January 1st is National Bloody Mary Day. But if you prefer beer to vodka, have a Bloody Beertail instead.

It’s a sister beverage to Mexico’s michelada.

Here’s more about beertails.
 
 
RECIPE: BLOODY BEERTAIL

The cocktail is 1-3/4 cups, plus ice. We adapted the recipe from Pampered Chef.

Ingredients For 1 Drink

For The Rim

 
Preparation

1. MIX the rim ingredients—red pepper flakes and salt—on a small plate. Rub the outer rim of a tall glass with the lime wedge; dip in the rim mixture and twist to coat.

2. FILL the glass with ice.

3. ADD the drink ingredients to the glass; stir and serve.

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*You can have fun with the ice cubes. Whether using plain ice cubes or tom ato juice cubes, you can fill the tray compartments with fresh dill or a stuffed olive.
  

As the year ends, we revisit some of our favorite products of the year.

They’re all Top Picks Of The Week, but they’re the ones that we can’t stop eating. If you’re looking for something new and special, we strongly recommend them. In alphabetical order, we present:

 
BETTER-FOR-YOU FOODS

Better Beans

Most of us should eat more beans, a good source of protein and nutrients. Ready-to-eat better beans can be used as a dip, spread or side.

Here’s the review.
 
 
Superseedz Flavored Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds are better-for-you snack foods. Superseedz seasons them so deftly, that whether you want sweet or savory, you’ll fall hard. They also make great garnishes.

Here’s the review.
 
 
DRINKS

Casa Noble Tequila

We taste a lot of fine vodkas, but the one that stands head and shoulder above the rest is Casa Noble Tequila. It’s a fitting name.

Here’s the review.
 
 
SNACKS

Farmer’s Pantry Cornbread Crisps

If you love cornbread, these crisps satisfy the longing. They’re crispy instead of crumbly, room temperature instead of warm, but they hit the spot.

Here’s the review.
 
 
SWEETS

Cookies From Jane Bakes

These cookies (photo #2), which are of a softer style, are so satisfying that they substitute for our first love, which is cake. There are two gluten-free flavors.

Here’s our review.

[3] Chili chocolate chunk halva is just one of some two dozen irresistible flavors (photo courtesy Seed + Mill).

Halva lovers, look no further. This halva (photo #3) is heavenly, in more flavors than you’ll have time to eat.

Here’s our review.
  

[2] The oyster is in the drink, which is garnished with the Bloody Mary’s classic celery stick (at Seviche | Louisville).

[3] Decorate a serving plate for passing the shooters, with coarse salt, black, green and pink peppercorns (photo courtesy James Beard Foundation).

[4] The Murph’s Famous Bloody Mary mix (photo courtesy MurphsFamous.com).

January 1st is National Bloody Mary Day. Here’s a great way to start the year: Bloody Mary Oyster Shooters.

It’s a charmer of a drink that also helps with that inevitable New Year’s resolution: lose a few pounds. The are fewer than 75 calories per shot, including the oyster.

We adapted this recipe from one on Chowhound. Instead, you can use your own Bloody Mary recipe, or a good mix like The Murph’s Famous.

Or, simply make a tall Bloody Mary and serve with an oyster or two.
 
 
RECIPE: BLOODY MARY OYSTER SHOOTERS

Ingredients Per Shooter

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE all ingredients in a shot glass. Stir lightly and top with the oyster.

This technique works for 4 to 6 drinks. For a larger number, consider mixing in a pitcher.
 
 
THE MURPH’S FAMOUS BLOODY MARY MIX

The Murph (Stephen Murphy) was a stockbroker living on Long Island when he started to think of businesses to start.

He hit upon his “famous” Bloody Mary mix, developed years earlier. Putting on the mantle of entrepreneur, he got it into bottles (no easy task) and it’s now sold in 28 states in the eastern U.S.

Discover more at MurphsFamous.com.

We are very fussy about our Bloody Mary recipe. We enjoy several of Virgin Marys during the week and like our seasonings just so.

While we typically mix our own, The Murph’s Famous has a pleasing combination that only needs for us to add some more Worcestershire sauce (we like a lot of it).
 
 
THE HISTORY OF TOMATO JUICE AS AN APPETIZER

In our grandmother’s time, a glass of tomato (pronounced toe-MAH-toe by fashionable people) juice started off almost every dinner.

The glass, four to six ounces, was served on a small plate, on top of a paper doily.

A silver salver was passed, containing Worcestershire sauce, prepared horseradish and lemon wedges. The big treat, for a child, was the bowl of oyster crackers.

Nana was not wealthy, but in those days, even a middle class household could be elegant. If you chance to see menus from top restaurants of yore, you’ll notice tomato juice under the appetizers.

It was popular for decades, on the menus of American and Continental restaurants through the 1960s and into the 1970s.

Tomato Juice Turns Into Tomato Juice Cocktail

Tomato juice was well known and available in cans in the 19th century, but it came into vogue—a fashionable drink—in the 1920s.

A chef at the French Lick Resort Hotel in French Lick, Indiana is said to have been the first in the U.S. to include a tomato juice appetizer on a restaurant menu in 1917 (tomato juice does not seem to appear on American menus prior to World War I).

As the idea spread, chefs created non-alcoholic tomato juice cocktails with the addition of Tabasco sauce, paprika, sauerkraut juice, clam juice, etc. (mix well, shake until foamy and pour over crushed ice). (The Bloody Mary was created not long after.)

Restaurants tried all sorts of combinations, according to Restaurant-ing Throughout History:

 
Today, that early tomato juice cocktail made with Worcestershire, hot sauce and/or horseradish, lemon or lime juice, and perhaps other seasonings (celery salt, paprika, pepper) is known as…the Virgin Mary.
 
 
MORE BLOODY MARY RECIPES