Canada’s biggest contributor to the world of drinks is this cocktail

The dish: Bloody Caesar, Canada

Plate up “Bloody Caesar” is not a quote from frustrated Romans before the assassination of their famous dictator, nor is it a description of said leader after the fact. It’s a drink. In Canada, it’s an icon – perhaps not one as important as Julius to the history of Rome, but an icon all the same.

This is Canada’s key contribution to the world of drinks, a beverage that’s very much like a Bloody Mary, with vodka, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco or horseradish, served in a celery-salt rimmed glass. Instead of tomato juice, however, the Canadian version is mixed with Clamato, a popular drink of tomato juice mixed with dried clam broth, spices and MSG, giving the cocktail a savoury, briny flavour. A Bloody Caesar is typically garnished with a celery stalk, though sometimes it comes with a rasher of crispy bacon, or even pickled vegetables. Good for what ails ya.

First serve Could Canada’s favourite cocktail have been invented by an American? In 1951, an author with the unlikely name of Ted Saucier published a book of cocktails (and risque illustrations) called “Bottoms Up”, featuring a drink he called “Bloody Mary a la Milo”: a Bloody Mary with clam juice, credited to New York publisher Milo Sutliff. Though various versions of that cocktail subsequently appeared around the US, in 1969 Canadian restaurant manager Walter Chell, who worked at the Calgary Inn (now the Westin Hotel), claimed to invent the drink anew. He called on his Italian heritage, he said, taking inspiration from spaghetti alle vongole, and using the name of the Roman leader. The drink’s popularity quickly spread in Canada, even though those south of the border never embraced it.

Order there The Westin Calgary, birthplace of the Bloody Caesar, still exists, so that’s your spot to sample the drink.

Order here In Sydney, Bills does a Bloody Caesar with Korean chilli (bills.com.au). In Melbourne, you’ll have to visit Prahran Convenience (no website) to buy Clamato juice and make your own.

One more thing In a stroke of good fortune, the American company Mott’s developed a new product called Clamato in New York in 1966. Initial sales were slow – and in the US they still are – though after 1969 things really took off up north.