With New Year’s Eve right around the corner, we wanted to share a cocktail recipe from Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers. Following a celebratory evening and one too many glasses of champagne, what could be better than a New Year’s Day brunch, complete with a Bloody Mary–the traditional cure-all. Short-story writer and poet, Raymond Carver, was said to be a fan.

Believed to have been invented at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris in the 1920s, the Bloody Mary came over to the States after Prohibition via bartender Fernand “Pete” Petoit. Pete made the drink with gin and served it under the name Red Snapper. The perfect eye-opener, it is favored by those, like Carver, who know from a hangover.

2 oz. vodka

½ oz. lemon juice

¼ oz. Worcestershire sauce

3 dashes Tabasco sauce

¼ tsp. grated horseradish

1 pinch cracked pepper

1 pinch salt

1 pinch celery salt

Top with tomato juice

Celery stalk

Lime wedge

Pour all ingredients (except garnish and tomato juice) into a highball glass. Fill with ice cubes. Top with tomato juice, and stir. Garnish with celery stalk and lime wedge. Feel free to adjust ingredients to taste, but remember—the horseradish is essential. Enjoy!

-Katie