All The Meaty Juices That Can Go In A Bullshot Cocktail

Few cocktails involve meat juice, let alone feature it as a main ingredient. Maybe they should. After all, what's wrong with a little protein and savory flavor to go with your standard 2 ounces of liquor? Consider the bloody mary, the michelada, and the dirty martini — all delightfully salty drinks that wet the whistle and sate the appetite. If you're a fan of those tipples, meet the bullshot. It's best described as the beefy boyfriend of the bloody mary. A Midwestern-born, mid-century classic cocktail, the bullshot is more than ready for its comeback. 

We can thank a Don Draper-ish ad man called John Hurley for the inspiration behind the bullshot. In the '50s, Hurley was trying to come up with a campaign to boost sales of canned bouillon. A bartender at his swanky restaurant of choice, the Caucus Club in Detroit, dreamed up the combination of beef broth, vodka, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco, one of the best hot sauces around. Shaken and served over ice, the "stocktail" was an instant hit. Since this time, new versions of the cocktail have been created. These feature other meaty juices in place of bouillon including consommé and even a few vegan alternatives. 

The original bullshot recipe is easy enough to make. It's essentially vodka, room-temperature beef broth, and lemon juice, with Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce added to taste. The ingredients are shaken until chilled, poured over ice into a highball, and garnished with a celery stick and lemon wedge. But you don't have to rely on just canned bouillon for your meaty juices. Bone broth or consommé — something we should all be making more of — both add an extra layer of flavor to the cocktail. You can even add a small amount of anchovy paste to the drink to further develop its complex, savory notes. 

While known as a meat lover's drink, it's relatively easy to give the bullshot a vegan twist. Miso paste, a traditional Japanese ingredient made from fermented soybeans, is a great choice. Miso makes a good bullshot for the same reason miso makes food taste better: It has a lot of umami flavor. This means you only have to mix a small amount of it with hot water to create a rich broth that you can use as the basis of your bullshot. A few more vegan options that might be lurking in the back of your pantry are mushroom broth, tomato paste, or tamari. If you're feeling adventurous, consider also tossing in nutritional yeast which adds a nutty, cheesy flavor to your stocktail. Rest assured, the bullshot remains a cocktail that doubles as a meal even when it's made without animal products.