Tabasco Sponsors 2008 Ultimate Bloody Mary Challenge

The spices will fly at The Ultimate Bloody Mary Challenge July 18, 2008, at House of Blues in New Orleans.  Sponsored by McIlhenny Co., manufacturer of world famous TABASCO brand Pepper Sauce Products, Uluvka Vodka and USBG, the competition to showcase the best Bloody Mary recipes in the world is a featured event of the five-day culinary and cocktail festival Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans.


The Bloody Mary, first served at Harry's New York Bar in Paris in 1926, is one of the most recognized of all cocktails. Variations on the original have proven to be the perfect opportunity for bartenders to express their creativity with some of the results having appeared on cocktail menus as Bloody Marias, Bloody Bull, Bloody Viper, Bloody Shame, Bloody Mariner and the TABASCO Avery Island Mary.  TABASCO, now celebrating its 140th anniversary, has been an essential ingredient in almost every popular Bloody Mary recipe since and is now available in a variety of flavors to provide bartenders with even more opportunities for innovation.


"Original TABASCO Pepper Sauce has been used to add boldness to the Bloody Mary almost from the beginning," said Stacy Hingle, Brand Marketing Manager for McIlhenny Company's Foodservice Division.  "It is fitting that McIlhenny Co. challenge the creativity of bartenders and mixologists to come up with a new twist for this long-time favorite and to do it with the same ingredients Bloody Mary customers insisted upon nearly a century ago - like TABASCO Pepper Sauce."


Two representatives from each of the USBG chapters will be flown to New Orleans, compliments of McIlhenny Company, to create two winning Bloody Mary recipes in front of a live audience at the Bartender's Bash & The Ultimate Bloody Mary Challenge at Tales of the Cocktail.  A cash prize and a limited edition TABASCO  trophy will be awarded to the winning USBG chapter.

The Tales of the Cocktail 2008 festival is scheduled for July 16-20 in the New Orleans French Quarter and will feature award-winning mixologists, authors, bartenders, chefs and designers at cocktail events including dinner-pairings, cocktail demos and tastings, seminars, mixing competitions, design expos, book-signings and much more.


For more information on Tales of the Cocktail, visit www.TalesoftheCocktail.com.