Bloody Marys the Watts way

For this blog topic, I decided to steer away from travel and focus more on another favorite pastime of mine – mixology.

Believe it or not, I’ve had several people say very complimentary things about my Bloody Marys. I do have my own “recipe” which I like, but it’s by no means a closely guarded secret. In fact, if there’s one thing I know about a Bloody Mary, it’s that there are a gazillion ways to make one. Still, a few people have thought enough of my Bloody Marys that they suggested I include it in a blog, so what the hell.

And, as you’ll notice on the list of ingredients, I don’t even make my mix from scratch. I use Zing Zang as the base and work from there. That may be considered cheating, but it works for me.

This may take some tracking down of all the ingredients, but here’s what I use:

• Zing Zang Bloody Mary mix (bottle), not spicy (or substitute Tabasco brand mix) 
• Clamato
• Svedka Vodka or better -- Three Olives, Grey Goose, depends on how much you want to spend. Svedka is cheap but I find it to be very clean-tasting. Do NOT settle for Smirnoff.
• Nelly & Joe's Key West lime juice (I use Rose's sweetened lime juice in a pinch)
• Tabasco sauce
• Worcestershire sauce (I only use Lea & Perrins)
• Pure ground horseradish (not creamy)
• Celery salt 

Directions:

Fill a tall glass 1/2 to 3/4 full with ice. Pour in vodka, then pour in Zing Zang. I try to abide by the 4:1 ratio for non-alcoholic to alcoholic drinks, so two ounces vodka and 8 ounces of everything else makes a nice 10-ounce drink. Add or subtract booze to your taste, but make sure you leave room for about an ounce at the top. Stir.

Pour in about 1/2 ounce of Clamato and a capful of Rose's sweetened lime juice. Stir.

Add splashes of Tabasco, Worcestershire, horseradish and lime juice to taste. (I usually do three splashes each of T & W, a squirt of lime juice and just a tip of a knife with horseradish. Some of this is already in the Zing Zang. You're just kicking it up a notch.) Stir.

Add a shake of celery salt to float on the top. Add garnishes of your choice (my personal favorites are a celery stalk, pickled asparagus, pickled mushrooms, a bleu cheese-stuffed olive and a spicy green bean) and serve!

Note: Sometimes, I like to rim the glass with celery salt. If a rimmer isn’t available (I hate it when that happens) , I’ll dollop a napkin with lime juice, rub the edge of the glass with the napkin, then pour celery salt into the napkin and roll the edge of the glass into the salt.

There, more than you ever wanted to know about the Watts “secret” recipe.

Oh, one more thing. Sometimes if I want more of a Bloody Caesar, I will leave room for a couple of ounces of Clamato and go smaller on the Zing Zang. Naturally, there's plenty of room to experiment according to your tastes.

Bottoms up!