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  • Recipes: Variations of the Bloody Mary

    Since the invention of the Bloody Mary, variations of the popular vodka/tomato juice cocktail have made their way into our homes and bars.

    The Bloody Caesar

    The most popular variation on the Bloody Mary is the Bloody Caesar. More common in Canada than the traditional Bloody, the Caesar uses Clamato juice as a mixer rather than tomato juice, but does little else in changing the original recipe.

    Ingredients:

    • 1.5 oz Vodka
    • 4 oz Clamato
    • Celery Salt
    • 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
    • 2 dashes Tabasco Sauce
    • Prepared horseradish, to taste (optional)

    Coat the rim of a tall glass with celery salt, fill with ice and set aside. Add the remaining ingredients to a mixing glass and fill with ice. Pour back and forth into another mixing glass a few times to mix. Strain into the prepared glass and garnish.

    A similar variation is the Bloody Eight, which replaces the tomato juice with V8.

    The Red Hammer (Red snapper, Bloody Margaret, Ruddy Mary)

    During prohibition, vodka was hard to come by. But gin sure wasn’t. Bloody Mary drinkers soon turned to the only clear spirit they could get, or make themselves, and the Red Hammer was born. In fact, after prohibition ended, people continued to call the vodka version of the drink the same name, but eventually Mary would be bloody once again. The gin version of a Bloody is now known as Red Snapper or the Ruddy Mary.

    Bloody Murder

    If you like your Bloodies hot, this one’s for you.

    Ingredients:

    • 3 oz Gin
    • 3 oz Tomato juice
    • Celery salt
    • 2 shakes of Black Vinegar
    • Wasabi sauce
    • 2 shakes of Tabasco

    Fill a pint glass with ice and add in vinegar, celery salt, wasabi and Tabasco. Add gin and tomato juice. Pour mix into another pint glass and back again. Repeat. Garnish with a cherry tomato pierced with a plastic sword stirrer.

    Bull Shot

    In place of tomato juice, add a beef bouillon or beef consume.

    No change but the garnish

    The Slutty Mary is garnished with a sausage. Ha ha

    The Bloody Charlie is garnished with simply two olives to represent a man’s balls.

    Really, really weird mixes

    The Bloody Marynara substitutes marinara for tomato juice and is served as a shot. WHY?!

    Apparently there is a frozen Bloody Mary that includes milk or cream and served like a margarita, with a celery stick and/or a shrimp.

     

     

     

  • The History of the Bloody Mary

    I have never met a “classic” cocktail without some sort of questionable history. Someone, somewhere claims to have invented a combination of one thing and another, and then, a year or so later, another person comes out with a revolutionary new drink. The Bloody Mary is no different, and at times, a little more confusing.

    Once upon a time in 1926 France, American (or sometimes French) bartender, Fernand Petiot was working at Harry’s New York Bar in France. He mixed up a drink of equal parts vodka and tomato juice. (Supposedly) one of his American ex-patriot customers said the drink reminded him of a waitress from a bar back in Chicago called The Bucket of Blood Club, and suggested he call it “Bloody Mary.”  In 1934, good old “Pete,” as his friends called him, returned to the US, and brought his creation to the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis in New York City. It was redubbed, “The Red Snapper” due to the vulgarity of its original name (hmmmm, really, red snapper is less offensive?), but the new name didn’t stick. It was at the St. Regis that Pete started spicing up the drink, making it the pallet enticer it is today.

    But wait just a gol’darn tootin minute! Way back in 1927 (or 1939, or 195something), good old comedian George Jessel was trying to make his mind less cluttery one morning, and combined the nutrient rich breakfast favorite tomato juice with another breakfast staple, vodka. I guess he had a lady friend named Mary over, and she spilled some on her shirt, cuz the legend says she gleefully exclaimed “Now, you can call me Bloody Mary, George!”

    The Jessel story is supported by the fact that he appeared in multiple Smirnoff ads claiming the Bloody Mary as his invention; however, apparently Jessel tended to be a bit of a story teller, so it’s possible he was just riding the bandwagon to get a good payday.

    But then, Petiot himself gives credence to both stories. In 1964, he is quoted in the New Yorker saying, “I initiated the Bloody Mary of today. George Jessel said he created it, but it was really nothing but vodka and tomato juice when I took it over. I 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; I 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.”

    I think Petey was just being nice.

