: Happy Centenary, Bloody Mary. Drinkers Celebrate a Famous Cocktail’s 100th Birthday #WorldNEWS PARIS — Harry’s Bar in Paris is celebrating the 100th birthday of the bloody mary, the vodka-tomato

Happy Centenary, Bloody Mary. Drinkers Celebrate a Famous Cocktail’s 100th Birthday #WorldNEWS
PARIS — Harry’s Bar in Paris is celebrating the 100th birthday of the bloody mary, the vodka-tomato juice cocktail believed to have been invented at the iconic watering hole in 1921.
The centenary events this week bring a welcome respite from winter gloom and worries about the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The bar is carefully checking COVID-19 health passes as foreign visitors gather to sample the drink closely associated with Harrys Bar, whose patrons over the past century have included writers Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
According to the history of Harrys, bartender Fernand Petiot invented the cocktail, and the recipe was first published in a book called “Harrys ABC of Cocktails in 1921. The bar serves an estimated 12,000 bloody marys a year.
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“It’s a classic drink,” bartender Dante Agnelli said while demonstrating the mixology behind the drink, ingredient by ingredient: salt and pepper, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, vodka and tomato juice.
“You make it directly in the glass,” Agnelli said as he stood at the counter where Petiot first performed the now well-established ritual 100 years ago, at the dawn of what became known as the roaring 1920s.
Harrys Bar plans to host a celebration on Thursday night despite concerns about the spread of omicron variant of the coronavirus in Europe and a surge in new virus infections across France.
Franz-Arthur MacElhone, a great-grandson of bar founder Harry MacElhone, said the celebration would take place in line with government regulations: the health passes of patrons from around the world will be checked, hand sanitizers will be distributed, and bar staff will wear masks.
In recent days, the French government expanded the places where passes are required, including all restaurants and a growing number of events and venues. To get one, people must show proof of full vaccination, a negative virus test less than 24 hours old, or recent recovery from COVID-19.
The French government closed nightclubs and tightened social distancing measures but is trying to avoid a new lockdown.

AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh Bartender Antoine stands behind a bloody mary cocktail at Harrys Bar in Paris, on Friday, Dec. 10, 2021.
The health protocol is the only visible change inside the bar that used to be located on New York’s 7th Avenue before it was dismantled, shipped to Europe and rebuilt in central Paris in 1911.
For Harry’s patrons, the timeless décor is a reassuring fixture, particularly at a time of uncertainty due to the pandemic.
“Once you walk in, you leave all your worries aside,” said Ihab Hassan, 61, a retired businessman from Egypt and a regular at the bar since the 1970s.