Bloody Mary Guide 2023

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BLOODY GOOD bloody MARY YOUR FAVORTIE (AND ONLY) ASSOCIATE EDITORS GOT A LESSON IN BLOODY MARY MAKIN’ words by mckenna scherer • photos by ma vue

mckenna scherer & sawyer hoff

SAWYER HOFF AND I, VOLUME ONE’S ASSOCIATE EDITOR DUO, may be 22 years young, but we’re a lot better at drinking than making drinks.

In celebration of this year’s Bloody Mary Guide, we decided it was time to roll up our sleeves and get a proper introduction to dishing out a good ‘ol Bloody Mary.

Thanks to the Chippewa River Distillery and local bartender Jordan,

we learned how to shake up a Bloody using Trumie’s vodka, Silver Spring Foods Horseradish, and a handful of other ingredients.

I like my Bloody’s with a kick while Sawyer likes hers regular (boo!) and Jordan likes his with a side of heartburn (not actually, but he fights the battle of lovin’ a Bloody and always getting heartburn after some sips – that’s dedication).

Want to get the full experience of watching

the two of us take a crack at Bloody Mary makin’? Head to volumeone.org to see the full video of Jordan showing us the steps and us givin’ it a shot (or two, or three).

OUR PROCESS:

OUR INGREDIENTS:

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NOT JUST HORSING AROUND THE ZESTY KICK OF HORSERADISH MAY BE JUST WHAT YOUR BLOODY MARY NEEDS words by tom giffey

SPICY, SAVORY, SALTY, TOMATO-Y, BOOZY — A BLOODY MARY IS ALL THIS AND MORE. A standard Bloody Mary gets that spice from hot pepper sauce (often

ZING MASTERS BLOODY MARY

Tabasco). But even more than many other cocktails, the Bloody Mary is an infinitely variable drink, with almost as many recipes as there are bartenders slinging Bloodys at eager brunchers. This means that – especially here in Eau Claire, Horseradish Capital of the World – the heat in your favorite Bloody may just be coming from horseradish.

Eau Claire-based Silver Spring Foods, the largest grower and processor of horseradish on Earth, proclaims right on the bottle that it can give a kick to your roast beef, mashed potatoes, and Bloody Marys.

Horseradish is root vegetable with a built-in self-defense mechanism: It produces a pungent compound called allyl isothiocyanate, which can both combat plant pathogens and light up your tastebuds.

Silver Spring recommends using a prepared horseradish to add flavor to a Bloody Mary. Finely ground, the horseradish gets suspended in the liquid like a spice and spreads evenly. And, if you want an even bolder flavor, use a spoonful of its extra hot horseradish.

For more Bloody Mary recipes, visit silverspringfoods.com and click on Recipes.

BLOODY MARY Ingredients

Directions

1 large pinch of your favorite dry Bloody Mary seasoning mix 1 teaspoon Silver Spring Prepared Horseradish 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 1 ½ to 2 oz vodka 1 ½ to 2 oz pickle brine A few dashes tabasco pepper sauce (optional) 4 to 6 ounces tomato juice

Fill a pint glass to the rim with ice and add dry seasoning, horseradish, Worcestershire, vodka, pickle brine, and hot sauce. Top with tomato juice and roll the cocktail between the pint and shaker or stir with a bar spoon.

Rim a second glass with dry Bloody Mary seasoning by first rubbing the rim with a wedge of citrus so the seasoning sticks to the rim. Pour cocktail into the rimmed glass. Garnish with pickled vegetables, olives, cheese cubes, cured meat sticks, bacon, or get wild and skewer any food you want to top your delicious Bloody Mary. Serve Wisconsin style with a 4 oz beer chaser.

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dry seasoning MIX 4 parts celery salt 2 parts black pepper 1 part garlic powder 1 part dill weed

T i E t a S C l T e M t fi f

TRADITIONAL BLOODY MARY The Everything Bloody Mary is inspired by Silver Spring’s new Everything Bagel Mustard. It’s topped with five incredible appetizers: Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Pretzel Bites, Cream Cheese Pinwheel, Buffalo Cauliflower, and even a Mini Bagel!

