Bloody Mary Club is in Session

When the weekend rolls around, I hear the siren call of the Bloody Mary. Trouble is, I can never actually finish one. Everything about a Bloody Mary sounds good – savory munchables on a skewer, infused vodkas – but when it comes down to it, I get halfway through and it’s too much. The consistency gets to me or something, I can’t even describe what happens. My throat starts to close up and the thought of taking another drink induces nausea. Then I hand it off to someone else to finish while I order a beer.

The strange thing is, I kept craving them. I became convinced that I just hadn’t had the right Bloody Mary. My younger sister, endowed with an unequaled passion for Bloody Mary consumption, volunteered to help me on my quest. The Bloody Mary Club was formed and we decided to convene at the Pub at Rookwood Commons.

Ala the Pub’s Mary menu options, we chose our vodka, hot stuff, tomato base, and most importantly, what we wanted on our skewers. You pick up to eight items, limit of two shrimp. It makes your drink a complete meal, so ordering from the lunch menu becomes optional. We added some curry pub chips to cover all of our food groups.

Our Marys arrived, and then a few minutes later the skewers came out once our shrimps were fully cooked. We were each supplied with a beer chaser to cut the spiciness of the Nicholson’s mix.

Like I said, I’m new to Bloody Marys, so I don’t have a lot to compare it against. But the Pub did something right, because I downed the whole thing. I feel empowered, and I may venture so far as to try making one myself. Julie over at wine me, dine me posted a tempting recipe for a Bloody Caesar, a drink that is foreign but delicious-sounding to me. I also keep re-visiting an article I bookmarked on the NY Times about Micheladas. And then there's the temptation to create my own drink and give it a name based on the church across the street from my soon-to-be new home – a Bloody Old Saint Mary. I’ll have to work on that one.

Thank goodness I have a supportive group like the Bloody Mary Club - okay, my sister - to help me out. We're small, but we're open to new members.