In 1958, San Francisco baseball great Lefty O’Doul opened the family friendly Lefty O’Doul’s Restaurant & Lounge in Union Square (333 Geary Street) so that patrons could meet sports stars. Lefty’s became widely known for its wickedly delicious Bloody Mary mix; however, the recipe was kept top secret between Lefty and his loyal bartenders.

A while back, current owner Nick Bovis was searching through a dusty bag of golf clubs that Lefty had tucked away in the restaurant’s attic when he found a scrap of paper containing the hand-scrawled recipe for the famous Bloody Mary mix. Bovis is now bottling Lefty O’Doul’s Bloody Mary Mix, with a portion of the proceeds going to support youth baseball.

Keith Wilson of The Board Room says, “When my bartenders get slammed, this gives me a better alternative. We can serve up quality Bloody Marys without slowing down to mix a batch of ingredients.”

Michael Baile, general manager of the Condor, says he likes being able to offer a Bloody Mary mix that is above and beyond what is already out there: “Lefty’s mix packs a punch and leaves all the other mixes in dusty sand lots of baseball history.”

Wholesale distributor Southern Wine & Spirits is hard at work getting the mix out there, and Bovis hopes to see it soon at Safeway, BevMo and AT&T Park.