Bowl over your Super Bowl party guests with chili, deviled eggs and bourbon punch

The clock is running out on football season, but there’s one more excuse to drink beer and eat chips and onion dip and guacamole.

This Sunday, the 49ers will face off against the Kansas City Chiefs in Miami to decide the champion of the NFL’s 54th Super Bowl and 100th season.

Here in Sonoma County, we’ve got plenty of good craft beer worthy of the occasion. After all, it’s been a long stretch since the Niners last played in a Super Bowl in 2013, where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens.

One of the newest craft breweries on the block is Santa Rosa’s Steele & Hops, which recently hired an experienced brewmaster to launch a full-scale on-site brewery operation. The family-owned restaurant and

bar, which opened its doors in July 2016, started brewing up IPAs and stouts in mid-September. Of the dozen beers made so far, five have sold out.

“The beer is only available on-site. It’s ‘beer for here,’?” said Chase Williamson, who owns the gastropub with his wife, Jonnie, and his father, Cully. “We’re trying to be well-rounded. We’ll always serve IPAs - they are the most popular - and darker beers in the winter, lighter in the summer.”

The production goal is to have six to eight house beers on tap at any one time, ranging from Sonoma County classics to special seasonal releases. There is one fermentation tank inside and three outside in a brewery built by Healdsburg-based Criveller, who also designed breweries for Henhouse in Petaluma and Cooperage in Santa Rosa.

In recent weeks, the house beers included “Hair of the Bear” hazy IPA, made with Citra hops for a citrusy, tropical flavor; “3 Chainz” Belgian Triple, a full-body beer that’s malty and spicy from roasted coriander and “Blind Squirrel” Brown Ale, made with roasted pecans and chocolate malt, resulting in a roasted, nutty flavor.

“We’re not pretentious,” said brewer Justin Green, who has worked in the East Bay at E.J. Phair, Jupiter and Drake’s brewing companies. “It is a homey feel to the beers and the food.”

The owners of Steele & Hops are partial to the Green Bay Packers, who lost 37-20 to the Niners in the NFL Conference Championship. The restaurant proudly displays green and gold pennants, jerseys and even a triangular cheesehead behind the bar.

“We are a Green Bay Packer establishment,” Chase Williamson said. “Quarterback Bart Starr was my dad’s favorite player as a kid.”

For those of you throwing a Super Bowl party at home this Sunday, the gastropub shared some of its favorite football-watching dishes, plus a batch cocktail, to ramp up the fun.

“Chase and I have always done a lot of Super Bowl entertaining, and chili and deviled eggs are a must,” Jonnie Williamson said. “These are both make-ahead recipes so hosts will be spending the time with their friends watching the game instead of in the kitchen.”

The Beet Pickled Eggs made by Executive Chef Lucio Alamilla offers football fans an extra kick of horseradish in their eggs.

“These have been a favorite in our pub since we opened,” Jonnie said. “They are a showstopper with their bright color, but anyone can make them at home.”

For the main course, you can’t beat a big, steaming pot of chili garnished with cheese, onions and sour cream. Steele & Hops uses house-ground organic chuck from Marin Sun Farms for extra beefy flavor.

“This is the place to spend a little more at a good butcher counter,” Jonnie said. “Get the best meat you can and your chili will show it. And get some nice, new fresh chili powder.”

Chase Williamson, who started off his career at well-known San Francisco restaurants such as Nopa and Prospect, has done a lot of bartending and enjoys making all kinds of herbal tinctures and syrups for his restaurant’s cocktail program.

For his Super Bowl ... of Punch cocktail, home mixologists will need to make a simple cinnamon syrup and a honey syrup, then blend them in a big punch bowl with bourbon and garnishes of grapefruit and lemon wheels.

“Serve over ice in those pretty glasses you have had for years but never used,” Jonnie Williamson suggested. “I have rescued dozens of punch bowls and glasses from secondhand stores.”

Steele & Hops raises bees on its roof and has a garden on its sunny south side to help augment its cocktail and food program. They share their spent grain with the livestock of Crane Ranch Hops off Petaluma Hill Road and, next year, hope to close the circle of beef, barley and beer.

