San Diego Reader

Iowa transplant Jaime Lynch says she moved to the Left Coast to compare Hawkeye and Golden State cocktail culture for future reference. “Eventually, I would love to own my own bar,” she explains. As it happens, this mix-mistress crafts the perfect common ground — the bloody mary — a potion equally at home in Milwaukee taverns and Manhattan Beach bistros. But Lynch says there’s one prerequisite: “You have to love tomato juice to love a bloody mary.” Because most versions of the bloody mary fail the acid test (that is, the overbearing tendency of tomato juice), she opines, most people don’t get a balanced bloody mary — equal parts taste and tang with little acidity. The tomato juice must serve as canvas for the masterpiece — and the Waterfront’s version does just that. “Adding the Worcestershire and horseradish gives it a great taste,” Lynch says. The tang arrives with your first sip, derived from the Tabasco and Dijon mustard — and the medley’s deus ex machina — Absolut Peppar vodka.

In a glass filled with ice, add:

• 2½ oz. Absolut Peppar • Tomato juice to the glass’s neck
• 2 slow dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 quick dashes of Tabasco sauce • 1 splash of sweet-n-sour mix
• 1 generous blessing of ground black pepper
• 1 butter knife tip each of Dijon mustard and horseradish

Stir ingredients with butter knife, garnish with lemons, limes, and olives, and drink in a solemn kneeling position