🥃 Bloody Mary

The Bloody Mary is a classic cocktail of vodka and tomato juice, seasoned with lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco hot sauce, celery salt and pepper. The International Bartenders Association (IBA) lists it among the contemporary classics. It is served in a short glass or a highball, with a celery stick or a lemon wedge.

The IBA recipe. 45 ml vodka, 90 ml tomato juice, 15 ml fresh lemon juice, two dashes of Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco, celery salt and pepper to taste. The ingredients are gently stirred with ice in a mixing glass and strained into a rocks glass, or into a highball if the guest wants ice. The tomato juice makes it a long drink, but it contains as much alcohol as the measure of vodka.

History. Its origin is disputed. The inventor is most often said to be Fernand Petiot, a bartender at Harry's New York Bar in Paris, and the drink is dated to 1921. Difford's Guide doubts this: the actor George Jessel claimed he mixed vodka with tomato juice in 1927, and in 1939 a column by Lucius Beebe was already calling the drink “Bloody Mary”. From 1934 Petiot worked at the St. Regis hotel in New York and added spices to the recipe.

Name and variations. Where the name comes from is not known for certain: it has been linked to Queen Mary I of England, to a Chicago saloon and to several real women called Mary. At the St. Regis the drink was served for a time as the Red Snapper; today that name is often used for the gin version. With tequila instead of vodka it becomes a Bloody Maria, and without alcohol a Virgin Mary.

Why this matters to you. Tomato juice and spices do not make the cocktail light or healthy: a serving made to the IBA recipe contains about 14 g of pure alcohol. The Bloody Mary's reputation as a hangover cure has no basis; a fresh dose of alcohol only postpones the symptoms. The WHO reminds us that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.