Bloody Mary Guide 2023

BLOODY GOOD bloody MARY

YOUR FAVORTIE (AND ONLY) ASSOCIATE EDITORS GOT A LESSON IN BLOODY MARY MAKIN’

OUR INGREDIENTS:

OUR PROCESS: MORE ONLINE

SAWYER HOFF AND I, VOLUME ONE’S ASSOCIATE EDITOR DUO, may be 22 years young, but we’re a lot better

we learned how to shake up a Bloody using Trumie’s vodka, Silver Spring Foods Horseradish, and a

the two of us take a crack at Bloody Mary makin’? Head

words by mckenna scherer • photos by ma vue

mckenna scherer & sawyer hoff

NOT JUST HORSING AROUND

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 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.

ZING MASTERS BLOODY MARY

BLOODY MARY Ingredients

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

dry seasoning MIX

4 parts celery salt

2 parts black pepper

1 part garlic powder

1 part dill weed

Directions

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.

THE ZESTY KICK OF HORSERADISH MAY BE JUST WHAT YOUR BLOODY MARY NEEDS

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.

THE EVERYTHING BLOODY MARY

TRADITIONAL BLOODY MARY

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.

top 10 bloody mary places

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.

words by tom giffey

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.

our readers sound of about their favs

HANGAR 54

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.

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.)

THE SANDBAR

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.

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

there's something about (bloody) mary

a brief history of the drink that eats like a meal

NOW THAT WE’VE SPENT A WHOLE SPECIAL SECTION OF THIS MAGAZINE EXTOLLING THE VIRTUES OF THIS CLASSIC COCKTAIL, you may be wondering about a few very basic things: Namely, where did the Bloody Mary come from? And why is it called the Bloody Mary in the first place?

Those are excel lent questions, which in this case is code for “hardto-answer questions.”

Since we’re relaxed and belly up to the bar, let’s have a history lesson, shall we? And like any good lesson at a bar, this one is filled with poten tial misinformation and is subject to correction and/or argumentation.

There are several tales associated with the original of the Bloody Mary. According to one of the most persistent, it was the creation of a French bartender, Fernand Petiot, who worked at a Paris bar confusingly named the New York Bar (and later named Harry’s Bar). Supposedly, in the 1920s Petiot mixed vodka and tomato juice — no pickles or horseradish or mini burgers on sticks yet — and dubbed it the Bucket of Blood. Petiot later moved to the United States and brought the drink with him, although for a time it was made with gin, not vodka (that’s

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 21 Club in New York also supposedly first mixed up the Bloody during that decade.

According to the book Boozy Brunch: The Quintessential Guide to Daytime Drinkby Peter Joseph, Petiot is the drink’s definitive inventor. In the 1960s, he described his creation like this: “I cover the bottom of the (cocktail) shaker with four large dashes of salt, two dashes of black pepper, two dashes of cayenne pepper, and a layer of Worcestershire sauce; I then add a dash of lemon juice and some cracked ice, put in two ounces of vodka and two ounces of thick tomato juice, shake, strain, and pour.”

That sounds pretty close to a modern recipe, but variations have abounded over the years. As Joseph writes, “The Bloody Mary is a drink meant to be tinkered with, as it has been since it arrived in the States.”

So who was Mary? Once of Petiot’s customers allegedly said the new drink reminded him of his girlfriend, named Mary, who he met at a cabaret called the Bucket of Blood.

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.

STOUT CRAFT CO., MENOMONIE

THE ORIGINAL ‘BLOODY MARY’?

words by tom giffey • photo by andrea paulseth