“There’s a malter in Rohnert Park (James Mahon of Grizzly Malt) who malts the barley from Crane Ranch,” Chase Williamson said. “When the barley is ready, he will sell the malted barley and the hops to us, and then we will return the spent grain and buy the cow that ate our spent grain.”

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For this chili recipe, use the heaviest stock pot you own plus the best ground beef you can find and fresh chili powder. Steele & Hops uses organic chuck from Marin Sun Farms.

Steele & Hops Chili

Makes 6 to 8 servings

- Olive oil

2½ pounds ground beef, preferably from Marin Sun Farms

- Salt and pepper to taste

1 yellow onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup chili powder

½ teaspoon cayenne

1 red bell pepper, medium to large dice

1 green bell pepper, medium to large dice

1 yellow bell pepper, medium to large dice

1 can (28-ounce) whole tomatoes

2 cups chicken or beef stock

1 can (14½-ounce) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (14½-ounce) kidney beans, drained and rinsed

In the heaviest stock pot you have, heat a small swirl of oil until shimmering. Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. With a wooden spoon, mash and turn your beef until it’s browned. (If your pot is small, you may need to do this in two batches.)

Add onions and sweat until translucent, then add garlic. Season again with a little more salt and pepper, and add chili powder and cayenne.

Cook, stirring constantly, until your spices are fragrant. Add all the bell peppers and stir them in. Add tomatoes (squeeze them with your hands to break up or leave whole if you like big tomato bites), stock and beans.

Give the chili a stir, and bring the heat up to a low boil. (It may look dry, but the peppers will release water, so don’t add more stock.) Stir from the bottom, and reduce to simmer. Let it cook for an hour, stirring occasionally.

You can keep it hot through your party; the longer the better. Or make a day ahead and reheat. Load it up with your favorite garnishes: cheese, onions, sour cream and Fritos.

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Beet Pickled Deviled Eggs

Makes 24 pieces

4 cups (32 ounces) distilled white vinegar

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 red beet, peeled and cut into pieces (wear gloves)

12 hard-boiled eggs, cut in half, yolks reserved

1/3 cup mayo

2 tablespoons horseradish

2 teaspoons good vinegar (white wine or any better vinegar you have)

2 teaspoons Dijon

1 teaspoon kosher salt

In a large sauce pot, add the first four ingredients and boil, stirring until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool. Add the halved egg whites and make sure they are submerged, weighing them down if necessary (a smaller lid works well for this). Refrigerate for 24 hours or until the desired taste, texture and color has been achieved. Your eggs are perfect when they’re pink-purple, slightly firm and have a bright, pickled flavor.

Next, in a mixing bowl, add all of the remaining ingredients and mix and smash together until fairly smooth.

You can transfer the mixture into a piping bag and pipe each egg full of the yolk mixture, but this isn’t necessary. You can spoon your mixture into each egg, being careful to keep it looking tidy.

Plate them on a serving tray or a large plate, and add garnish of your choice.

Our garnish is a sprinkle of paprika, crispy fried shallots and a little chopped parsley. Chopped bacon would be great, and so would chives and radish slices.

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You can find Velvet Falernum, a Caribbean liqueur, at better liquor stores or specialty grocery stores.

Super Bowl of Punch

Makes 25 5-ounce servings

250 ml cinnamon syrup (see below)

250 ml honey syrup (see below)

1 liter of good bourbon

70 ml fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (about 6 grapefruits, but you still need to measure)

250 ml fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about 6 lemons, seriously, measure the juice)

250 ml Velvet Falernum

1,000 ml cold water

1 grapefruit, sliced into wheels

2 lemons, sliced into wheels

For the cinnamon syrup: Put 1½ cups water, 1½ cups sugar and 3 cinnamon sticks in a small pan and simmer for 30 minutes.

For honey syrup: Blend equal parts honey and hot water (this makes it easier to dissolve into the recipe).

Combine all of the ingredients in a big punch bowl and garnish with wheels of grapefruit and lemon. Serve over ice in pretty glasses. Remember to sip, don’t guzzle.

Staff Writer Diane Peterson can be reached at 707-521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @dianepete56.