BIG TOM BLOODY
By Mary Ellen Miller
Several years ago, when Bristol's Bill King and his wife Ruth headed out on one of their many business trips to England, there was nothing they missed more from the States than their regular Sunday morning Bloody Mary.
"Ruth and I usually have one every Sunday morning when we come home from church," says King, a one-time clothing maven and a partner in Ruth King Antiques.
"We really enjoy having a Bloody Mary with our eggs Benedict. We had never found a good mix in England, and we used to take our own powder with us. Finally, one day in 2001, we were at the Oddbins [liquor] store, just down from Harrod's, and I asked the clerk, �Don't you have anything to make a decent Bloody Mary?' As King tells it, the clerk said "yes," and brought out the Big Tom Spiced Tomato Drink. Even though King left for the United States the next day, he was so taken with Big Tom's taste that he steamed the label off the bottle before catching his plane. A short time later he became the Big Tom importer and distributor for the United States.
Initially he imported the bottles but was later able to locate a bottler in this country to reduce shipping costs. Now the mix comes in on pallets of tomato pur�e and spice packs to the port of entry at Charleston, S.C.
Apparently the Kings aren't the only folks who enjoy Big Tom. Either the inhabitants of Buckingham Palace like to drink a lot of spicy tomato juice or they quaff a few "Bloodys" themselves. According to an article in the London Times, the Suffolk-based soft drinks firm that is the parent to Big Tom was granted a Royal Warrant by the Queen after supplying her with 300 large bottles a year of its Big Tom spicy blend for five years.
"They [the Royals] only endorse a very limited number of products, and only if [the Royals] use it consistently," says King with pride.
Today the mix can be found in two sizes at his son's William King clothing stores and numerous gourmet retail outlets. The large 25-ounce bottle retails for $7. The small plastic 8-ounce bottle retails for $3. King explains that the small bottle is to take to the swimming pool, golf course, tail gate parties, etc. To maintain his distribution, King attends two New York gourmet food shows per year and several in Atlanta. He always gives away free samples to show-goers.
When asked if the "good stuff" is kept stashed at the clothing store to accompany the Big Tom mix, King chuckles. "Yes. Without the good stuff we call it a �bloody shame.' "
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Mary Ellen Miller is the Executive Editor of Marquee Magazine. For this and other articles on Celebrating Life in the Mountain South please read the current issue of Marquee.
