In February, while visiting New York, I made a pilgrimage to the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis Hotel, the birthplace of the Red Snapper, or the original Bloody Mary!
A brief history lesson: In 1934, St. Regis Bartender Fernand Petiot introduced the “Red Snapper,” which later became what we know (and love) today as the Bloody Mary. Before coming to the St. Regis, Fernand has experimented with the drink in Paris. According to the King Cole’s website, “The famed cocktail as we know it was created when Serge Obolensky, a well known man about town, asked Petiot to make the vodka cocktail he had in Paris. The formula was spiced up with salt, pepper, lemon and Worcestershire Sauce, but since ‘Bloody Mary’ was deemed too vulgar for the hotel’s elegant King Cole Bar, it was rechristened the ‘Red Snapper’.” The name never caught on, but the drink’s reigned supreme in bars across the world ever since.
Mix: Very basic, very thin.
Spice: Not overly spicy, but you sure can taste the alcohol!
Chaser: Not in Fernand’s plan. No chaser for you.
Fixin’s: No frills-make do with your lemon.
Price: A steep $22. Nothing in NYC is cheap!
Out For Bloodies 