Ever looked into a ship in a bottle and wondered, really wondered, how the artisan got all the parts inside? Well, one sip of a Bloody Mary made with Murph’s Famous Bloody Mary Mix will have your taste buds wondering the same thing.
Stephen Murphy, a self-proclaimed “born flavor lover and connoisseur of spices” is a financial consultant and the brain behind the eponymous Murph’s Famous Bloody Mary Mix. Murph, who grew up in East Rockaway, recognized early that his father had concocted a terrific recipe for a Bloody Mary. After reaching legal drinking age, “I took matters into my own hands and tinkered with my Dad’s recipe,” says Murph. Soon Murph was known as the Bloody Mary guy. From college tailgate parties to weekend brunches at the beach club, Murph provided the tasty hair-of-the-dog. “You should bottle this one day” was the constant mantra of his Bloody Mary cognoscente. Murph’s entrepreneurial spirit took over and in 2006 Murph’s Famous Bloody Mary Mix was born and bottled.
Murph’s mission was to create a high quality Bloody Mary mix that people could connect with. “There was no branding or personality behind Bloody Mary mixes,” he says. “I make a high end product that everyone loves and then add the personality. I give consumers that personal connection.” Murph, with business partner and fellow financial consultant Phil Sagona, make Murph’s Famous in Farmingdale. Their recipe is naturally classified.
Sagona did reveal “Murph’s Famous is kettle cooked for 45 minutes, like an old fashioned sauce on a stove. It is not a juice. That’s the differentiator.” That saucy differentiator brings Murph’s Famous from the cocktail bar to the kitchen. Their website has recipes for meatloaf, gazpacho, wings and shellfish. “Cooking with Murph’s is not just a novelty,” says Sagona, “it makes a bona fide marinade and spices up pizza sauce, too.”
Murph’s Famous is now sold in 27 states. Locally, Murph’s can be found in Iavarone Brothers in New Hyde Park, Wantagh and Woodbury, Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace in East Meadow, Port Washington, Massapequa, Smithtown and Port Jefferson as well as some of the larger supermarkets on the Island. Murph’s is the Bloody Mary go-to mixer at several restaurants and country clubs, predominantly in Nassau County. If your barkeep isn’t pouring Murph’s, then ask for it by name and say adieu to boring, tasteless Bloody Marys.
