Tommy Glassen was just a college student trying to heal his hangover when he was first exposed to the product that turned into his passion project and, eventually, career. After an exceedingly lively night out with the boys, Glassen called his mom to ask how to cure his pounding headache. His mother advised, “Sometimes, the best way to detox is to retox,” and subsequently shared her ultimate bloody mary recipe.
This moment and its context would end up being more meaningful to Glassen than he initially imagined. He was hesitant at first, confused how a bloody mary would get him back to normal. However, he took his mom’s advice and sought out the ingredients he needed for this hangover-curing concoction. Before he knew it, he was three bloody marys deep and back in the game with his friends.
Glassen had always been a driven person, rarely sitting idle. Following in his father’s footsteps, a former marine, he attended The Citadel in Charleston. In spite of the rigorous and demanding program, Glassen increased his course load and graduated early. His summers were no less strenuous than his school years. He would spend the breaks participating in bootcamps, where he finished top in his class.
Glassen maintained his steady work ethic, but when the pandemic hit in 2020, everything changed. Idle with the rest of the world in lock down, he searched for any chore around his house to occupy his time. That was when he was reminded of the magical bloody mary from his mom. It sparked his entrepreneurial spirit. He spent the whole day sketching out what is now the logo for Tommy’s Bloody Mary Mix. In the time that followed, he gathered resources to launch the business, even selling his first car. Once he had a product, a thinner iteration of his mom’s original recipe but perfectly balanced, Glassen went door to door at restaurants in the Charleston area, selling his bloody mary mix for 20 dollars a bottle. He debuted the brand in Charleston in December of 2020 and sold more than 500 bottles in three days.
Glassen’s military-instilled discipline proved beneficial as his hard work began to grow the brand. Today, his product is sold in more than forty locations throughout the Lowcountry
Glassen hopes to diversify his brand by continuing to expand geographically and someday, through the creation of additional products. For now, he’s busy expanding on the East coast and connecting with online customers online, serving as a resource and recipe mastermind.
