Hungover? Drink a Bloody Mary.

Forgot to eat your vegetables? Drink two Bloody Marys.

Need a drink at 7AM, but feel bad about drinking a pint? Drink a Bloody Mary instead.

The Jagermeister of cocktails, the classic Bloody Mary cocktail is a winner at any time of the day, for any reason, because it’s quite nutritious (and has alcohol in it).

No two are ever the same, whether it’s due to the batch of tomato juice, the extra shot of tobacco, the five grinds of pepper or the amount of Worcestershire sauce personally enjoyed.

But no matter what your personal preference, here’s a video showing you how to make the perfect Bloody Mary, suited for any occasion:

You should try it. Like, right now.

Or you can just read about the cocktail’s origin:

Around 1920, émigrés escaping the Russian Revolution began arriving in Paris, bringing with them vodka and caviar, so Harry’s bartender, Ferdinand “Pete” Petiot, began experimenting with the new spirit, which he found tasteless. At the same time Petiot was introduced to American canned tomato juice, which back in the dry days of Prohibition was called a “tomato juice cocktail” on menus.

Over a year’s time, Petiot made vodka drink after vodka drink until he mixed it with the tomato juice and some seasonings, and, voilà!, a new cocktail was born, called the Bucket of Blood, christened by visiting American entertainer Roy Barton after a West Side Chicago nightclub of the same name.

The drink was popularized by Americans, so in 1933, Vincent Astor brought over Petiot to man the King Cole Bar at the St. Régis Hotel in New York, famous for its 30-foot nursery rhyme mural by Maxfield Parrish. The drink caught on—particularly as a supposed cure for hangovers—but under the less sanguine name “Red Snapper,” which is what it’s still called at the just-restored King Cole Bar. (Originally, a pint of black peppercorns was steeped in vodka for six weeks to create a mixture called “liquid black pepper,” a dash of which gave the vodka itself a real blast of flavor.)

There you have. Now get down to some Willie Nelson:

Mmmm, tasty.

[source:telegraph]