How To Make the Best Bloody Mary!

Written November 8th, 2012 by go lb. salt
Categories: bacon, Black Truffle Salt, Booze, Recipes, rimlicks, rub yer belly, Tellicherry peppercorns

Sunday brunch and football season seem to be almost inseparable. Provide both of those at your local drinking establishment and you can just about guarantee you won’t spend the day at home. Add a Bloody Mary bar and it’s a lock. Whether your favorite team wins or loses, it’s a sure bet you’ll be back again next week to do it all again.

In recent years the advent of the Bloody Mary bar has provided for full expression of individuality. What’s more, anyone who thinks they are a bartender can try their hand at recreating what is commonly known as “the worlds most complex cocktail.”

The original Bloody Mary (the drink, not the name) was a simple blend that contained equal parts vodka and tomato juice. Bloody Mary’s are purported to be a great hangover remedy. But, let’s face it, there really is no such thing other than rest and rehydration. However, nothing screams “hair of the dog” like that original Bloody Mary.

By 1939 a NYC bar was serving Bloody Mary’s that were simple, straight forward and easy to create. That recipe went as follows:

Cover the bottom of the shaker with four large dashes of salt, two dashes of black pepper, two dashes of cayenne pepper, and a layer of Worcestershire sauce. Then add a dash of lemon juice and some cracked ice, put in two ounces of vodka and two ounces of thick tomato juice, shake, strain, and pour.

As far as Bloody Mary’s go, we’ve had far better! Perhaps part of that is because of the addition of a rimmer. Some simply use salt, others use celery salt and as some of you may know we’ve crafted our own unique rimmer for this wonderful drink. It’s the perfectly sublime blend of sweet, salty and smokey with hints of savory and spicy too!

There is also something to be said for the addition of a simple garnish. This does not mean that we are suggesting you add a salad to your drink. No, if you need a bamboo skewer for your garnish, or it takes the majority of the fingers on one (or both) hands to count the different garnishes you have selected to go with your Bloody Mary, you might consider signing up for a vegetarian support group. This is about the drink, not the salad you think comes with it!

We believe that olives, horseradish (or horseradish steeped vodka), tabasco (or srirachi), salt (unrefined sea salt of course), pepper, worcestershire, V8, beef broth, fresh squeezed lime juice and a pickled asparagus spear make an almost perfect Bloody Mary. Then again, a slice of Rub Yer Belly BBQ Bacon is pretty tasty addition and won’t be confused as a salad garnish! Remember, it is the “world’s most complex cocktail.” You can decide for yourself if you feel like taking a stab at the recipe below.

Either way, for those who choose to spend their Sunday’s watching football there are certainly worse drinks to have in hand!