I’m very new to this divine drink. The version I had at swabbies in Sacramento included olives and pepperoncini, but no celery. It was pretty good, but I’m wondering if I can improve upon it here at home.
So please share your favorites with me.
Cheers!
Have a Bloody Caesar instead! You wouldn’t think such a small change would have such a big impact.
Rule #1 - Ignore all Canadians and their enablers.
Basic recipe - Fill a pint glass with ice. Add vodka, tomato/V-8 juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, prepared horseradish, celery salt, black pepper and hot sauce to taste. Stir well. Garnishes are to the needs of the imbiber. Personally I shun them as unnecessary distractions from the drink.
Rule #2 - If I can’t see through it, it ain’t doin’ me a lick of good!
Rule #3 - See Rule #1.
Seconding Horatius. Best thing for a Bloody Mary is subbing out the tomato juice for Clamato.
I generally frown upon flavored vodkas. But absolut peppar in a bloody Mary is a rare and delicious exception.
Take out a small saucer and shake some celery salt into it.
Take a highball glass. Now splash a thimblefull of Tito’s Vodka over your forefinger and run said finger around the rim of said highball glass. Upend glass and grind it into the celery salt until the rim is well-salted.
Place 4 large ice cubes in glass. Pour 2 oz of spicy hot V8 juice into glass. Spoon one tsp of gulden’s horseradish in. Squeeze a tsp or two of fresh lemon juice into glass. Pour 2 oz of Tito’s in. Stir gently.
Optionally, insert one slender rib of celery, ideally with the green leaves attached.
This, too.
Hey thanks. I grabbed a bottle of Mr. & Mrs. T’s while I was out today and mixed it with some orange flavored vodka I happened to have at home. Then I garnished with olives stuffed with bleu cheese. I’m sure there’s better out there, but this isn’t half bad.
I don’t even need to eat after I have a couple of these.
Keep the ideas coming though.
Uuurrggg! I know you’re joking but still…blech!
I mean really? Mr. & Mrs. T?
No, I thought it ws ok. lol. Am I showing how utterly unsophisticated I am?
No, no. You show an interest in a cocktail that is proof of God’s grace. If only we can eliminate all the heathens… 
Vodka - Use something decent but don’t go overboard. This isn’t the place for either really cheap or really expensive. Absolut Peppar is a variation have have seen at many a bar.
Base - Tomato juice or V-8 juice. Period. Even then the latter is considered iffy. Under no conditions is it acceptable to use Clamato or any premixed base that doesn’t leave you gasping for breath when you figure out the per drink cost. Cheaper, easier, better to mix your own, although Zing Zang ain’t half bad.
Spices - Proportions are to taste, but a proper Mary needs Worcestershire sauce (I tend to use a heavy hand here), lemon juice (lime in a pinch), prepared horseradish (often overlooked by dilettantes), celery salt (Lawry’s or some other seasoned salt is also acceptable), black pepper and hot sauce (I use Crystal, the wife uses Cholula). Shake/stir/mix and pour into appropriate glassware. I prefer a heavy pint glass and ice. Others prefer a shaken drink served neat in a smaller glass. Garnish is typically a celery stick, although a pickled green bean, stuffed olive or such is also a normal variation. For Ghu’s sake stay away from the places that try to fit an entire brunch on top of your drink.
Now go, young padawan, and make some decent drinks!
Missed the window:
To that last point- note the difference between this, and this. Guess which place I frequent.
silenus is crazyballs on this subject. Take his suggestions with a grain of salt (snicker)
Go to the fridge for lime and prepared horseradish. Squeeze half the lime into a 16-oz glass, and stir in 1/2 tsp of horseradish.
Go to the pantry for Worcestershire and Tabasco. Add a tsp of W and a few dashes (to taste) of T to the glass.
Go to the spice rack for celery salt and the pepper grinder. Put a healthy shot of each into the glass. Stir.
Fill glass with ice. Add 3 oz of cheap vodka and stir.
Top with (No. 1 choice) Clamato; (2) V-8; (3) tomato juice. Stir briskly, add a celery stalk as a stirrer so you can keep the ingredients agitated.
So close, and yet so far.
Silenus: For what it’s worth, I would happily accept and enjoy any homemade Bloody Mary you offered me.
Some of us may just have a little Canadian blood in us…those frostbacks are INSIDIOUS.
Here, have some maple syrup.
You’ll see the light someday.
Look, I’ll freely admit that I’ve been enjoying South Carolina mustard-based BBQ lately, and I semi-recant my previous resistance. It still ain’t NC or Texas BBQ, but I’ll eat it.
But Clamato? Nope. This is a hill I’m willing to die on (metaphorically speaking.) What’s Canada going to do, send Celine Dion after me? 
eta: The wife just checked, and we have enough ingredients on hand for me to declare a Bloody Mary Saturday! Let the peasants rejoice!
It’s not just the hint of clam. Clamato is loaded with MSG as well as the salt.
I’m fond of Zing Zang. If I’m feeling super fancy I’ll put a bottle of it in the blender with a tub of blue cheese. (You could let that mixture chill in the fridge overnight and then strain out the solid fat if you wanted to.) Fuck a bunch of Clamato.
Cheap 100-proof vodka. What I really like is to infuse said vodka with tomatoes, cucumbers, and cracked black pepper, but usually just the plain stuff.
Squirt of Sriracha, a few shakes of Worcestershire. Ideally the barrel-aged Worcestershire from Bourbon Barrel Foods. Sometimes I’ll replace the Sriracha with a big three-fingered pinch of togarashi. Squeeze of lime if I’ve got one handy.
Build it over ice in a pint glass and shake it briefly just to mix it.
Garnish: toothpick full of kalamata olives, plus whatever pickled veggies I have in the fridge. Celery if I have it.
Drink. Repeat.
Don’t call out the dragon unless you’re keen on becoming dragon s#!+.