September is here, and for many across America, that means one thing: football season! Loyal fans are flocking to bars featuring the NFL ticket so they can take in their fill with big screens and surround sound.

Because we are on Hawaiian time, our pigskin experience starts at least two hours earlier than that of our West Coast comrades. These early morning wake-up calls are appropriate to that classic morning cocktail, the bloody mary, as well as for some other eye-opening morning libations.

While you can absolutely make your own bloody mary mix from scratch, I’ve found an alternative from Preservation & Co. that is so good you would swear it was whipped up by your favorite bartender. It’s a great way to make a consistent mary and doesn’t have anything in it that you can’t pronounce. The mix is not widely available yet locally, but you can find several varieties at Fujioka’s Wine Times in Market City Shopping Center.

Red Snapper

A gin-based bloody mary is actually referred to as a Red Snapper, and there is a little history behind it.

French barman Fernand “Pete” Petiot of Harry’s Bar in Paris left France for a job tending bar at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. Petiot was known for his vodka-and-tomato-juice cocktail at Harry’s, but vodka was hard to come by in the U.S. during this post-Prohibition era, so he was forced to use gin. The Red Snapper was born.

If you haven’t tried gin in a bloody mary, you are definitely in for an aha! moment. The botanicals of gin go so well with the savory flavors of a bloody.

I like to add a little something extra from the garden, muddling fresh basil into it and adding a hint of Clamato juice for its briny quality.

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• 3 basil leaves
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1/4 barspoon (a few drops) balsamic glaze
• 1/2 barspoon (1/8 teaspoon) sambal oelek (paste of ground chilies)
• 3-1/2 ounces Preservation & Co. mild bloody mary mix
• 1 ounce Clamato (clam and tomato) juice
• 2 ounces London dry gin

Press basil with lemon juice. Add balsamic glaze, sambal, mary mix, juice and gin with ice. Roll — pour contents from the glass into a shaker or another glass and back again — then strain over ice into pre-rimmed highball glass.

Garnish: Coarse salt (Sea Salts of Hawaii Nalo Herbs preferred) on half the rim, celery and cucumber stalk, and pick speared through mozzarella ball, basil leaf and grape tomatoes.

Samurai

This Japanese take on the bloody uses a dry sake or shochu instead of vodka. Wasabi lends an extra kick, and yuzu kosho adds heat and a beautiful citrus note. Muddled shiso brightens the cocktail. Alcohol content is lower than in a vodka mary, meaning you can enjoy one for first AND second half.

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• 1 shiso leaf
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• Dash soy sauce
• 1/2 barspoon (1/8 teaspoon) prepared wasabi
• 1/4 barspoon (pinch or to taste) yuzu kosho (Japanese condiment made of yuzu peel, fermented chilies and salt; available at Don Quijote)
• 4-1/2 ounces Preservation & Co. mild bloody mary mix
• 2 ounces dry sake or shochu

Press shiso leaf with lemon juice, soy sauce, wasabi and yuzu kosho in bottom of glass. Add mary mix and liquor, with ice. Roll — pour contents from the glass into a shaker or another glass and back again — then strain over ice into pre-rimmed highball glass.

Garnish: Sansho pepper and salt on half the rim, shiso leaf, shrimp, grape tomato and tsukemono on pick

Eye Opener

This simple recipe is inspired by Vietnamese iced coffee, a welcome change to hot java. The condensed milk adds enough sweetness and cream that there is no need for extra dairy or sugar, and the cinnamon sugar rim is a delightful addition that I am obsessed with for coffee cocktails.

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• 1/2 ounce condensed milk
• 3-1/2 ounces cold-brewed coffee
• 1-1/2 ounces vodka
• Combine condensed milk, coffee and vodka in glass with ice. Shake and strain over ice into pre-rimmed bucket glass.
• Garnish: Cinnamon sugar on rim and orange twist curled around a cinnamon stick

Kitchen Sink

For purists, here is a relatively straightforward recipe, bumped up a few notches to satisfy foodies who love pupu platters in their bloodies. The unique twist here is also the use of sesame oil-infused vodka. This is an example of “fat washing,” or infusing a spirit with oil. The technique is fairly simple, but gives the cocktail greater texture and a robust flavor.

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• 4-1/2 ounces Preservation & Co. original bloody mary mix
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 3 dashes hot sauce (Adoboloco habanero sauce preferred)
• 2 ounces sesame oil-infused vodka (recipe follows)

Combine mary mix, lemon juice, hot sauce and vodka in glass with ice. Roll — pour the contents from the glass into a shaker or another glass and back again — then strain over ice into pre-rimmed highball glass.

Garnish: Kiawe-smoked sea salt on half the rim, celery stalk and a pick speared through a bacon slice, shrimp, pipikaula, tako poke, grape tomato and cucumber kim chee.

Sesame Oil-Infused Vodka

• 5 ounces sesame oil
• 750 milliliters vodka

Add ingredients to a nonreactive, freezer-safe container and shake to combine. Let sit at room temperature, shaking twice a day for 3 days. Place container in freezer. Once oil has solidified, strain through cheesecloth and fine-mesh sieve.

Ramos Gin Fizz

One of the least known but best breakfast cocktails of all time is the Ramos Gin Fizz. Your bartender may HATE me for sharing this recipe with you, because although it is delicious, it is quite a labor of love due to all of the shaking that it requires. Make one at home before you order it at a bar so you can gain an appreciation of the elbow grease that goes into it.

Similar to an Orange Julius, this cocktail has the perfect balance of texture, subtle sweetness and just enough acid to keep it refreshing while being satisfying.

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• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce lime juice
• 3 dashes orange flower water
• 1/2 ounce vanilla syrup
• 1/2 ounce heavy whipping cream
• 1 egg white (pasteurized, if you prefer)
• 1-1/2 ounces gin
• 1 ounce club soda

Combine juices, orange flower water, syrup, cream, egg white and gin in mixing glass. Dry shake (without ice) to emulsify egg white for about a minute.

Add ice, shake vigorously for 2 minutes or so. Strain over ice into highball glass. Top with club soda, stir.

Garnish: Decorative orange twist