The Bloody Mary is more than just a tasty way to get a little hair of the dog. According to the American Chemical Society, it's also one of the most complex cocktails out there. That's why this group of chemists decided to spend months analyzing the drink, in the process coming up with some tips for making the best Bloody Mary.
The most surprising tip? Use cheap vodka! (Read on to find out why.)
A mix of tomato juice, vodka, horseradish, lemon or lime juice, black pepper, celery salt, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce, a Bloody Mary is a cocktail with a lot of built-in complexity. Neil C. Da Costa, Ph.D., a flavor chemist, says, "It covers almost the entire range of human taste sensations — sweet, salty, sour and umami."
Here are his tips for making a great Bloody Mary:
• Make it fresh. Chemically, the Bloody Mary is a “highly unstable” concoction, and the quality tends to deteriorate quickly.
• Ice it up. Serving Bloody Marys on ice helps to slow down the chemical reactions involving acids in tomato juice and other ingredients that degrade the taste.
• Mind your mixes. If you use a cocktail mix, add some fresh ingredients to enhance the flavor and aroma.
• Splurge on the juice. Tomato juice makes up most of the Bloody Mary’s volume, so use high quality juice that has a deep, rich flavor.
• Economize on the vodka. The intense, spicy flavor of a Bloody Mary masks the vodka, and using premium vodka makes little sense.
He also notes that the tomato juice, horseradish and citrus in the drink can have beneficial health effects, giving us another excuse to mix up a couple Bloody Marys this weekend.
• Read the full article: Creating the perfect Bloody Mary - American Chemical Society
Do you have any tips for making a great Bloody Mary?
Related: A Bloody Mary, With a Twist of Pickle
(Image: Flickr member isante_magazine licensed under Creative Commons)
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The spicy, lemony, tomato-y mix without the vodka is great to drink when you feel a cold coming. My tip is: taste frequently when mixing and adjust until perfect.
My tip, which may sound weird: make it with V8 instead of tomato juice, and with gin instead of vodka. Also, try Old Bay instead of celery salt, and consider garnishing with a shrimp or two. :)
@Kenboy - that's the only way I drink/eat it !
I like V8 a lot though it's super high in sodium. Anyone else have fav tomato juice suggestions? We use Svedka as our house vodka mixer for things like this and it's also great for infused vodka, in my opinion. Chili infused vodka and coriander infused vodka make great bloody mary's, by the way....
I live in Maryland, so it's all but impossible to get anything BUT a "Bloody Maryland" (with Old Bay instead of celery salt). It's a shame, because I prefer it the traditional way!
I haven't found a vegetarian Worcestershire sauce that I like, so I usually sub in soy sauce, which works well. I also add a splash of extra dry sherry - it really adds a nice crispness and dry finish that I love. I think the best advice here, though, is the comment on tomato juice. Definitely don't use the cheap stuff, and avoid bloody mary mixes!
Try Clamato instead of Tomato and have a Seaside Mary
I totally agree about using cheap vodka. When I make mixed drinks, I never use the good stuff, unless it's a G&T, in which case nothing but Hendrick's will do.
Any recommendations for good tomato juice?
I'm in Canada (Edmonton, Alberta to be more specific), and here we drink Caesars, made using Clamato juice instead of just tomato. Since I'm a broke student, I usually use bottom-shelf vodka anyways!
Are Bloody Marys usually garnished with celery? That's the typical Caesar garnish, but a lot of places use pickled beans or asparagus, which I find a lot more interesting.
What about Bloody 'Rita? Use tequila instead of vodka. I like all the ingredients of the bloody mary, but for some reason I prefer the flavor combo with tequila instead.
And I use either the Clamato or Spicy V8.
I like to make up the vodka/spice part of my Marys ahead of time: vodka, worcestershire, lots of horseradish, olives and olive juice, celery salt, coarse ground black pepper, tabasco sauce and a little lime. Let that stew as long as you like, and add to as little or as much tomato juice as you like. mmm.
Around here I grew up (after 21 of course) using Blue Crab Bay bloody mary mix that is excellent. Like Clamato, but better. http://www.bluecrabbay.com/Sting-Ray-Bloody-Mary-Mixer-Undressed/productinfo/00001/
I love Bolthouse Farms brand Vedge juice. I buy it in the refrigerated produce section of my grocery store.
It's tomato-carrot-celery juice and it's perfect in gazpacho or bloody marys.
However, I just looked at their website and it's not listed as a juice product so now I'm nervous that they don't make it anymore? That would be a big bummer.
There is also low sodium V8. It actually tastes great. So, try that instead. I often use an organic tomato juice with Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, sea salt to make it work. Sometimes a bit of carrot juice goes in to cut down on the overall acidity.
I mix tomato and clamato juice, add vodka, Worcestershire, celery salt, pepper, LOTS of green olives, maybe a spear of pickle, dash of lemon juice.
Username26 -- I love bolthouse farms juices but I've never tried that one. I'll have to look for it.
I love making a pitcher of Bloody Marys for an afternoon party. I'm also in Canada (Toronto) so it's hard to find anything but Caesars in bars/restaurants. I prefer my cocktails clam-free, thankyouverymuch.
I'd never found a Bloody mix I liked - (never spicy or "deep" tasting enough, I hate that thin watery tomato juice taste) until now!
If you're in Southern California, Ballast Point brewery has made their own Bloody Mary mix and it's pretty much perfect. It has their Calico amber ale in it and is only like $5.99/bottle. Get it if you can!
i don't want to sound like a wimp but don't forget the VIRGIN mary!! all of the above but without the vodka (which you cant taste anyway)