Fernand Petiot claimed to have invented the Bloody Mary in 1921, well before any of the later claims, according to his grand-daughter. He was working at the New York Bar in Paris at the time, which later became Harry’s New York Bar, a frequent Paris hangout for Ernest Hemingway and other American expatriates.
It has many variants, most notably the Red Snapper, the Virgin Mary, the Caesar, and the Michelada. Many know this cocktail as a ‘hair of the dog’ drink that can apparently cure hangovers, although many do refute this, perhaps it does ‘cure’ the hangover after the fifth or sixth glass.