     

  • Found on the Internet: DIY Bloody Mary Bar

    Found on Worth the Whisk through Liqurious, “How to make a do it yourself Bloody Mary bar”. It’s a great guide. I tend to disagree with putting directions with it (beyond how much booze needed), and I’d offer more garnishes (pickles, mushrooms, etc), but overall, it’s a great way to give a meeting or get together a little more oomph.

    http://worththewhisk.com/2011/02/26/how-to-make-a-diy-bloody-mary-bar/

  • Recipes: Drink Matron Bloody Marys

    Everyone has their own Bloody Mary recipes. Adrian and I are no different. Here are our very different recipes.

    Matron’s Bloody Mary

    Ingredients:

    • 3 oz Vodka
    • 3 oz Tomato juice
    • 10 dashes of Celery salt
    • 7 shakes of Worcestershire sauce
    • 1 shake of Tabasco

    Fill a pint glass with ice and shake in Worcestershire, celery salt and Tabasco. Add vodka and tomato juice. Pour mix into another pint glass and back again. Repeat. Garnish with a pickle and 2 olives.

    Adrian’s Bloody Mary

    Ingredients:

    • 3 oz Vodka
    • 8 oz Tomato Juice
    • 1 Dash of Celery Salt
    • 4-6 shakes of Worcestershire
    • 3-4 shakes of Pepper
    • 1/2 tsp Horseradish
    • Celery Stalk Garnish

    Fill a pint a glass with ice. Pour in the vodka and tomato juice and then add spices. Stir together with celery stalk.

  • Recipes: Irish Car Bombs

    The Irish Car Bomb is a staple of the St. Patrick’s Day diet.  This delightful bomb shot consists of Irish stout, Irish whiskey, and Irish cream, and is definitely a tasty addition to the line up of potent potables imbibed on this most auspicious of occasions.

    The Irish Car Bomb was invented in 1979 by Charles Burke Cronin Oat at Wilson’s Saloon in Norwich, CT.  Originally, Oat had crafted a shot he called “The Grandfather” which was two parts Baileys and one part Kahlua.  He felt something was missing from this and eventually added a splash of Irish whiskey on top of the shot.  Commenting on the bubbling explosion-like reaction the whiskey had on the shot, Oat proclaimed “the IRA just showed up!”  Thus, the Grandfather became the IRA.  Several years later, while Oat was drinking IRAs and Guinness, he impulsively dropped the explosive concoction into what was left of his beer and drank it.  It was a success with other patrons and now we have the Irish Car Bomb.

    In the time since then, Kahlua has been dropped from the recipe leaving only the Irish ingredients.  However, the original Irish Car Bomb is still around.  These days it’s called a Belfast Car Bomb.

    Irish Car Bomb

    • 1/2 pint Irish stout (typically Guinness)
    • 1/2 ounce Irish cream (typically Bailey’s)
    • 1/2 ounce Irish whiskey (typically Jameson)

    Mix the Irish cream with the Irish whiskey in a shot glass.  Pour the half-pint of stout into a pint glass.  Drop the shot glass into the pint glass and slam.

    Note: You should drink this as fast as possible because the way that the ingredients react to each other causes the Irish cream to curdle quickly.  The flavor isn’t affected but drinking a half-pint of curdled anything is just plain gross.

    Belfast Car Bomb

    • 1/2 pint Irish stout (typically Guinness)
    • 1/2 ounce Irish cream (typically Bailey’s)
    • 1/4 ounce coffee liqueur (typically Kahlua)
    • 1 splash Irish whiskey (typically Jameson)

    Mix the Irish cream with the coffee liqueur in a shot glass.  Add a splash of Irish whiskey on top of your shot.  Pour a half-pint of Irish stout into a pint glass.  Drop the shot glass into the pint glass and slam.

  • Dashed dreams of applejack

    For a while now, we’ve been planning on scrapping the advice I give in my “Applejack: America’s forgotten liquor” article and seeing if we can freeze distillate our very own batch of tasty applejack. We talked on end about it last winter and did nothing, and now that we’ve got a batch of hard cider yeasting away in our dining room, the cold temps of winters past seem to have forgotten us, leaving no hope for any naughty illegal spirits brewing on the back deck.

    There’s always next year, I suppose. Or maybe February…

  • Applejack – America’s Forgotten Liquor

    Until the recent surge in mixing classic cocktails, Applejack had become a forgotten gem of America’s drinking culture. Surprisingly, however, this liquor plays part in some of our most traditional drinks.

    Finding new cocktails to try is something that has always intrigued me. Mixing standard liquors with odd washes like guava juice was a great way for me to find what I like and don’t like and has given me the ability to offer the best advice to those who are looking for a new taste.

