photo via flikr
If you pour over cocktail history books long enough, you become quickly aware that very few drinks have an ironclad origin story. Somewhere along the line, you usually have a battle over who made it first and where and the “Bloody Caesar” is no exception.
My usual rule is to go not with who “invented”‘ the drink, but with who developed or popularized the definitive recipe for the drink. Barring that, I usually go with whatever story is more fun to tell while serving up the drink.
Origin #1: Tony Bennett/Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas
According to legend, crooner Tony Bennett, born on this day in 1926, was performing at Caesar’s had a bit of a rough night. Having to take the stage soon, he asked the bartender to make something to perk him up a bit. Trying to make something special, he did a riff on the proven “hair of the dog” drink, The Bloody Mary by adding mashed clams and their juice to the original recipe. It was an instant hit, but now rarely served in the United States.
Origin #2: The Canadian Angle: Walter Chell/Marcos Restaurant
A more compelling version of the tale states that bartender Walter Chell created the drink for the 1969 for the opening of the Marcos restaurant. Apparently, he spent three months tinkering with a mixture of tomato juice, clam juice, vodka , Worchestershire sauce and various spices. It is now (supposedly) Canada’s number one selling cocktail.
Prompted by the success of the cocktail in Canada the Mott’s company soon came up with the pre-made tomato and clam juice product Clamato (tomato juice a blend of spices, msg and clam broth.)
Whatever version you choose to believe, here is a pretty standard recipe for the drink:
“The Bloody Caesar”
- 1 oz. vodka
- 5 oz clamato juice
- 3 drops of Tobasco
- 2 drops of Worcestershire
- fresh horseradish to tast
- salt and pepper
Garnish: lime wedge and celery stalk. Some places add a cooked shrimp or prawn as well.
Glass: a celery salt-rimmed highball or collins class
Rim top of glass with celery salt; add the ingredients to an ice-filled shaker and slowy “rock” the mixture back and forth as you would in a properly made Bloody Mary.
For more information:
The cocktail was invented by bartender Walter Chell at the Owl’s Nest Bar in the Calgary Inn in Calgary, Alberta in 1969, to accompany the opening of a new restaurant, Marco’s.[2] In its original form, it contained tomato juice and mashed clams; Clamato had only just been released (with the assistance of Chell) by the Mott’s company that very year, and was not yet widely known or available.
Starting in 2002, Mott’s began marketing pre-mixed Caesars in twelve-ounce bottles.
Variations can include substituted or added ingredients, like salt and pepper, wasabi, cayenne pepper, horseradish, or lime juice, seasoning salt or lemon pepper (rather than celery salt), a garnish of dill pickled cucumber, spicy pickled green bean or asparagus. Occasionally a prawn (especially in seafood restaurants) or crisp bacon is used as a garnish. Other names for a Caesar include Bloody Caesar, Canadian Caesar, Salted Caesar, and Clamdigger.[citation needed]
The cocktail was invented by bartender Walter Chell at the Owl’s Nest Bar in the Calgary Inn in Calgary, Alberta in 1969, to accompany the opening of a new restaurant, Marco’s.[2] In its original form, it contained tomato juice and mashed clams; Clamato had only just been released (with the assistance of Chell) by the Mott’s company that very year, and was not yet widely known or available.
Starting in 2002, Mott’s began marketing pre-mixed Caesars in twelve-ounce bottles.
Variations can include substituted or added ingredients, like salt and pepper, wasabi, cayenne pepper, horseradish, or lime juice, seasoning salt or lemon pepper (rather than celery salt), a garnish of dill pickled cucumber, spicy pickled green bean or asparagus. Occasionally a prawn (especially in seafood restaurants) or crisp bacon is used as a garnish. Other names for a Caesar include Bloody Caesar, Canadian Caesar, Salted Caesar, and Clamdigger.[citation needed]
