Cocktail Hour: Classic Bloody Mary

I have totally abandoned cocktails lately, and now that I finally have a quieter weekend, settling in with a classic brunch cocktail seemed like a good way to spend some downtime.  I love a good Bloody Mary and often order virgin versions of them at brunch.  Why virgin you ask?  Day drinking is definitely not my strong suit, and a shot of vodka at 11AM will likely knock me out for the rest of the day.  To me, the best part of a Bloody Mary is the horseradish that is used to spice the drink up.  Horseradish is one of my favorite condiments and there are not a lot of opportunities to eat copious amounts of it - pretty much only with oysters, or if you are Jewish like me, as a condiment to the once a year gefilte fish at Passover.  The version I put together above is pretty much classic - no wackiness here with pickled beets or tomatillos - just a simple tomato juice, celery salt, and horseradish concoction. 

Classic Bloody Mary

I like my drinks with a lot more tomato juice than vodka, adjust yours as you like it.

Ingredients

1 cup tomato juice

1 ounce vodka

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon (or more) prepared horseradish

3 dashes hot sauce

1 or 2 dashes celery salt

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

ice

celery stalk for serving

Directions:

In a talk glass (or bell jar as I used) stir together the tomato juice, vodka, Worcestershire Sauce, horseradish, hot sauce, celery salt and lemon juice.  Place ice in another tall glass.  Pour tomato juice mixture over ice.  Serve with celery stick.