NYC Bloody Mary winners
The NYC Bloody Mary Festival just announced its 2026 winners, spotlighting the city’s most inventive bars and cocktail mixes in a major spring beverage roundup. The festival’s results are being used as a marker for creative cocktail trends across the city this season. (ftnnews.com)
Judges named Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue Best Traditional, Filthy Diamond Best Original, Crif Dogs Best Garnish, and Labonne’s Gameday Best Bottled Mix, while The Drop Shot Bar won the People’s Choice and Sunday’s Bloody Mary Mix took the People’s Choice for bottled entries (hospitalityandcateringnews.com)). The one-day event was held March 21, 2026 at BKLoft26 in Brooklyn and ran from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., per the festival schedule (ediblemanhattan.com)). Organizers and local coverage put turnout in the neighborhood of several hundred to more than 1,000 attendees and listed roughly 15 participating bars, restaurants and bottled-mix brands at the tasting (mantelligence.com)). The Drop Shot Bar’s People’s Choice entry — billed as “Uncle Steve’s Bloody Mary Mix” — traces to a family recipe from the 1970s and was presented by co-owners Lori and Mike Tellone, who opened the Rockaway venue in June 2025, according to local reporting (rockawaytimes.com)). Crif Dogs captured Best Garnish with a bacon-wrapped hot dog garnish that judges singled out for presentation and crowd impact (hospitalityandcateringnews.com)). The festival marked the NYC return of the event after its last local edition in 2023, and founder Evan Weiss noted that Brooklyn entrants took home the top judged honors this year (longislandrestaurants.com)).
