When the US embraced Prohibition, the country’s drinking culture radically changed. Speakeasies popped up, illegal alcohol smuggling routes were established, and new drinks exploded in popularity. Among them: The Tomato Cocktail, a hangover cure described in one recipe from the 1929 cookbook Here’s How Again! as “a very simple concoction” that was “guaranteed to pick you up no matter how low you have fallen.” This (admittedly dramatic sounding) drink is the progenitor of the Bloody Mary we know today.
Though the exact origins of the drink are somewhat murky, most cocktail historians credit the drink to actor George Jessel, who ordered it in 1927 to cure a hangover. Others claim the drink was invented by bartender Fernand Petiot at New York Bar in Paris sometime around 1921 to 1924. Though it’s hard to know its precise origins, Bloody Marys are now a phenomenon with more spin-offs and variations than you can imagine; a Red Snapper replaces vodka with gin. A Bloody Bull adds beef broth into the mix, the Canadian Bloody Caesar replaces tomato juice with Clamato.
If you’re especially particular about your Bloody Marys, you may want to make your own—may we suggest Bon Appétit’s New-New Bloody Mary?—but for many people, a mix is the way to go. Premade mixes cut down on prep time and simplify the batched Bloody Mary–making process. (Looking for a great vodka for your next Bloody Mary? We found the absolute best.)
In the wide world of Bloody Mary mixes, which is the best? We put 11 brands through a blind taste test to determine our three favorites.
How we picked the products
We started by compiling a list of nationally available Bloody Mary mixes. To complement that long list we combed through reddit threads, and researched the brands that imbibers and bartenders really used.
We also took into account data from Amazon’s Best Sellers page for the category. If a mix sold well on one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, we reasoned, it likely meant that a lot of people enjoyed it, and it was worth evaluating. That data pushed us, for example, to include V8’s Grillo’s Pickles Dill Pickle Bloody Mary mix, the No. 1 bestseller in the category, which we may have otherwise skipped. Besides V8’s Grillo’s Pickles mix, we stuck to each brand’s classic formulation, passing on any spicy or otherwise specially flavored versions. (Preferences for spicy are relative, after all.)
How we set up our blind taste test
We poured a portion of each mix into labeled glasses that we anonymized to ensure none of our tasters would know which brand they were tasting. Tasters took multiple sips of each contender in order to taste its full range of flavors. From our 11 brands, we first narrowed down to five favorites before furthering winnowing down to our three standouts.
How we evaluated
The balance of flavors and textures in a Bloody Mary mix are a delicate thing. Some people prefer a big hit of nose-clearing horseradish, while others want a mix that lets pure tomato flavor shine through. Our tasters were after a Bloody Mary mix that checked all the boxes—spicy, savory, slightly salty, with a pure tomato flavor—without over-indexing on any single facet.
Texture was an important factor too. No one wants to sip tomato chunks through a straw, so a Bloody mix with too much texture was a polite no-thank-you. Tasters also said they didn’t want to taste a raw tomato flavor—acrid or acidic. Instead, they wanted a mix that foregrounded a more even tomato flavor, one that held on to that acidity, but positioned it against some sweet, savory, and spicy notes.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, Prop Styling by Christine Keely
The Spice Lover’s Pick: Toma Clásico Bloody Mary Cocktail Mixer
New York–based Toma makes three varieties of Bloody Mary mix: picante, clásico, and suave. We tested the clásico formulation, which is a midpoint in terms of spice. Interestingly, Toma employs both horseradish and Dijon mustard to achieve that heat. Those ingredients are tempered with other big hitters like tomatillo, balsamic vinegar, and red jalapeño.
Why it won us over: What’s a Bloody Mary without a little kick? Toma’s mix, our tasters declared, was among the spiciest they tried, though it still managed to showcase a bouquet of other flavors. They enjoyed what Test Kitchen editor Rebecca Firkser called “the horseradish pick.” Despite the heat, tasters said, there was the requisite sweet-savory dance of tomato flavor, as well as complex herbaceous notes which rounded out the flavors in the mix.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, Prop Styling by Christine Keely
The Perfectly Herby: Q Mixers Premium Bloody Mary Mix
Based on its ingredient list, Q Mixers builds a Bloody Mary mix with relatively standard ingredients. There’s water, tomato paste, and horseradish to start—the building blocks of most mixes. Worcestershire sauce, which will do a lot of savory and spice heavy lifting, comes next. The mix is finished with a few more ingredients like garlic and onion powders as well as jalapeño peppers. Conveniently, Q Mixers packs its mixes into single-serving cans, so if you’re looking to mix up a single Bloody Mary, you won’t have to open a large container.
Why it won us over: Q Mixers’ Bloody Mary mix was almost immediately a favorite for our testers based on its texture. It has a pleasant body that director of drinks and lifestyle Joseph Hernandez described as round—each sip fills and coats your mouth with flavor. Tasters also raved about the robust herbaceous flavors in the mix: “Dill!” they exclaimed. “Celery!” they cried.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, Prop Styling by Christine Keely
The Expertly Balanced: McClure’s Mild Bloody Mary Mixer
Michigan-based McClure’s began in 2006 as a pickle company, using an old family recipe. The company has since expanded the business to include sauerkraut, relish, potato chips, and, yes, Bloody Mary mixes. The mix’s seasoning veers straightforward and notably doesn’t list horseradish. McClure’s is made with garlic, cucumber juice, black pepper, red pepper, dill, tomato paste, white vinegar, and salt.
Why it won us over: Our tasters agreed “complex” was the most apt descriptor. Yes, it has a note of dill, as Joseph pointed out. Yes, it had a pleasantly tangy acidic quality as Rebecca mentioned. Yes, it even has a vein of sweet tomato flavor running through it, according to senior Test Kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic. With a perfectly calibrated level of spice and layers of flavor to discover, McClure’s was seasoned well enough to simply pour over ice with vodka—no adjustments needed.
Our Wildcard Pick:
V8 Grillo’s Pickles Dill Pickle Bloody Mary Mix: Tasters noted that V8’s Grillo’s mix was unique right off the bat. While other mixes dipped a toe into the dill pool, this Bloody Mary mix dived in headfirst. Although our panel of tasters agreed that this dill-heavy mix didn’t qualify as a standard Bloody Mary mix, they enjoyed it enough to name it their wildcard pick.
We also tried…
Collins Classic Bloody Mary Cocktail Mix: Tasters said Collins’s mix didn’t have the thicker body they wanted in a Bloody Mary mix.
Fever-Tree Classic Bloody Mary Mix: We wanted a mix that balanced spice and savory, but Fever-Tree’s gave us black pepper heat and not much else.
Hella Classic Bloody Mary Premium Mixer: An off-putting sweetness turned our tasters off.
Major Peters Original Bloody Mary Mix: With its distinct “tomato soup” flavor, Major Peters was outperformed by other mixes.
Mr & Mrs T’s Original Bloody Mary: Some tasters deemed this mix too sweet, while others were turned off by a metallic taste.
V8 Bloody Mary Original: Bloody Mary mix should have body and texture, our tasters said, and V8’s formulation was rather thin.
Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix: Some tasters deemed the texture here gritty, and while others disagreed, the group decided that the mixes that ultimately won out had a better over reception.
