Bloody Mary
ClassicIBA OfficialTomato, spice, and the cure for a slow Sunday.
Savory, bright, and gently spicy. Ripe tomato leads, deepened by the umami of Worcestershire and a slow build of chili heat; fresh lemon lifts it, and celery salt and cracked pepper give it a salted-rim savor. Substantial and refreshing at once — the rare cocktail that eats like a snack.
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz Vodka
- 3 oz Tomato Juice
- 0.5 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
- 2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 dashes Hot Sauce
- 0.5 tsp Horseradish (optional)
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 pinch Black Pepper
- Celery stalk · optional garnish
- Lemon wedge · optional garnish
Method
- 1
Fill a highball glass with ice.
- 2
Add the vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and horseradish.
- 3
Season with a pinch each of celery salt and black pepper.
- 4
Roll the drink gently between the glass and a shaker tin to mix without frothing.
- 5
Garnish with a celery stalk and a lemon wedge.
The Story
The Bloody Mary was born behind the bar at Harry's New York Bar in 1920s Paris, where bartender Fernand "Pete" Petiot married canned tomato juice with vodka — then a novelty in France. When he brought the drink to the St. Regis in New York in the 1930s, the hotel balked at the name and rechristened it the Red Snapper, but the seasonings he added there — lemon, Worcestershire, pepper, and a jolt of hot sauce — are what turned a two-ingredient curiosity into the savory, endlessly customizable icon we know. It remains the definitive morning-after drink, as much a small meal as a cocktail.
Recipe card
The whole recipe in one shareable image.
