The Bloody Mary is back. Again.
And this time, it’s not about hair of the dog or hangovers.
The cocktail has evolved, moving away from what was essentially just a glass of cold Heinz tomato soup and vodka garnished with a celery stick and becoming something much more interesting.
Nowadays, it’s made for the discerning cocktail enthusiast, and according to experts, the drink, which dates back to the 1920s, is now seen as a rich, creative playground for mixologists.
How was the Bloody Mary changed?
Drew Mallins, founder of the London Bar Association, tells Metro that the drink has been modernised and people are getting crafty with the ingredients.
‘People have become very imaginative with the Bloody Mary,’ he says.
‘Because it’s got so many ingredients, you have a lot to play around with – you can add all sorts of spices and different types of tomatoes, and obviously different spirit bases as well. There’s a lot you can do with it.’
There’s no doubt, the Bloody Mary doesn’t operate like other cocktails. It’s one of only a handful of drinks that have a pre-midday drinking slot allocated to it by society, joining Buck’s Fizz, Champagne, and the Breakfast Martini. But those make us feel woozy after a couple of glasses, and not always in a good way.
How to make a classic Bloody Mary at home…
There’s long been a trend of putting everything from lobster claws to Greek salad on top of the Bloody Mary, but Ryan Chetiyawardana, one of the world’s best bartenders, feels crazy garnishes make a mockery of this classic drink
The owner of Lyaness & Seed Library tells Metro: ‘I lament the Bloody Mary because you’d see people put all sorts of stuff in it. It became more of a vessel for the social media trend of going, look at my lobster and my burger balanced on top of a highball glass.’
With that in mind, here’s a classic recipe for the cocktail…
Ingredients:
- 50ml Sapling Vodka (or your favourite brand)
- 100ml Tomato Juice (or V8 if you like it more vegetal)
- 10ml Tio Pepe Fino sherry
- Squirt of sriracha
- Squirt of HP Sauce
- Lemon juice
- White pepper
- 8 drops Tabasco (depending on heat tolerance)
- Celery salt
- Celery stick
Method:
Build the ingredients in an iceless glass, adding them in stages and seasoning well with the lemon, celery salt, and pepper as you go (as if you’re cooking soup). Then, fill a Collins glass with medium-large ice cubes that have been out of the freezer a minute (so they have a sheen on them, not a layer of frost), add the mixture and gently stir, and use a lemon wedge and celery stick for garnish.
The Bloody Mary, on the other hand, is mainly tomato juice and therefore contains minerals and vitamins. It could almost be considered one of our five-a-day, and doesn’t draw unnecessary attention to the fact that we’re drinking in the morning. Not like a fruity Bellini does, for example. I mean, we could be drinking a Virgin Mary, for all judgmental onlookers know.
And because of its gazpacho-adjacency, the Bloody Mary could very nearly be classified as a food item. Which is why certain restaurants have entire areas on their menus devoted to this cocktail.
And they’re not just offering the binary ‘classic or spicy’ options, either. They’re trying out different base spirits, house-made mixes, pickle options, and garnishes you’d usually associate with hotel lunch buffets.
Where can you try a modernised Bloody Mary?
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Smith and Wollensky, for example, the American steakhouse chain, has an extensive Bloody Mary menu. It features six variants of the drink, with ‘The Classic’ made from Absolut Elyx Vodka, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, Tabasco, mustard, lemon juice, and seasoning.
‘The Red Snapper’ is the same, only with Sipsmith gin instead of vodka.
Then there’s the ‘Smoky Maria’, with pink peppercorn-infused Olmeca Altos Tequila, and a soupcon of mezcal. Their ‘Michelada’ comes with 49th and 3rd lager, garnished with Martini olives, while the Bloody BBQ features Smoked Absolut Elyx Vodka, smoky whisky, and brown sauce. Lastly, there’s their Virgin Mary, called ‘Bloody Shame’.
Likewise, though with a more pared-down selection, Berners Tavern have a couple of Bloody Mary options. For example, their ‘Berners Bloody Mary’ incorporates Ketel One vodka, Ancho Reyes (a chilli liqueur from Mexico), Laphroaig Quarter Cask whisky, tomato water, and smoked sea salt.
Meanwhile, their ‘Miss Maria’ contains Don Julio Blanco tequila, Black Barley Miso tomato juice, and spices.
Kwãnt Mayfair, the top-end bar no one can pronounce, has a Bloody Mary on their menu with Grey Goose Marmite vodka, El Diablo spice, lemon, tomato, and a cloud of mustard air. Mustard air? They just had to be fancy, didn’t they? In reality, it’s more of a mustard foam, but still.
Common Ground in North London also serves a Kimchi Bloody Mary, with kimchi brine and vegan Worcestershire Sauce.
But London’s beacon of Bloody Marys has to be Hawksmoor, whose ‘Ultimate Bloody Mary’ contains Pea Pod vodka, Pickle House X Hawksmoor Tomato Mix, lemon, and Jalapeño tincture.
And if you’re up for two hours of Bottomless Marying from 12 pm on a weekend, there’s always Little Nan’s Bar in Deptford. You’ll feel like you’re at, well, your nan’s house, where pretty much everything’s served out of a teapot.
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