Ha, ha! I recently bought a bottle of Sazerac and enjoyed it hugely in a Manhattan. So this week I have bought cognac, absinthe and Peychaud’s bitters to make Sazeracs for my daughter (who also loves cocktails) and I. Frankly , if I discovered it last March and then lost the following year that wouldn’t have been a bad outcome!
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Well- what an interesting discussion Matt and @crispyduck - given that we are coming to stay - when permitted- I hope to be offered a BM…will report back
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I think that the Sazerac will be much more up
your street - we can have a lost weekend together!
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I love a Bloody Mary. This is what I use:
Polish vodka
THICK tomato juice (the stuff you would normally use for cooking)
A generous dash of Worcestershire sauce
Plenty of ice
My own habanero sauce (which is basically habaneros, ginger and tomatoes) instead of Tabasco
Freshly ground black pepper
No celery (awful stuff)
The result is a thick drink that you can almost chew. We got through quite a lot of this on my 50th…
This is it:
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Looks great! …the Habanero sauce is interesting - and ginger! …wow - I imagine that punches, and then has that deep warm ginger spine underneath it.
It’s a bold man who disses Celery, and serves a BM with Cucumber 
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Haha, yes, but a cool cucumber is more than welcome after necking one of these. Raw celery is something I associate with 70s weight-watching diets, which have never appealed to me.
Ginger works really well.
A bit off topic but still relevant I think:
I had a colleague from Ireland and we were working for a few years together on various places in Europe. On the many evenings we spend I pubs I have seen him drinking Guinness only once. He simply refused to drink that. Normally he ordered Bloody Mary’s, but in Lent - which it is now - he always tried to get Virgin Mary’s. He normally ended up drinking Diet Coke since the virgin mary’s were normally unknown.
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V8 is a gem of an ingredient, as is Clamato.
I like to marinate a chilli in Sherry (I prefer fino, but amontillado works well too).
I prefer fresh horseradish rather than dried and also avoid celery salt. Salt and pepper are a must too, but not too much.
Lea & Perrin’s is a must; I add a dash then allow others to adjust to taste.
Now to the vodka; I’m a Stoly fan, mainly because when living in Lithuania the Russians permitted a version of that famous spirit to be distilled in the country. I have to add that the best use of Zubrowka is an a drink that the Polish call Apple Pie: vodka and apple juice.
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Controversial Bombay sapphire east gin - nice and spicy.
Big tom spiced tomato juice. (or something similar)
With plenty of ice.
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gin and tomato? will give it a try later…
how does the East differ from the normal Bombay?
Your recipe sounds tasty… I agree about Zumbrowka, the last Christmas before lock down we spent Christmas Eve with my brother’s family and his Polish neighbours in Switzerland… somewhat cosmopolitan… a very enjoyable evening drinking vast quantities of Zambrowka Bison in various cocktails and then neat … the climb back up a rather steep Swiss valley didn’t seem too arduous afterwards…
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A real-deal bloody (no mixes in aluminum cans por favor), is a must-have with oysters on the half shell.
to the celery misanthropes *
* Though the cucumber slice is a brilliant substitute!
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Sounds like our recipes are pretty close! …just celery salt in mine instead of actual salt salt 
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And as per @Camphuw - I’ve had some of this in stock for a good while, and haven’t got around (read: got brave enough) to try it…
…TECHNICALLY it becomes a Bloody Caesar at this point - but whose quibbling (cue Canada showing up and telling me 
)
I really must find a recipe for a Bloody Caesar and give it a go.
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May as well chuck in an anchovy or two for good measure if you want fish flavoured cocktails!
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Yeah - or as my wife’s family are from Scandinavia, we generally have roll mops hanging around… 
…eating those is preferable to allowing her uncles to beat me with Birch Twigs, but it’s marginal.
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Perhaps you could ask them to beat you with celery sticks next time which would be infinitely preferable to eating them
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Yes - and if they are as limp as the ones we have in the fridge currently, it may not be too bad. Borderline pleasant. If I can JUST stop thinking about her uncle telling me about how he dispatched Russian Soldiers in the woods and with his bare hands during WW2. And that after the celery brushing comes the lake jump.
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Clamato is great but a real Bloody Mary needs this. I also like to add a swipe of hot sauce, bhut jolokia, and vodka-wise I’m keen on Chase or Fair. Definitely celery salt.
I’ve also got a recipe that uses the residue of a marinated Thai prawn dish which is epic!
Can we also talk Margaritas… and Manhattans?
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