There are as many Bloody Mary recipes as there are drinkers of them.  For the most part they fall into one of 3 categories, none of which I’m a big fan:

The Tomato Crowd.  At its epitome, these guys use tomato juice ice cubes to keep from diluting the sacred tomato.

The Spice Crowd.  You recognize them by the constant sweat on their brow and their insistence that your bloody would be “great if it was just a bit spicier”.

The Convenience Crowd.  They can talk for hours about the pros/cons of various pre-made mixes and why Grey Goose is the best vodka to mix with their lazy-ass bloody mary’s.

Here’s my Bloody Mary Philosophy:

• The best mix is worse than the worst scratch recipe.  Some mixes cut the margin, but none that I’ve seen ever match the fresh, full flavor you get from taking an extra 5 minutes to make it yourself.
• This is not a contest.  A little spice makes a Bloody Mary interesting, gives it the heft needed to shake off the cobwebs from the night before.  But spicier is not always better.  In fact, it seldom is.
• They are not spiked tomato juice.  I am as much a purist as anyone, but with so many variations on the Bloody Mary (Caesar, Bloody Maria, Bloody Bull, etc.) it is clear even to me that this is more than tomatoes and vodka.

I’ve tried many recipes and experimented with my own variations and have settled on one that has served me well.  It is strong enough to not just be a glass of doctored tomato juice.  But not so strong as to take you past the eye-opener stage too quickly.

I’ve found that I prefer vegetable juice (V8) to plain tomato juice.  It lends roundness to the drink that I can’t replicate with any combination of other ingredients and tomato juice.  And it allows you two versions of the drink without making big changes to the recipe – a very slightly spicy regular version and a ‘manly’ version made with Spicy V8.  I personally don’t believe that Bloody Mary drinking should be a test of masculinity, but at every brunch there are those that do.

I also found that the use of celery salt is a handy invention.  I’m sure I’m not the only person that has poked their eye on the celery stalk that normally garnishes a Bloody Mary (I’m hungover, remember).  And using the Celery Salt adds the taste while simplifying the garnish process…just a simple lime wedge is needed for this recipe.

Lastly, many hard-core Bloody Mary aficionados swear by the addition of horseradish.  And I certainly appreciate that addition.  Adding more than the prescribed amount of Tabasco makes the drink taste…Tabasco-y.  Horseradish gives the drink an additional kick and also a new flavor to mix with the tomato and booze.

As a common brunch and afternoon party drink, it would be handy to have a recipe that makes a pitcher of the stuff.  And since I’m such a nice guy, I’ve done the conversion work for you.