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A New Twist On An Old Classic The history of the Bloody Mary and how to make it your own.
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n the 1920s, Fernand Petiot was an American bartender working at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris. In an effort to keep his bar new and exciting, he concocted an unusual drink made with vodka and tomato juice. The drink was dubbed the Bloody Mary. When Petiot moved back to the states in the 1930s and went to work at the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City, he brought his popular recipe with him. The hotel managers tried to tone down the name by calling it the Red Snapper, but the change didn’t last. New Yorkers were not originally impressed with the drink, calling it boring and bland. Petiot spiced the drink up, literally, by adding black pepper, cayenne pepper, Worcestershire sauce, lemon and even Tabasco sauce for those who dared. The drink took off, and a classic was created. 28
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WHAT’S IN A NAME? Although there are varying stories of how the Bloody Mary came to be known as such, the most widely accepted tale includes the story of Mary Tudor, also known as Mary I of England. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born to the king and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, in 1516. She was the fifth of six children and was the only one to survive past infancy. Although she was born an heir to the throne, she was declared illegitimate when Henry divorced her mother in 1532 in order to marry Anne Boleyn, the mother of Elizabeth I. Mary and her mother were publicly mocked and treated poorly by
Henry and others. Despite all of this, Mary still had a path to the throne when her younger half-brother, Edward VI, died from tuberculosis at age 15. Her five-year reign was violent and revolved around turning the country back to Catholicism. Mary is most known for murdering hundreds of Protestants—burning them at the stake—in the name of her beloved Catholicism. The nickname Bloody Mary was given to her before her death in 1558.
THE SPICE OF LIFE Advanced Mixology has several creative ideas for setting up your own Bloody Mary bar. For
Sources: Bestbloodymary.com, todayifoundout.com, advancedmixology.com
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