Eighteen bars and restaurants across Northern Liberties are pouring their most outrageous Bloody Marys this month, doubling last year's field for the seventh annual Monster Mash Bloody Mary Challenge. The self-guided crawl runs October 17-18 and again October 24-25, stretching along North 2nd Street, Spring Garden Street, and Germantown Avenue, with reigning champion Añejo defending its title against a deep bench of newcomers and former winners.
The event, organized by the Northern Liberties Business Improvement District, lets guests visit participating spots on a pay-as-you-go basis and order either Halloween-themed or classic Bloody Marys, according to Philly Bite Magazine. Patrons vote digitally via QR codes posted at each venue, scoring drinks on spice and heat, overall taste, vibe, and spooky factor before the BID crowns an overall winner, per Metro Philadelphia.
A Rivalry Years in the Making
Añejo enters this year's contest as the reigning champion, but it's chasing a legacy built by Jerry's Bar, which won the inaugural 2020 competition and successfully defended its title in 2021 before Añejo took over as titleholder in subsequent years, the station's report notes. Jerry's Bar, located at 129 W. Laurel St., is back this year with the Picked Witch, a tomatillo-based drink built on pickle vodka, brines, blue cheese olives, gherkin, and black pickle salt for $15, per the seed listing.
The rivalry traces back to the challenge's pandemic-era origins. The Monster Mash Bloody Mary Challenge was created in October 2020 by the Northern Liberties Business Improvement District to support local restaurants and promote outdoor dining during COVID-19 recovery efforts, as reported by the same publication. That first competition featured just 12 participating venues across the neighborhood, a fraction of this year's 18-bar lineup.
New Faces Join the Crawl
Several first-time participants are entering the fray this year, including Terra Grill at 1099 Germantown Ave., which is serving the First Bite, featuring a beef slider, peppadew fangs, sriracha blood, and mozzarella pearl eyes for $16. Amina, located at 1102 Germantown Ave., and Yards Brewing at 500 Spring Garden St. are also new to the competition, with Yards offering the Vampire Slayer, garnished with house-pickled garlic, a wooden stake, and vampire fangs for $13. Luna Marre at 1001 N. 2nd St. and Tailgate Sports Bar at 1033 N. 2nd St. round out the newcomers, though both have yet to announce their specific drink details.
Elaborate, meal-topped garnishes have become something of a signature in this contest. Bourbon & Branch's 2024 entry, Monsters Get the Munchies Two, was famously garnished with a smash burger, Detroit pizza slice, chicken nuggets, bacon, and onion rings, according to Metro Philadelphia. This year, Bourbon and Branch, at 705 N. 2nd St., is taking a more technical approach with the Misfire, a clarified Bloody Mary martini made with vodka, clarified tomato, and a pimento vegan cheese-stuffed olive for $15.
Craft Techniques Behind the Bar
Bartenders across the crawl are leaning on serious mixology chops this year, with techniques like clarification, bacon-fat washing, and charcoal infusions showing up in multiple entries, as regional coverage from NBC10 Philadelphia has highlighted. Urban Village, at 1001 N. 2nd St., offers the Ghost of Mary Past, a milk-washed cocktail combining vodka, bacon-fat-washed mezcal, tomato, celery, black lemon tea, caper brine, and a skull gummy. Cantina Dos Segundos, at 931 N. 2nd St., is serving two entries: Chupacabra's Blood, made with mezcal, Bloody Mary mix, a shrimp skewer, and a smoky pepper rim for $18, and the Bruja's Potion, built on black garlic-infused tequila, activated charcoal, and a Tajín rim for $16.
Other standout entries include North Bowl's Spice Ghoul, a spicy pickle dirty martini topped with a frozen spicy Bloody Mary skull, pickled vegetables, and a Tajín rim for $13, and Standard Tap's Jersey Devil, featuring bacon-infused vodka, a deviled egg, hot cornichons, candied bacon, and peppers. Newsroom Philly, also known as Pumpkin Press, is offering the Meaty Mary, loaded with vodka, tomato sauce, horseradish, Worcestershire, hot sauce, spices, bacon, shrimp, and celery for $19 — among the pricier entries in this year's field.
Why Northern Liberties Keeps Betting on Bar Crawls
The format reflects how the neighborhood's business district has used multi-venue crawls to drive traffic throughout the year. Beyond Halloween, the BID partnered with the neighboring Fishtown District in January to launch a two-day zero-proof bar crawl across more than two dozen spots, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, using a similarly self-guided, ticketless structure to encourage neighborhood exploration.
That strategy makes sense given how fast Northern Liberties has grown. A neighborhood development expansion projected the addition of 5,000 residential units and nearly 185,000 square feet of commercial space, effectively doubling the area's residential population, according to Billy Penn. The Northern Liberties Business Improvement District itself was formally established in July 2018 to supplement municipal services and improve commercial corridors like North 2nd Street through assessments on commercial property owners, per WHYY, with a focus on sidewalk cleaning, public safety, streetscaping, and business attraction.
Sydney Rexroad took over as the BID's Executive Director in July 2025 after previously managing the Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, according to dosage MAGAZINE, and now leads the organization's push for neighborhood commercial corridors and public space initiatives. Guests looking to plan their route through this year's challenge can find full event details, updates, and nearby retail information at explorenorthernliberties.org, organizers note, and are encouraged to pair their drinks with food as they move between stops along North 2nd Street and the surrounding blocks.
