A Cocktail-a-Day #14: The Classic, Most Traditional Bloody Mary Recipe?

I love Bloody Mary’s. Who doesn’t like breakfast and alcohol in the same drink? Just found out that a Bloody Mary is considered to be a “hair of the dog” drink that is consumed with the express purpose of lessening a hangover. Basically, a hangover cure.

In my quest to find the best and most traditional recipe, I discovered that the drink has a contentious history. No one really knows where it originated. The most plausible and oft-quoted story involves Fernand Petiot, a bar tender working at the New York Bar in Paris, invented it in 1921. However, it was not transformed into the brunch drink we know today until he was at the St. Regis hotel in NYC in 1933, where he added the special ingredient Tabasco sauce.

It is also possible that a comedian by the name George Jessel who frequented the 21 Club invented it and Petiot simply added the finishing touches in 1939. It seems the original version of the Bloody Mary was simply a 50/50 vodka/tomato juice mix without any of the ingredients fancy ingredients.

As for a “standard” recipe, I think that’s just a laughable notion. BM is probably the most experimented cocktail next to the martini based on the literally 10s (maybe even 100s) of variations that I found on the Internets. Here’s the most classic recipe I could find (warning, it’s not as awesome as we have come to know it):

1 oz. vodka

3 oz. tomato juice

1 oz. lemon juice

Salt & Pepper

Celery stick (optional)

Combine the ingredients over large ice (so it doesn’t become a watery mess) in a highball glass and stir to ensure even mixing.

That’s it. No Tabasco, Worchestershire sauce, rimming the glass with celery salt, or anything else.

Uh ok.

So I made myself one just for shits & giggles, even though I had all the pre-requisite ingredients.

It was…meh.

With none of the complex flavours of Tabasco and Worchestershire, the classic version of the drink had lost its potency. What makes BM the tipple of choice for me is the harmonious blend of sweet, spicy, salty, and sour. The classic version has the saltiness and sourness, but lacks the oomphf to make it stand out.

I plan on making my way through some of the variations I have seen on the net to come up with my personal favourite. But I would encourage everyone to try the classic version just to be able to appreciate the more contemporary, modernist versions.

Happy experimenting!

A Cocktail-a-Day #5: Harvey Wallbanger

Ah, the weekend is here. Saturday mornings are the best. Friday nights are usually when I get the best sleep as my mind is not as subconsciously pre-occupied with waking up the next day. What an awesome feeling.

Another awesome thing about weekends is the early alcohol before 10 am. It’s funny how any other day of the week, it’s taboo, but on the weekends, alcohol with breakfast is perfectly fine.

I didn’t have any champagne at home to make a mimosa, but I did have Galliano and orange juice, so opted to make the classic Harvey Wallbanger instead.

Recipe:

– 1 oz. Galliano (1/2 oz. if you don’t like it too sweet)

– 1 oz. vodka

– 4 oz. OJ

Ice

Pour the OJ and vodka over ice in a highball glass and give it a quick stir. Layer the Galliano on top. Done.

Badaboom, badabing.

Discussion

Harvey Wallbanger was created in 1952 by three-time world champion mixologist Donato ‘Duke’ Antone (Paolantonio). There’s multiple recipes and variations on the ratios, but the most classic seems to be layering the Galliano on top. I would stir a couple of times after layering the liqueur to mix it up otherwise you would get a strong burst of flavour followed by a tepid OJ/vodka combo. In essence, Harvey Wallbanger is a screwdriver with a twist.

When OJ and Galliano combine, there’s this explosion of vanilla flavour that is just delicious. There’s also subtle star anise underlying the vanilla top note. To be honest, I never researched Galliano much until today. It is a sweet herbal liqueur that was first created in 1896 by Italian distiller and brandy producer Arturo Vaccari of Livorno, Tuscany. It was named after Giuseppe Galliano, who is apparently a “hero of the first Italo-Ethiopian war” (why were the Italians fighting the Ethiopians. Wtf?).

I was pleased to discover that yes, the liqueur does contain vanilla (although I would have never picked up on the subtle star anise note if I hadn’t read about it).  Natural ingredients like anise, ginger, juniper, musk yarrow, and lavender are infused in the neutral alcohol and then distilled. The distillate is then infused with pressed vanilla before finally being blended with additional neutral alcohol and water.

Harvey Wallbanger is a great alternative to a regular old mimosa or screwdriver for brunch. It just packs in so much flavour that I would be hard-pressed to go back to a “regular” brunch-centric cocktails like mimosas.

Photography

Photography was a pain. I was trying to use the natural sunlight in my west-facing room but it was not bright enough to make the drink translucent enough. In hindsight, OJ is probably too opaque to get that “translucent” look in non-fruit juice based alcohols.

I tried brightening up the foreground with my tungsten lights but I hate doing that cause then you have to deal with mixed lighting, which is harder to expose and white balance for. I kept blowing out the highlights as the background was much brighter. Shining the lights from the front created ugly reflections, so I had to shift them to the side, which worked, but still didn’t provide sufficient foreground lighting.

The final picture looks ok, but I feel like something is missing. I had to switch one light to the back and one to side as per my usual setup. Ironically, it was easier to obtain a picture of my final setup than of the cocktail! I am going to have to drop by The Camera Store or Vistek to further develop my studio photography skills.

Bottom line is, I need more lights.