Bloody Mary

I love an occasional Bloody Mary. I'll tell you there sure is a wide variety of recipes, but this is my favorite version. I'm picky about my Bloody's and I have tasted them in many different places. The oddest one of all was in an Italian restaurant, as soon as I took one sip I knew something was off. Then I had my Stud Muffin taste it, he said it tasted fine. I took a few more taste testing little sips until I realized that there must be some rum in there. I approached the bartender and guess what, low and behold someone moved the rum to the vodka spot. I can see that happening because I used to tend bar and you never read each bottle, a good speedy bartender knows where every bottle is without looking. Trust me rum in a Bloody Mary is just plain old awful, so go for the vodka or the tequila, but, for this drink, avoid the rum like the Plague.

Bloody Mary

• Martini shaker
• mini skewer, the disposable kind
• 1 large beer glass
• 3 slices pepperoni
• 1 grape tomato
• 1 mozzarella string cheese stick, only using a 1 inch piece cut off
• 1 lime wedge, room temp
• Old Bay seasoning
• ice
• 2-3 oz. Belvedere Vodka
• 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• Tabasco, a few drops
• dash of freshly ground black pepper
• dash of celery seed
• one 5.5 oz. can V-8 juice, regular or spicy hot flavor, chilled
• 1 disposable straw, the bendable kind

Prepare skewer by alternating pepperoni slices, tomato and cheese, set aside. Slice a lime wedge and cut across the middle so that you can wet the rim of the glass with lime juice. After wetting glass rim you may now add some Old Bay to a bowl or small plate and dip the rim of glass into Old Bay, coating glass rim evenly like you would a Margarita glass with salt, set aside.

In a martini shaker add some ice, vodka, Worchestershire sauce, Tabasco, black pepper, celery seed and the whole can of V-8. Put the lid on and shake a few times to mix well.

Pour mixture into prepared beer glass and place on top a lime wedge and prepared skewer, then add the straw. Enjoy!

If you would like to drink a Bloody Maria just substitute tequila for vodka. Or how about a Bloody Virgin, just eliminate the alcohol.