Double Diamond Bar @ Tyrol Basin

Although this may extend beyond our geographical reach (i.e. Mt. Horeb), we decided to review the bloody mary at the quaint little Double Diamond Bar at Tyrol Basin. My interest was initially piqued by the towering glass vase full of jalapenos marinating in vodka. Upon inquiring, I was told this was the vodka used in their 'spicy' and 'medium' Bloody Mary concoctions. Some brief background to their options: spicy is served with their own Bloody mix containing the jalapeno infused vodka, 'medium' is served similarly but with a mix of half jalapeno vodka and half un-infused vodka, and their 'mild' does not contain any of the infusion.

Before I could sit down to enjoy my tasty beverage, I was immediately impressed with the presentation...the rim was loaded with two giant shrimp, two skewered olives, and topped off with asparagus (pictures to follow). Upon tasting, one could definitely feel the tinge and unique taste of jalapeno in the vodka. However, I was disappointed when after a few sips there seemed to be something missing. I could taste the usual suspects: tomato juice, horse radish, and Worcestershire; but their mix fell a bit short and lacked that 'hearty' quality. Perhaps it may have had too much vodka since it appeared a bit watered down, but yet the vodka taste was not overpowering (perhaps because I was lost in the jalapeno flavor!). In the end, it excelled in appearance but fell short in substance. This is truly a shame since a great mix would've complemented this vodka so well.

My rating is 3.0. I loved the garnish and presentation, not to mention the effort in using infused vodka. However, taste is ultimately paramount in our reviews.

Mike's Horseshoe Bar and Grill

Welcome to the Madtown Bloody blog. Our mission is to find the best place for a bloody mary in Madison, WI. There are four people who are part of team madtown bloody. Our names are Miguel, Liz, Patrick, and Abby. Welcome to our site. Please help us achieve our mission by posting comments and recommending places to review. We will post the ingredients of the bloody mary if available, a few comments about the taste, and finally a score of 0-5 with 0 being completely undrinkable, 3 is decent, and 5 being the best ever. We really like Genna's (around the capitol) bloody mary bar on Saturday mornings so we would consider that a 4.

The first place we decided to review was kind of an accident. This bar provided a very interesting ambiance and reminded us of a typical small town Wisconsin bar.

Mike's Horseshoe Bar and Grill
3900 Dempsey Road
Madison, WI 53716-1144

Bloody Mary's were served in a 12 oz frosty mug. The bloody mary mix seemed homemade because it was poured out from a tupperware container but we can't be sure. The bartender really spent some time making it and we appreciated her effort. The ingredients she used are listed below:

~2 oz of vodka
Bloody mary mix (homemade?)
A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Lemon wedge
Pickle
Celery Salt
Tabasco (optional)
$3

Madtown Bloody rating = 2.5

Although we felt this was a pretty good bloody mary for the price it seemed to be missing horseradish. It could have been put into the mix, but we didn't taste it. Once we added tabasco sauce it tasted much better. It could have definitely used more garnish. We do want to note that while we were having our bloody mary's we ordered some fried portabellas for $3! We were really surprised to see them on their menu and they were delicious.

Thanks for reading!
Liz