Bloody Mary Coctail with celery stalk – Evan Swigart. The Bloody Mary was invented in the bloody mary cocktail ingredients or 1930s. There are various theories as to the origin of the drink and its name. The French bartender Fernand Petiot claimed to have invented the Bloody Mary in 1921, well before any of the later claims, according to his granddaughter.
New York’s 21 Club has two claims associated with it. One is that it was invented in the 1930s by bartender Henry Zbikiewicz, who was charged with mixing Bloody Marys. Another attributes its invention to the comedian George Jessel, who frequented the 21 Club. In a 1939 publication by El Floridita called “Floridita Cocktails” a recipe called “Mary Rose” lists the main ingredients of a modern Bloody Mary.
This booklet may be one of the earliest publications depicting the name Mary, while using the same ingredients in today’s Bloody Mary. Fernand Petiot claimed to have invented the modern Bloody Mary in 1934 as a refinement to George Jessel’s drink, at the King Cole Room in New York’s St. Regis Hotel, according to the hotel’s own history. I initiated the Bloody Mary of today. Jessel said he created it, but it was really nothing but vodka and tomato juice when I took it over. The cocktail was claimed as a new cocktail under the name “Red Hammer” in Life magazine in 1942, consisting of tomato juice, vodka, and lemon juice.