Cocktail · Medium strength
Bloody Mary
Vodka, tomato, spice, and a salad on top — brunch's savory monument.
How to order it: Worcestershire, horseradish, celery salt. The garnish arms race is optional.
Flavor profile
The recipe
- 2 oz vodka
- 4 oz tomato juice
- ½ oz lemon; horseradish to taste
- Worcestershire, hot sauce, celery salt
- Roll, don't shake; garnish ambitiously
The story
Fernand 'Pete' Petiot claimed he first mixed vodka and tomato juice at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in the 1920s, then perfected the spiced version at the St. Regis hotel's King Cole Bar in New York — where propriety renamed it the Red Snapper. Entertainer George Jessel claimed it too, loudly; Petiot allowed that Jessel may have had the bare idea, while the seasoning was his. Even the name is contested: Queen Mary I, a Chicago waitress, a Hemingway anecdote — take your pick. What's settled is its station: the only cocktail with brunch sovereignty, a meal, a remedy, and a dare in one glass. It endures because mornings needed an ambassador.
Adjacent pours