National Caesar Day

“Et tu, Brute?” - attributed to Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare 

No. Not that kind of Caesar. The Canadian Kind.

If it’s not yet or still, “National Caesar Day” when you are reading this, don’t fret. The Caesar is a cocktail enjoyed by over 400 million Canadians every year. Or maybe it’s just 100 Canadians drinking 4 million every year. I don’t know. Suffice it to say there are over 400 million Caesars served in Canada every year.

I am currently writing a book called “Cocktails For Two: Belly Up To The Bar” that is scheduled to be released later this year. In it, you will find recipes for about 100 cocktails along with many tips for serving them, stories of their origins and related trivia like the excerpt I have included here for the Caesar.

Many cocktails were created with little thought and sometimes even less time as a bartender will throw together a few ingredients (with at least one being a spirit of some kind) and unwittingly come up with a winner. Ofttimes an award winning cocktail creation is a result of happenstance with a bartender either mistakenly adding the wrong ingredient or substituting something else for an out-of-stock item.

Walter Chell however, spent about 3 months in 1969 developing the “Caesar” when tasked with creating a signature drink for Marco’s, the new Italian restaurant at the Calgary Inn (now Westin Calgary).

Inspired by a pasta dish made with clams, Chell originally called his drink “The Eye Opener” and then changed it to “Caesar”. One of Walter’s customers offered him a compliment saying “Walter, that’s a damn good bloody Caesar!” Walter renamed his drink “Bloody Caesar” but over the years common usage has mostly abbreviated the name back to just “Caesar”. 

The “Caesar” was particularly enjoyed as a lunchtime drink in the beginning and within 5 years became Calgary’s most popular cocktail. The cocktail soon spread across Canada to become a national cultural drink - the Tim Hortons of the cocktail world if you will.

Walter Chell confessed to the Toronto Star in 1994 that his secret ingredient, which is not included in most recipes for a “Caesar”, was a dash of oregano.

In 2006 the “Caesar” ranked 13 on CBC’s TV series “The Greatest Canadian Invention”. 

In 2009, the 40th anniversary of the “Caesar”, Calgary Mayor David Bronconnier officially declared May 13th as “Caesar Day” and by parliamentary decree it was named as Canada’s Official Cocktail.

National Caesar Day is now celebrated in Canada on the Thursday before the “Victoria Day Weekend” or the “Lionel Conacher May “2-4” Weekend” as I prefer to call it.

It is estimated that Canadian residents drink over 1 million “Caesars” every day. This may be significantly less than the 5 million Tim Hortons that Canadians drink every day but to be fair, most employers don’t allow “Caesars” to be consumed in the workplace.

Caesar (2.0)

Stuff You’ll Need:

• ½ tsp celery salt

• ½ tsp garlic salt

• ½ tsp steak seasoning

• ¼ oz Lime Juice and more for coating the rim of the glass

• 2 oz Vodka

• 2 dashes of Worcestershire Sauce

• 2 dashes of Hot Sauce

• 4 oz Clamato juice

• 1 dash of Oregano

• 1 small stalk of celery a little longer than the height of your glass.

Do This:

1. Mix the celery salt, garlic salt and steak seasoning  together and spread on a small saucer.

2. Moisten the rim of a highball glass (or Mason Jar) with some lime juice. You can use a slice of lime to run around the rim or you can dip the rim into some lime juice in a shallow saucer.

3. Dip the glass into the dry mix on the saucer to coat the rim.

4. Add vodka to the glass followed by ice cubes.

5. Add the Worcestershire and hot sauces and lime juice. 

6. Top up with Clamato juice and gently stir.

7. Add a dash of Oregano

8. Garnish with a stalk of celery.

If you have any questions or comments about this recipe, you can email me at Recipes@DogOnARoot.com