064 – Bullshot

A post Sydney Covid ‘lock-down’ exploration of the 1950’s ‘Bullshot’ cocktail.

A meal-in-a-glass, an ox-on-the-rocks, or a soup-cocktail, this is one rare beast, a 1950’s cocktail for the carnivores among us.

Make your own ‘mix-at-home’ #Locktail the ‘Bullshot’, as well as your own Beef Bouillon.

METHOD – FOR THE BEEF BOUILLON (prepare at least one-day in advance) – Place 500ml cold water, 400gm diced lean beef, 200gm beef bones and two whole cloves in a large pot. Slowly bring to the boil, then reduce heat and leave on a very gentle simmer for two hours (very low flame/heat), covered with a lid. Taste and season with salt (and option for Pepper) to taste – don’t over salt. Then add 30gm each of diced celery, carrots, turnips and onions and simmer for another hour, covered with a lid. Let the mix cool slightly and then strain through a cheesecloth and discard the solids. Simmer the liquid for a further hour or more uncovered, until the volume has reduced to below 500ml (or to desired concentration). Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until full cold and any remaining fat has set on top. Remove and discard the solid fats and then store the remaining ‘Beef Bouillon’ in a sealed and sterilized glass container in the fridge. This should make at least 400ml of Bouillon, sufficient for three to four ‘Bull Shot’ cocktails, and last refrigerated for around one week. Option: Add half the amount of Vodka to the Bouillon (i.e. 50ml Vodka for every 100ml Bouillon) before refrigerating, and the mix will last significantly longer refrigerated, then no need to included vodka when making the ‘Bull Shot’ cocktail.

FOR THE COCKTAIL – You can mix in the drinking glass, but especially if you are making more than one for your ‘hung-over’ friends, start with a larger mixing glass. Add 60ml Vodka, 120ml of the home made Beef Bouillon (recipe above) unless you have already combined them (then 180ml of the mix), approximately 15ml of fresh lemon juice, 4 good dashes of Worcestershire Sauce, 4 dashes of the Bitter Truth’s Celery Bitters (optional but amazing), 4 drops of Tabasco Sauce (start light, you can always add more) and salt and pepper to taste. Mix with ice and then strain into a large glass, a highball, double-rocks, wine or glass goblet with ice in the glass. Garnish with a stick of celery.

For a spicier option, add some Bittermens’ Hellfire Habanero Shrub (4 to 8 dashes), and increase the amount of Tabasco Sauce and Pepper to suit your personal spiciness preference. You can go even hotter if you want and add some fresh chilli if you really want some heat, however too much can diminish the core flavour of the quality home-made Beef Bouillon.

HISTORICAL NOTES – The most probable origin of the Bullshot, is that it was created shortly after 1952 by Lester Gruber, who had just opened his Caucus Club bar in Detroit, to handle overflow from his very successful London Chop House (LCH) restaurant over the road.

The story is, that in conversation with John Hurley, who was working on the Campbell’s Soup advertising and marketing account with BBDO, the two men came up with the idea of a cocktail to boost sales of Campbell’s Beef Bouillon (beef broth). They tested the drink out on Caucus Club customers with success and the drink grew to become very popular in the late 1950’s and into the 1960’s.

The name doesn’t appear in print until 1956, and then it turns up a number of times with the copy “Soup on the Rocks”, as a new drinking trend. The cocktail went by many other names, including ‘Matador’, ‘Bulldozer’, ‘Jumping Bull’, and ‘Ox on the Rocks’, but it was the original ‘Bullshot’ that stuck. Celebrities like Malcolm McDowell, Joan Crawford and Richard Chamberlain were fans of the cocktail, however Marilyn Monroe famously said “what a horrible thing to do to Vodka”.

The drink declined in popularity and appearance on menus during the late 1960’s and 1970’s and by the 1980’s had disappeared almost completely. A very rare cocktail these days.

THE OFFICIAL MIX – Probably no surprise that the ‘Bull Shot’ does not appear on any of the International Bartender Association (IBA) official drinks lists. Not surprising given that any ‘meat product’ drink needs to be treated with great care and the cocktail all but disappeared in the 1980’s. Best making your own Bouillon and mixing the cocktail while it is fresh (less than a week since making, unless you have extended the preservation with a suitable method).

TASTING NOTES – Think Bloody Mary, but instead of tomato soup flavours, it is beef broth that is the dominant taste. Depending on what Bouillon (beef broth) you use, or what beef you use in your home made version (recipe above) will greatly change the taste. If you feel like you need some beef, love the full beef flavour and want it in a drink, yes that’s a small group of people, then this may be just what you need.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – Very similar to the original 1950’s mix, the main difference for my mix (recipe) is the make-your-own beef broth, which is much nicer than most bought Beef Bouillon. In the video there were some other changes in spices, using Spicy Yuzu Sauce instead of Tabasco, the spice is really personal preference. Use what you might use in a meal, or consider Bittermens’ Hellfire Habanero Shrub, as it is specifically made for spicing up cocktails.

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is fourth cocktail from the 1951-1960 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes. Full list in the index.