Today's cocktail: Bloody Mary

Today's ingredients: vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco, salt, pepper

Good... night... look, I didn't plan to take as long a break from writing as I did. Heading into the annual family summer beach trip last month, I was more focused on finding a dog-sitter and debating just exactly how many pairs of underwear to pack (for the record, a week at the beach takes me two pairs of flip-flops, one pair of shorts, one pair of trunks, a half-dozen shirts, and about as many undies... and a toothbrush, I guess).

I had every intention of jumping right back into this thing when I returned, and I knew early on that I wanted to do a post about a Bloody Mary. After all, it's a quintessential hair-of-the-dog recovery concoction that has a lot of room for alteration and, frankly, gaudiness. Content was not an issue. Personal recovery, however, was. I should've taken my own advice and knocked back a few of these sooner, but the last thing I wanted to do after beach week was drink anything but water, let alone get back into mixing up some stuff. So, my bad.

That said, there has been a lot of talk about Bloody Marys in the house since the beach, and the wife has wanted to do a series of posts on the drink--even though she doesn't really like them herself--based on some of the more outrageous garnishes that have been seen topping this drink. As you'll see below, it typically comes with a celery stalk and some citrus peel, and that's it. You might've seen crispy bacon strips dunked in there. Some places will even throw a gigantic cheeseburger on top. That's the direction these posts will take. Personally, I'm most excited about dropping a full Bojangles' breakfast combo on there.

Similar to our #simplysip snapshot reviews (yes, those are still a thing and will resume as I resume my own consumption), these one-off Bloody Mary posts will carry their own tag: #willitgarnish. Think of it as the cocktail version of Will It Blend, though probably not nearly as satisfyingly destructive (or maybe it will be).

Bloody Mary

I've already discussed my queasiness at all things bloody. It sort of follows that I never really crave a Bloody Mary--I have be in just the right condition to seek one out, so since it's a rare indulgence, I want it to be really good. For starters, the official IBA recipe:

• 4.5cl / 1.5oz vodka
• 9cl / 3oz tomato juice
• 1.5cl / 0.5oz lemon juice
• 2-3 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
• tabasco
• celery salt
• pepper
• Stirring gently, pour all ingredients into highball glass. Garnish with celery and lemon wedge (optional).

The first thing I notice is a lack of horseradish. I'm not sure how that became a thing, but I do know I like that as part of the flavor wheel in a Bloody Mary. That said, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this recipe. It's relatively simple for a Bloody Mary.

I do tend to prefer my tomato juice drinks a little thicker, though, so extra for me in this. Not a fan of the lemon juice--never knowingly had that in a Bloody Mary before, and it just didn't do anything for me here other than add some palate-cleansing acidity. Adding a half-teaspoon of horseradish sauce really kinda puts this over-the-top for me, though; it's a different heat from the tabasco, a little cleaner and more bracing. When we revisit this drink, we'll start looking at some slightly outlandish but hopefully fun "garnish" items that can be stacked onto this otherwise semi-classic cocktail and give mixology purists a nervous tic :)