Toast Tuesday: Bloody Mary

This being the day after Halloween, some folks may need a Bloody Mary. Maybe the folks with whom I was passing the time with last night need a Bloody Mary. I made a rather ominous concoction I dubbed the Blood Bath Punch, complete with eyeballs and hands crawling out of the bowl. I just realized I didn’t take any photos until the frozen hand was pliable enough to make obscene gestures.

This week in our Year of Drinking Adventurously, our author chose the Bloody Mary in honor of the spooky holiday we have just passed. What drink has a better Halloween name than the Bloody Mary? Well, maybe several of those classic tiki cocktails, but that’s for another day.  Everyone has heard some variation of the story of Bloody Mary and how saying her name three times gets some sort of vision in a mirror or some such crap. Pish posh.

M and I went for lunch on Sunday to a local pub that has a build your own Bloody Mary bar. They have an assortment of spices, herbs, sauces, and vegetables all laid out for you. You wander over with your pint of ice and vodka and create your masterpiece. Little did I realize, you can mess these things up. If you don’t know the basic building blocks to start with, your drink may not be drinkable. In my mind a proper Bloody Mary is a mix of savory and spice with some freshness to wake things up.

Savory:  Worcestershire sauce, smoked or roasted peppers, roasted garlic, smoked paprika…
Spice: cayenne pepper, jalapeño, Tabasco, horseradish, spicy paprika…
Fresh: fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice, fresh herbs like cilantro or parsley…

This is just a quick start, not even a moderately complete list.  It never occurred to me that you could make a bad Bloody, but M was not keen on his.  The balance was a bit off.  I tried to save it with my secret ingredient, dill pickle brine, but that didn’t even work.

Briefly, don’t limit your Bloody to just vodka.  The first time I had a gin Bloody Mary was a game changer for me.  Since that time, I will put whatever suits my mood for the day.  How about a fresh pepper infused tequila or a smoky whiskey?  Don’t even limit yourself to just tomato juice.  I once hosted brunch for St Paddy’s day and made a tomatillo Bloody.  Quite tasty.

Go see what Meg drank this week and then run out and enjoy your Tuesday!  We are having the most wonderful fall.  I cannot believe it is November.  It feels more like spring with an expected high of 86 today.  Crazy!

One final reminder, in case you haven’t… Get off your ass and VOTE!