New Discovery: Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix

By Lia

As far as parents go, I lucked out pretty good with mine. My parents travel. They stay out late. They love to dance. They go to concerts like Bon Jovi and Kelly Clarkson and call me screaming from their seats like a teenager would. It’s pretty great.

One of my favorite things about my parents, though, is that they both used to bartend together in their 20s to make extra money. One of my dad’s most famous concoctions was his Bloody Mary. It’s pretty famous in my family — whenever anyone ever came to visit us in Florida after we moved from New Jersey, inevitably the request was made…”Lou, could you ummm, whip up a Bloody Mary?”

And as a kid, you can only hear family members make this request so many times before you, too, get to wondering about this drink that your dad makes that everyone finds so delicious.  So my dad would make us virgin ones from the time we were very small. So literally having grown up drinking these, and at this point having sampled literally thousands of different varieties,  I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the Bloody Mary. (Get at me if you ever want a suggestion on NYC restaurants that make the best.) And when it comes to what makes a good one, I’m a liiiiittle bit snobby about it.

Which is why when I caught my dad using a mix when I was home for the holidays, I almost lost my mind. My dad has been making his with a special blend of ingredients forever. I had to check myself from screaming at him.

When I calmly politely simply asked him what the hell he was doing, he explained that since he was short on time (party time was indeed almost near) he was taking a short cut. In his hand was a bottle of Zing Zang Bloody Mary mix.

Skeptically, I watched him pour in the vodka and stir — and then I all but ripped the pitcher out of his hand so I could pour myself a glass and taste. And to say I was surprised would be an understatement. Not only was the Bloody Mary delicious…it tasted JUST like my dad’s version. So I did what any normal person does during the holidays. I commandeered the pitcher, refused to share, and drank it all myself on Christmas Eve.

Zing Zang says it’s not just another Bloody Mary mix — and it is right. Because I have literally tried them all and find most come up short. But if you need to whip up some quick, I can’t recommend this enough. And now you all know what I’m doing every Sunday forever.