I bet y’all thought I was gonna drop the ball and not post a cocktail today, since I’ve been out celebrating Liam’s 10th birthday. What you don’t know is I prepared for this by making two cocktails yesterday. Well, if you follow our Captain Rodney’s page, and you should, you know that I made a special drink to celebrate Canada’s answer to the Bloody Mary, the savory and sassy Caesar.

The trick to the Caesar is simple, it is basically a Bloody Mary, made with Clamato instead of tomato juice. Yeah, it is what it sound like, clam juice + tomato juice = Clamato. I was dubious about this one, but I like clams and tomato juice and honestly Clam Arrabbiata Pasta is awesome, so let’s keep an open mind. So get some Clamato, Kroger has it, but we got fancy and ordered some of the official Canadian stuff in.

The original recipe calls to build this one in the glass, but I prefer a light shake, so grab your tins and toss in an ounce of vodka, I used Tito’s this time, a bar spoon of hot sauce, Captain Rodney’s Corazon del Fuego will do nicely, 2 barspoons of Worcestershire sauce, a dash of salt and fresh cracked pepper and 4 ounces of Canada’s finest Clamato juice. Add ice and give it a quick shake to mix and chill. Rim a highball glass with celery salt, fill with ice and strain your Caesar into the glass before adding a straw, use a cool bendy one. Apparently, you are to lick the celery salt before drinking through the straw, if the common lore is to be believed.

Now, I’m not Canadian, but I’ve been up north a few times, I think their PM has a great beard, I love Letterkenny and I know that Tim Horton’s Golden Kruller is the best damn doughnut on the planet, but until Letterkenny I had never even heard of a Caesar, so I may get this part wrong, but my understanding is that this is when the fun starts. Like it’s less interesting American cousin, the Caesar is a big fan of garnishes, so feel free to go crazy, clearly I did. My thought was to incorporate most of the items in our new Farmington Pickling Co. line into one grand celebration of garnish. Brian suggested that I make it artistic, so you get what we have here today…which is the way he wants it.

Obviously, this is ridiculous and over the top, but you know me, the thing is, this is a damned fine drink. Who knew that what the Bloody Mary really needed was some clam juice? Well, Guardian probably did. Honestly, Puck probably did too. Ok, so all of Alpha Flight knew, but I sure didn’t. So there you have it, the gloriously garnished Caesar on National Caesar Day. Stay safe, stay hydrated and stay sane, my friends.