Obviously we always are drink aware and never suffer the after effects of a heavy night. But just incase, in the back of my favourite retro cocktail book, Booze, there are some tips if feeling a bit rough.

1. Drink a coke out of the bottle as fast as possible.

2.  Recipe for a Prairie Oyster
1 jigger Brandy
2 or 3 dashes Vinegar
2 or 3 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
1 dash Tabasco
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
Mix everything except egg yolk. Float yolk whole. Drink without flinching!!

3. Place a cube of sugar in a saucer & pour half a measure of Brandy over it. Ignite the brandy (please be careful if you do try this at home, fire etc) let it flame until it goes out. Drink the remaining liquid and eat the rest of the sugar as hot as possible.

 I have NOT tried the above suggestions and apart from the Coke really never will. The book was written in the 60’s when health and safety didn’t exist

So as we may need a “hair of the dog” at some point, this weeks cocktail is a Bloody Mary, or minus the vodka, a Virgin Mary. The morning after the night before drink, that was created at the famous Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in the 1920’s by Pete Petoit.

Bloody Mary

1 parts vodka
Dash of lemon juice
Worcestershire & Tabasco Sauce
Tomato juice to top up
Ice cubes
Salt & pepper
Celery sticks to decorate

Place ice cubes into a highball glass, with the vodka & lemon juice.
Add Worcestershire sauce to taste & top up with tomato juice.
Splash of Tabasco sauce & season with salt & pepper.
Stir then decorate with celery stalks.

Images from  Booze illustration by John Astrop and Eric Hill.

I have used this amazing 1960’s cocktail book called Booze, with it’s brilliant psychedelic design and illustration as the inspiration for my cocktail post.
Booze – by June Dutton and Edith Vanocur, illustrated by John Astrop and Eric Hill (Determined Productions Inc., 1967).

Proceed with caution, may cause wobbly legs. Drink aware etc.