[Lee Stewart]

A man named Fernand Petiot claims to have invented the bloody mary in 1921 when he was working at the New York Bar (now Harry’s New York Bar) in Paris. The original recipe was just tomato juice and vodka, but Petiot came to bartend at New York’s St. Regis Hotel years later and in 1934 he added salt, pepper, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce and lemon. In 1942, the now famous brunch drink was featured in Life magazine under the name “Red Hammer,” and then it was renamed, but it’s unclear after who. It could be Queen Mary I of England, actress Mary Pickford, a waitress named Molly (she worked at a bar called Bucket of Blood) or several others.