    But I’d never heard of applejack. At least, I’d never heard of the liquor called applejack. I had, of course, heard of the combination of apple schnapps and Jack Daniels that made my friends and me pucker our lips and shake out the dry whiskey taste. But the two are far from the same.

    The first time I heard of applejack was when I received a comment from a reader who was offended that I would use apple schnapps in anything, and recommended that I try the old spirit by mixing up a classic Jack Rose. After that, I kept running into the booze in my readings and conversations. So I decided it was time to learn a little bit about this old colonial favorite.

    Freeze Distillation

    Applejack is traditionally made from concentrating hard cider by a method of freeze distillation. Freeze distillation is a process of concentrating the alcohol in a fermented beverage by freezing it, then removing the frozen material. Because water freezes before the alcohol, the more the beverage is frozen, the more water is removed, leaving a higher concentration of alcohol when the freezing process is complete.

    The drink tastes strongly of apples (due to the cider), and because jacking is a term used for freeze distillation, the liquor was named applejack. Because of the possible dangers of freeze distillation, this process has become less popular and is illegal in many countries. You must have a license to use this process, so please do not try it at home.

    The Origin of Applejack

    It seems that applejack was discovered by accident. In the 17th century, northern American farmers would leave their hard cider outside during the winter months to keep it cold. Any liquid that froze was removed, leaving a more potent blend behind. Once this became apparent, people began collecting apples and creating their own.

    Applejack Cocktail Recipes

    Jack Rose


    The original applejack cocktail.

    • 1 1/2 oz Applejack,
    • 1/2 oz Grenadine,
    • The Juice of 1/2 Lime

    Fill a shaker over half full of ice and pour in the ingredients. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

    Applecart

    Don’t upset it.

    • 1 1/2 oz Applejack
    • 1 oz Triple Sec
    • 1/2 oz Lemon juice

    Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

    Widow’s Kiss

    • 1 1/2 oz Applejack
    • 1/2 oz Chartreuse Green
    • 3/4 oz Benedictine Liqueur
    • 2 Dashes of Bitters

    Stir with small amount of ice and strain into a champagne glass. Garnish with a cherry.

  • Before we eat, we drink and eat…Bloodies!

    Yes, we do have pint glasses with our names on them, courtesy of my awesomely creative sister, Becky, and her wedding.

     

  • Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving!

    Mimosas – start your turkey day out right.

  • Guest Post: Erik Nabler of Liquor Locusts reviews Hornsby’s “Crisp” Apple Cider

    In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. As Tennyson, or somebody, so wisely said. However, in the fall, it turns to thoughts of drink. For, as the days get shorter, moods get darker, what is there to console us but the sweet kiss of C2H5OH. In other words, drink sustains us through the dark of winter.

    And to hold on to what we can of the summer and the fall, what better to drink than Apple Cider. Not the zero proof alcohol of our youth (although I am reminded of the best apple cider ever during my childhood where it had, unbeknownst to Mom, fermented-dang I was a happy kid for a bit) but the hard cider of our bitter, older years.

    So, when the Drink Matron kindly allowed me to put up a review of hard cider, I had to think hard about what to review. I thought at first of Blackthorn Dry, my favorite widely available cider. Then, as I was driving home, I realized that I did not have a bottle of it in the house, I did not want to stop at too many stores on the way home, so I am reviewing Hornsby’s Crisp Apple Cider. Sometimes you review what is there.

    So, what we find with Hornsby’s first off, is that it is priced right. On sale, in California, you can often find it for $6.99 per sixer, sometimes less. Good price for cider. The cider itself is decent. It is sweet, with a pronounced apple flavor, and simple. There is no complexity here, nor is it dry, which I tend to like. It is good in hot weather, and decent in cold. It has just a bit of “snap” to it, which can justify the “crisp” title as opposed to the Hornsby Amber. This is a cider that would go very well with cheddar cheese, or could be superb with a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, if that is how you roll.

    As my better half so rightly put it – This is a really good juice box with kick.

    To summarize, this is very drinkable for the price. If you want a different experience, get the dry Blackthorn, but that is for another review, perhaps tomorrow.

    Erik Nabler is a blogger who writes about booze at Liquorlocusts.com. As noted, he dispenses “Cynicism, bitterness, and drink. ” Self medication has become a way of life for him and his 52 cats. Please visit the site any time and make pity comments. Erik loves pith.