In Canada, the Bloody Caesar, sometimes just shortened to Caesar, is to drinks what hockey is to sports; it’s the bee’s knees, the cat’s meow, and every other superlative. But its birth is relatively recent development. In 1969 Walter Chell, who was restaurant manager at the Calgary Inn in Calgary, Alberta, was charged with creating a drink for the hotel’s new Italian restaurant. He recalled eating pasta with clams in tomato sauce on a trip to Italy and decided it would work well for a drink, too. His original drink was made with puréed fresh clams. But fortuitously for the rest of the world Mott’s introduced Clamato juice in the same year. While sales at first were slow, they skyrocketed after the company discovered Chell’s drink, and by 1994 the company estimated that 70 percent of its Canadian sales were to make the drink.
In the past decade the number of options for purchased Bloody Mary mix has grown from a few to a dizzying array, and there are opinions about each one of them. Some pack more heat than others, they vary in terms of their sweetness or tanginess, and then some are thicker than others to keep a pleasing thick texture when diluted by the liquor and ice.
There are even regional variations. Ones from the mid-Atlantic states feature blended spices like Old Bay, the dominant seasoning used when steaming prized Maryland blue crabs. South of the Mason-Dixon Line the local mixes frequently include barbecue sauce, and from Texas to the West Coast expect some Mexican flavors.
While this book is intended to encourage you to make your own basic mix or some variation on one, there are times when you have neither the time nor the ingredients around to let loose your inner master mixologist. To your rescue come good liquor stores, and, of course, the Internet.
I assembled a tasting panel and we tried bottled mixes in their virginal but chilled state right out of the bottle and then mixed them with a modest amount of vodka over ice. Here’s a summary of those we really liked, all of which can be ordered online if not available in your region.
Dr. Swami & Bone Daddy’s Spicy Cajun Bloody Mary Mix: In addition to all the basics of horseradish and Worcestershire there’s a meaty richness to this mix from the inclusion of beef broth. The consistency is medium-thick so, once diluted with ice and liquor, it still keeps a solid texture.
Employees Only Bloody Mary Mix: Employees Only is a popular speakeasy bar in New York’s Greenwich Village that has been glorifying the return to traditional cocktails since 2004. This mix delivers one of the most complex flavors among those we tried as well as the perfect consistency when mixed with liquor, although we thought it needed a bit of water added if intended as a juice only. It’s one of the few we sampled that drew its briny flavor from crushed capers, and the horseradish tasted very fresh.
Master of Mixes Loaded Bloody Mary Mixer: There’s no question that at less than $10 for a 1.75-liter bottle this mix wins hands down for value, and the flavor is great, too. With notes of horseradish and dill pickle, it also tastes very much like fresh vegetables because celery and cucumber are part of it. The texture is great right out of the bottle but becomes a bit thin for our taste once the drink is made.
Hoosier Momma Bloody Mary Maker: The scantily clad pinup holding a tomato on the label might not be the midwestern mother you envision, but this Hoosier Momma is full of flavor. Although the line extensions now include a spicy version and one made with sriracha, we found the original to be the best. Although mild on the verge of being sweet, it can easily be spiced up, but then you might not taste the hints of ginger and shiitake mushrooms. It’s a chunky mix with big flecks of herbs and it dilutes well.
McClure’s Pickles Bloody Mary Mix: The whole McClure family of Detroit started a pickle business using their grandmother’s recipes about a decade ago, and now use a lot of the brine for a Bloody Mary mix. Vinegar is listed as the second ingredient, which indicates the flavor profile. You also get a good dose of dill and garlic, and the mix does thin down significantly upon adding ice.
Preservation & Co. Original Bloody Mary Mix: This product is made by a shop in Sacramento, California, and it creates a really complex drink. Some of the ingredients include tamarind, sriracha, capers, and Dijon mustard to balance the traditional lemon juice, Worcestershire, and horseradish. It had a very pleasing midrange consistency that was not overly thinned when transformed into a drink.
Ripe Bar Juice San Marzano Bloody Mary Mix: If you live in New England, California, or Arizona look for this mix made with luscious all-natural, non-GMO juice in the refrigerator case because it’s a fresh product. Made by FreshBev Craft Juicery in New Haven, Connecticut, finding Ripe Bar Juice was as exciting as when we first saw bottles of orange juice and could eliminate cans of frozen concentrate from our grocery list forever. The company will ship to areas in which they don’t have retail distribution.
Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix: Zing Zang began about twenty years ago as a foodservice product for bars and restaurants, based on the personal recipe of the brand’s owner, Richard Krohn. Its popularity led to the introduction of consumer sizes a few years later. This is a product for people who prefer V8 to tomato juice when making a mix from scratch. There’s a prominent taste of celery seed but that is balanced by the garlic, chiles, and Worcestershire sauce. As bottled mixes go this one was not insanely high in sodium, and it’s labeled as gluten-free.