The Need To Know Classic That Is: The Bloody Caesar

Though beer is the more traditional drink most Canadians consume when celebrating Canada's birthday, a more patriotic drink would be the Bloody Caesar. According to legend, the popular cocktail was invented in 1969 by restaurant manager Walter Chell of the Calgary Inn (today the Westin Hotel) in Calgary to commemorate the inauguration of an Italian restaurant. Inspired by his native Italy and the Bloody Mary, he reasoned that mixing clams and tomatoes would make a good drink, as a popular dish in Venice was spaghetti alle vongole, spaghetti with tomato sauce and clams. The drink was called the Caesar in honour of his Italian heritage, and within five years, it had become Calgary's most popular potent potable. In a case of perfect timing, Mott's was independently developing Clamato, a mixture of clam and tomato juices, around the same time the Caesar was invented, and sales of Clamato increased after the company's distributors discovered Chell's drink. Today Clamato is synonymous with the cocktail, with it popular at bars along the Canada–United States border, with bartenders constantly topping each other by adding wilder and more elaborate garnishes to it. See what you can come up with after beginning with the tried-and-true classic recipe:

Ingredients:

120 mL Mott’s Clamato Original Cocktail
30 mL your favourite vodka
15 g celery salt
15 g fresh cracked pepper
4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes your favourite hot sauce
celery stalk
ice cubes
lime wedge

1. Mix the celery salt, and the pepper together. Spread the mixture on a flat dish. Rim the glass with the lime wedge, then turn the glass upside down into the seasoning and twist.
2. Fill the glass with ice. Add the vodka, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and the Clamato juice, in that order. Stir well.
3. Garnish with the celery stack and the lime wedge.