Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Perfect Bloody Mary


For Memorial Day weekend I found myself visiting the great state of North Carolina. Not because during these hard times I decided to turn paparazzo and shoot fish in a barrel by snagging a few pics of the anything but elusive Kate Gosselin and her 8 children frolicking on the beach, but rather because it is the state from which I am from and I like to visit it every now and again...and my buddy having a place at the beach and a boat may have factored into the equation just a bit as well.

By the time Sunday rolled around there had been two full days o’ sun &
fun with enough drinking to send an Irishman into detox. But as this was a long weekend, there was still at least one more day of no holds barred excitement left. But upon awakening the beers just weren’t going down like they had been the previous two days. This was cause for serious concern within my group and we made the decision to remedy it stat.

There was a place in town that we had visited briefly the night before and were told made the best bloodies in town…as well as out of town for that matter. So that became our destination. A few vodka-tomato drinks and we should be back on the road to debauchery once again. So we packed into the car and headed to downtown Wilmington to a place named the Duck and Dive Bar & Pub.

I never knew there was any true distinction between a bar and a pub, but the Duck and Dive made sure it was both so you were taken care of, no matter your fancy.

I think we were all secretly hoping it would be closed on Sunday just to buy us a little more time in the car where we weren’t expected to be drinking, but no such luck. The bar could have not been more wide open and empty. With that we parked and went inside ready to jumpstart our day with a round of bloodies.

The ever-so-friendly bartender whupped us up a batch and it took no longer than 10 minutes to do so. He even brought the things over to our sorry asses where we were sprawled out on benches in a sort of lazy prayer ritual begging the gods to make our headaches to subside.

Our prayers were answered.

With only one sip of this concoction, we knew we had indeed found something special. Several more glasses and we were well on our way to an encore performance of the previous two nights.

I’ve written the recipe here. It’s not exact, but is bar tending truly ever an exact science (mixologists please save your comments)? Anyway, if you can’t make it to Duck and Dive in Wilmington, NC anytime soon, try your hand at this recipe and alter accordingly. I think you will be happy.

Oh, and yes, it is not a typo. Guinness is indeed included in these bad boys!

Duck and Dive Bar & Pub
114 Dock St,
Wilmington, NC 28401


Best Bloody Mary Ever

Fill a pint glass with ice.
Add vodka to your liking
Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix
Splash of pickle juice
Dash of Worschire sauce
Emeril’s horseradish mustard (first and only time you will see Emeril’s anything listed in a recipe on this blog), to taste
1-2oz Guinness
Shake well and garnish with lime, olives and a gherkin.

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