Let me start off this post by saying "I love Bloody Mary's." So when I attended the "Heat It Up: Bloody Mary and Chili Challenge" in Downtown Milwaukee yesterday, I was one happy girl. Let's be honest I was really only there for the Bloody Mary's, the chili was just a small bonus. As I mentioned in my Maxis & Milwaukee post, no one does Bloody Mary's quite like we do here in Wisconsin (you can probably tell I'm not exaggerating from the pictures above). There were a total of 18 different Bloody Mary's to try, from restaurants around the city. I walked in there way overconfident thinking I would taste every single one, but after a about 5 I realized I wasn't going to make it. So we changed up our strategy and started taking just a few sips to get the flavor, only eating the garnishes that were unique or looked delicious, and only taste tested the bloody's that we had never tried before. We still got through a good amount of "liquid brunches" as I like to call them and here are my reviews! Try to keep in mind that this was a three hour long extravaganza of drinking a slightly alcoholic beverage, but I'm quite a lightweight so some of my notes got a little weird :)
Il Mito East: This bloody used a cucumber-infused vodka, but the cucumber wasn't super overwhelming like I thought it'd be. It was just the right amount and the garnishes included cheeses, pepperoni, and artichoke. I gave theirs a 3.5/ 5!
Miller Time Pub: Now remember this is just my opinion, but I thought this bloody was too spicy and kind of flavorless. It seemed watered down, but left my mouth on fire. However, the garnishes were AMAZING! They included a jalepeno popper, cheeses, 2 pieces of delicious shrimp, a beef stick, celery, and I might even be missing a few others? Overall I gave this a 2.5/5 because the actually drink itself...no bueno.
Buckley's: They used a bacon-infused vodka in their bloody. Let me say right here that bacon must be the "chambray" of Bloody Mary's. In fashion, everywhere you look there's chambray right now, and at this competition almost every Bloody involved bacon in some way. So in case you were wondering what the big fad is or what the "in" thing happens to be in the drinking world... now you know, it's bacon. Back to this Bloody Mary, it was a tad spicy for me, and the whole bacon flavored drink was not super yummy. However, I feel like it was a taste you could get used to over time. I also gave this one a 2.5/5.
Blue's Egg: Yummy! I'm the kind of person who enjoys a pretty classic tasting Bloody Mary. This one was just that. It was more tomatoey than spicy and it included bacon (of course), cheese, a pickle, a beer chaser (which only one other place was offering), and my favorite part was the delicious breakfast sausage! This one gets a 4.5/5 from me!
Red Rock Saloon: I just had a sip of this one since I was getting full and starting to feel all the vodka, which probably explains why I wrote "decentish" to explain this flavor. Not quite sure what that means, but I'm thinking I didn't enjoy it too much. I thought it was too spicy, but it included bacon, cheese, and a pickle. Since I'm not big on spiciness, I would give this a 2.5/5, but if you like spice you might think it's a 3. I kept in mind my boyfriend's opinions too since he likes his Bloody's spicy, but he didn't think the flavor of this one was anything great.
Hotel Metro: DING DING DING...we have a winner! This was my absolute favorite of the day. Their Bloody was ranch-infused and had yummy garnishes including a deep fried cheese curd and bacon bits! They get a 5/5 from me :)
Burkes Irish Castle: They're bloody was whiskey-infused and it's the green one that you see in the photos above. There was sausage and a tomato included for garnishes, but the taste was...gross. Even my whiskey-drinking boyfriend didn't enjoy it. So this guy gets a 1/5 from me. I actually wrote down "this is not a Bloody Mary." I'm starting to think I'm a bit of a tough critic...I'll add that I did try their chili and wrote down "amaze-balls" sooo I'm thinking thats gotta be a good thing.
Rustico Pizzeria: I have had their Bloody's before and usually they are one of my favorites in the city! I think they might have changed it up a bit for the competition. I thought it seemed spicier than usual and pretty average, but for those of you who like spice it'd be a great choice so 4/5 for this one!
Camp Bar: I didn't have anything written down for theirs because I already know I love it. This bar is very close to my house so their Bloody has become a regular for me. It's delicious, tomatoey with a hint of spiciness, but not too much. And great garnishes including a beef stick, celery, and pickled asparagus. 5/5 from me :)
Millioke: I love the uniqueness of this Bloody. They had a "pizza flavored" Bloody Mary and it was not too bad! Once again this one was way too spicy for me, but it was cool because it tasted very pepperoni-y (yes I made that up, but you get the point). That flavor made it unique as I said, but it was also a little bit over-whelming. I did think that they had the best cheese of the day though! I gave them a 3/5.
Cafe Benelux: I mentioned their Bloody's in my "Maxis and Milwaukee" post as one of my favorites! And they truly do have great Bloody's. They have a couple different options though and the one they featured at the competition wasn't my favorite choice. Of course it was still delicious. They went with a barbecue flavor and to be honest drinking something barbecue flavored isn't exactly appealing to me, but it turned out to be not bad and they included a beer chaser. I gave them a 4/5.
McBob's: I'm sorry for even adding this one on here, but I feel like I should warn the world...this is the worst Bloody Mary, possibly ever. They made it look appealing with a chunk of bread, ham, and cheese as the garnishes, but even the flavor of those garnishes were not good. Here's what I wrote down " Horrible, spicy, awfulness." I hope that clears things up. This is not to say that McBob's is a bad place to eat, as I've never had anything from there other than this small sample of a Bloody Mary. I've noticed that I've had to type out the words "Bloody Mary" many times in this post since you can't use the abbreviation of "BM" for obvious reasons when talking about a drink... in this case however, it might be appropriate. 0.5/5
There you have it, my ratings of some of the fabulous Bloody Mary's around town! The real winner of the competition was the Miller Time Bloody...Congrats! Here's the picture of theirs:
And here's the picture of my favorite Bloody of the day, Hotel Metro's ranch infused Bloody Mary:
