How to make a Bloody Mary

Cocktail. It’s not a word that we regularly use and definitely not one we’d consider uttering the morning after a night out. But not so with the Bloody Mary. Created in New York, it’s been the hangover tipple of choice for over fifty years. However, it’s not easy to get right - mix it without the correct ingredients and it can end up tasting like a poor man’s gazpacho. We spoke to owner and head bartender Sam Pearson of The Wheatsheaf Inn, Gloucestershire, on how to perfect our Bloody Mary technique:

1. Ingredients

This is the essential part of the drink. “The Bloody Mary doesn’t want to be too soupy, so use Clamato juice – it’s from Canada and has dried clam broth in it and use Babička vodka. This blends well with cucumber, although it’s important to avoid over-pouring the vodka, which can make it too boozy.”

2. Make the drink

The next step is to build the ingredients. “Put the vodka, the Clamato juice, the salt and pepper, the Tabasco and Lea and Perins, and one wedge of lime in a Boston shaker. You’ll also need strong, chunky bits of ice so when you shake it doesn’t dilute the juice.”

3. Pour and strain

To make sure you don’t get any bits in the drink, you have to strain after shaking. “Strain it and pour over ice, using a regular conical strainer. It has to be pure.”

4. Garnish

Finally Pearson recommends garnishing the drink with lots of grated horseradish (about a teaspoons amount) over the top of the glass and a slice of cucumber. “You don’t want creamy horseradish, you want fresh horseradish so it’s aromatic.”

Ingredients

25ml Babička vodka

200ml Clamato Juice

8 dashes L/P

8 dashes Tabasco (classic Tabasco sauce)

Maldon Salt-pinch

Black Pepper-good crack

2 Lime Wedges

Fresh Horseradish

1x 3 inch Cucumber skin

Two clear long straws

Images: Getty