Bloody marys aren't meant to be gentle, but this one from the good people at Smith & Wollensky blows the competition out of the water...
Head bartender Ernest Reid has dreamed up something so powerful, it comes with a shot of coconut milk on the side. Medicinal milk, to calm the flames in your mouth after drinking a cocktail made from:
- Ketel One vodka, infused for weeks with dried Scotch bonnets. We tried a tiny amount of this, droppered from a straw with science-lab caution. Even that's enough to send one side of your mouth instantly bright-hot, then numb
- Mixed with tomato juice laced with chilli salsa
- Garnished with two chillis and black pepper
- Served in a glass rimmed with shichimi — a Japanese seven-spice mix including chillis, pepper and black sesame
If you're not feeling masochistic, there are less fiery cocktails you can order. Reid's background is working with whiskey, and his Bloody Mary menu features the A'mary'ica — bourbon and chipotle-based — and the Ohh Mami! Umami! version made with Nikka from the barrel, bamboo charcoal and wasabi.
But if you want to leave red-faced, and choking on a combination of Scotch bonnet and your own hubris? It's got to be this one — named Danger! Danger! High Voltage!!
Exclamation marks: theirs. Totally justified.