The whole thing gets a little extra zing with Everything Bagel Mustard. To watch a video tutorial on how to make all those fixings, visit www.silverspringfoods.com/bloodymary.

Ingredients 2 shots vodka 2 teaspoons Silver Spring Prepared Horseradish (or more to taste) 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons pickle juice Add celery salt to taste 10-12 oz tomato juice

Garnish with your favorites such as bacon, green beans, asparagus, salami, pepperoncini, colby jack, beef sticks or jerky, string cheese, dill pickle, or stuffed olives.

Directions In 2 glasses, combine ice, vodka, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, pickle juice, celery salt and tomato juice. Garnish with our suggestions or whatever you desire. Enjoy!

Recipes from Silver Spring Foods.

THE EVERYTHING BLOODY MARY

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top 10 bloody mary places our readers sound of about their favs words by tom giffey

ONE OF THE GREAT THINGS ABOUT BEING A BLOODY MARY LOVER IN THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY is that there are so many great places to choose from. From hole-inthe-wall taverns to brunch spots to traditional bar-and-grills, it seems everyone’s got their take on the Bloody Mary. Every year in our Best of the Chippewa Valley Reader Poll we ask folks where we can find the best ones. Last winter, hundreds of you voted to choose the winners. Below we’ve listed the top 10 (in alphabetical order), but you can see the final Top 3 ranking at the far right. Check out the list, try them all (across a reasonable amount of time, of course), and be prepared to vote the next time the poll comes around.

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ALIBI LOUNGE 2112 Esmond Road, Eau Claire Alibi Lounge serves must-have, loaded bloody marys, all day on Saturdays & Sundays, great for game day.

BIG T’S SALOON 2007 Third St., Eau Claire They serve giant Bloody Marys made with a “secret sauce” on Sundays.

CHIPPEWA RIVER DISTILLERY & BREWSTER BROTHERS BREWING CO. 402 W. River St., Chippewa Falls One of the specialties at this brewpub and distillery is Trumie’s Vodka. Go directly to the source and get a Bloody made with Trumie’s

original vodka, or one of the flavored varieties, including dill, horseradish, garlic, or bacon.

COWBOY JACK’S 1432 Front Porch Place, Altoona Enjoy the view of the Eau Claire River on one of the best patios in the area while you sip Bloody Mary specials on Sundays. You can even get one made with local Trumie’s Vodka (from the Chippewa River Distillery above).

COURT’N HOUSE 113 W. Grand Ave., Eau Claire Ranked No. 1 by Visit Eau Claire, declared “the best Bloody Mary for 100 miles” by someone on TripAdvisor.com, and heaped with praise by Volume One’s own Lindsey Quinnies.

HANGAR 54

THE SANDBAR

3800 Starr Ave., Eau Claire Located at the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, Hangar 54 will give your tastebuds some altitude with its zesty bloody, complete with a Rump’s beef stick.

17643 50th Avenue, Chippewa Falls Sandbar’s relaxed waterfront bar atmosphere is a great place to find its wild bloody marys, which have been seen piled high with a hard boiled egg, shrimp, beef stick, and fried chicken.

MILWAUKEE BURGER CO. 2620 E. Clairemont Ave., Eau Claire Many options to choose from at this local favorite, including the Bacon Bloody, the Pickle Me Crazy, and the 32-ounce Big Mil Bloody.

RAY’S PLACE 838 Water St., Eau Claire You’ve heard of the legendary hot beefs and the Spanish stew, but it turns out Ray’s makes a darn good Bloody Mary, too. Don’t forget the beer chaser. (And the mustard on the hot beef.)

VFW POST 305 1300 Starr Ave., Eau Claire Another below-the-radar choice for a superior Bloody is the VFW Post 305, perched high above and overlooking Dells Pond. A great place to watch the game and grab breakfast, too.

