I’m a huge fan of versatility. I like the footballer who can play in different positions, the sweater that one can wear all year round and the music of REM – appropriate for virtually every occasion from a long drive on the freeway to a rendez-vous with a few friends over some early evening cocktails. And on the subject of drinks, one of the most versatile ones out there is the Bloody Mary.

Ask frequent drinkers for their preferred hangover cure and alongside a hearty English breakfast (sausages, bacon, fried eggs, mushrooms and baked beans) and aspirin taken with a large glass of water, you will find this tomato-based cocktail perennially featured, which explains why it’s often seen as a morning drink. The reason for this probably has a lot do with its ingredients which include tobasco and spices, but more of that later.

If Bloody Mary acts as a good “hair of the dog” first thing in the morning, it’s also a great late-afternoon pick-me-up after a hard days’ work  when you still have tasks to do, errands to run and need your body and mind to be given a bit of a lift.  

It is however also a good choice for a long, drawn-out drinking session. Drinking endless glasses of beer can make you feel bloated and call for incessant trips to bathroom which can be both uncomfortable and inconvenient, specially if you’re drinking in a crowded bar. Straight Scotch can leave you seriously dehydrated the next day, white wine can give you terrible headaches if it’s of poor quality whilst champagne and the likes are obviously too expensive to be drinking over the course of a full evening. The tomato and lime juice plus all the ice helps to keep you hydrated and having  a few of them should be affordable  for most drinkers at most establishments.

There is uncertainty surrounding the drink’s creator and the origin of it’s name. It’s invention  is normally credited to Fernand Petiot, an ex pat who bartended at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in the ‘20’s though other versions suggest it was actually created by George Jessel in New York as late as 1939, a drink consisting just of  tomato juice and vodka, whilst Petiot later added all the extras that we now associate with the cocktail. In terms of the Mary connection, it could be named after “Mary Queen of Scots” (the English Queen), popular Hollywood actress Mary Pickford or a waitress by the same name who worked in a Chicago bar called “Bucket of Blood”. The “blood” connection obviously derives from it’s colour.

The celery stick is an essential ingredient for flavouring an stirring purposes.

Enough of it’s versatility and history. Let’s get making one:

Pour a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, 5-10 grains of rock salt and a dash of black pepper into a tall glass

Add 1 part lime juice, 3 parts vodka and 6 parts thick tomato juice

Crush 3 ice cubes using this method

Add 4-6 drops of Tabasco

Pour the contents into a shaker and shake vigorously

Add a celery stick and use the stick to mix as you drink to avoid the Worcestershire sauce and salt staying stuck at the bottom