great South Bay.