Made in the South Awards 2011

WINNER: FOOD CATEGORY

Photographs Stacy Newgent

Charleston Beverage Company; Charleston, SC

Charleston entrepreneur Ryan Eleuteri credits the genesis
 of his Charleston Bold & Spicy Bloody Mary Mix to a hangover. “My roommate and I had a bunch of fun one Saturday night, and the next morning we went to the store looking for Zing Zang,” he remembers. “They were out, so we tried to make our own.” Six months of trial and error later, Eleuteri was serving his first batches at the Charleston Wine and Food Festival. “We did okay, but for people who were Bloody Mary drinkers, the sweetness of our original recipe was not appealing.” Undeterred, Eleuteri started over. His second attempt added complex layers to the typical combination of tomato, Worcestershire, and pepper. “The biggest difference in the new one is that it has a beef and vegetable base, I used sea salt, and I used a habanero mash with more subtlety to it,” he says. The pursuit of perfect ingredients wasn’t lost on Made in the South Awards judge and James Beard Award winner Sean Brock. “As soon as I tasted the mix, I could taste the hard work that went into developing the flavor,” Brock says. “Last year I spent a week straight trying to get the Husk Bloody Mary right. It’s no easy feat. He nailed it.”

$8; charlestonmix.com