IS YOUR FAVORITE MISSING? Be sure to nominate and vote in next year’s Best of the Chippewa Valley Reader Poll to make your choice known!

1. Big T’s Saloon 2. Milwaukee Burger Company 3. Chippewa River Distillery Who would have thought that tomato juice, spices, and vodka would be such an amazing mix? Big T’s Saloon (2007 Third St., Eau Claire) kept its first-place spot for the seventh consecutive year. Their champion Bloody features a “secret sauce.” (While the joint has been sold, we’re hopeful it wil be back serving Bloodies in the near future.)

Milwaukee Burger Co. (2620 E. Clairemont Ave., Eau Claire) has a whole Bloody menu – and not to spoil it, but one has bacon.

Chippewa River Distillery and Brewster Brothers Brewing Co. (402 W. River St., Chippewa Falls) makes its famous Bloodies with its own Trumie’s vodka. –Sawyer Hoff

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there's something about (bloody) mary a brief history of the drink that eats like a meal words by tom giffey • photo by andrea paulseth what is now called a Red Snapper).

Separately, comedian George Jessel claimed to have invented the drink in the 1930s, while a bartender at the may be wondering about a few very 21 Club in New York also supposedly basic things: Namely, where did the first mixed up the Bloody during that Bloody Mary come from? And why decade. is it called the Bloody Mary in the According to the book first place?

Boozy Brunch: The Those are excelQuintessential Guide lent questions, to Daytime Drinkwhich in this ing by Peter Jocase is code seph, Petiot is for “hardthe drink’s to-answer definitive quesinventor. tions.”

In the Since 1960s, we’re he derelaxed scribed and his crebelly ation up to like the bar, this: “I let’s cover have a the history bottom of lesson, the (cockshall we? tail) shakAnd like er with four any good large dashes lesson at a THE ORIGINAL of salt, two bar, this one is ‘BLOODY MARY’? dashes of black filled with potenpepper, two dashes tial misinformation of cayenne pepper, and and is subject to correca layer of Worcestershire tion and/or argumentation. sauce; I then add a dash of lemon There are several tales associjuice and some cracked ice, put in ated with the original of the Bloody two ounces of vodka and two ounces Mary. According to one of the most of thick tomato juice, shake, strain, persistent, it was the creation of a and pour.”

French bartender, Fernand Petiot, That sounds pretty close to a who worked at a Paris bar confusmodern recipe, but variations have ingly named the New York Bar (and abounded over the years. As Joseph later named Harry’s Bar). Supposwrites, “The Bloody Mary is a drink edly, in the 1920s Petiot mixed vodka meant to be tinkered with, as it has and tomato juice — no pickles or been since it arrived in the States.” horseradish or mini burgers on So who was Mary? Once of sticks yet — and dubbed it the BuckPetiot’s customers allegedly said the et of Blood. Petiot later moved to the new drink reminded him of his girlUnited States and brought the drink friend, named Mary, who he met at a with him, although for a time it was made with gin, not vodka (that’s cabaret called the Bucket of Blood.

NOW THAT WE’VE SPENT A WHOLE SPECIAL SECTION OF THIS MAGAZINE EXTOLLING THE VIRTUES OF THIS CLASSIC COCKTAIL, you

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STOUT CRAFT CO., MENOMONIE Other sources claim the Bucket of Bloody was a bar in Chicago with a waitress named Mary. Or maybe the inspiration was Mary Pickford, Hollywood star of the era. Or maybe it’s an homage to Mary I of England, dubbed “Bloody Mary” for slaughtering religious opponents. (Spicy behavior, to be sure.)

The true story is that we probably will never know the true story.

Whoever Mary was, she had a face that launched a thousand variations, and that’s to the benefit of all of us who love our alcohol with a side of tomato juice, spice, and anything else a creative bartender cares to add.

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