ETHANOL

BLOODY CAESAR

Calgary Inn, Alberta, 1969.

HIGHBALL
ETHANOL 14 G98 KCAL FROM ETHANOL7.21 OZ SERVED

SPEC

1½ oz · 45 mlVODKA40 %
4 oz · 120 mlCLAMATO JUICE
½ oz · 15 mlLIME JUICE
4 dashesWORCESTERSHIRE
3 dashesHOT SAUCE
2 dashesCELERY SALT

1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.

METHOD

  1. 01RIM A HIGHBALL WITH CELERY SALT
  2. 02BUILD ALL INGREDIENTS OVER ICE
  3. 03STIR GENTLY
  4. 04GARNISH WITH LIME + CELERY

1 oz taken as 30 ml in the metric column.

STRENGTH // WORKED

Pre-batch6.27 oz mixed with ice, 0.6 oz of it pure alcohol
MeltStirred: +15 % of the pre-batch, +0.94 oz of water
Served6.27 + 0.94 = 7.21 oz in the glass
Strength0.6 ÷ 7.21 = 8.3 % ABV as served
Ethanol0.6 oz × 29.57 ml × 0.789 g/ml = 14 g · about 98 kcal from the alcohol alone

IN THE GLASS

FURFURAL

FROM VODKA GRAIN TRACE · the toasted/caramel note

Formula
C₅H₄O₂
Mass
96.08 g/mol
IUPAC
furan-2-carbaldehyde

The toasted-almond / caramel note in aged port, madeira, and amontillado sherry, formed when sugars in the wine slowly oxidize during long oxidative cask aging. Also in roasted coffee, baked bread, and any food that's been browned through Maillard chemistry. The deeper the toast on a bourbon barrel, the more furfural extracts into the spirit; the longer the madeira sits in the estufa, the more accumulates.

PUBCHEM ↗

ALSO IN Vodka Soda · Vodka Cranberry · Screwdriver · Bloody Mary · Black Russian · White Russian · Lemon Drop · Kamikaze

CAPSAICIN

FROM HOT SAUCE · the heat

Formula
C₁₈H₂₇NO₃
Mass
305.42 g/mol
IUPAC
(E)-N-[(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)methyl]-8-methylnon-6-enamide

The chili pepper alkaloid. Binds TRPV1 (the same receptor that fires for actual heat), which is why the body sweats from a spicy drink even when the liquid is cold. Mango-chili cocktails, chili-rimmed mezcal, and some bitter aperitifs lean on it. Mammals respond; birds don't have the receptor, which is how peppers evolved to be dispersed by birds while being unappealing to mammals that would crunch the seeds.

PUBCHEM ↗

ALSO IN Bloody Mary · Picante · Paloma Negra

CHEMISTRY

Vodka, Clamato, lime, umami and heat. It is the Bloody Mary's Canadian variant, with Clamato (tomato and clam juice) for added briny umami. Canada's de facto national cocktail, at roughly 350 million served per year.

PROVENANCE

Walter Chell created the Bloody Caesar at the Calgary Inn (now the Westin) in 1969 for the opening of an Italian restaurant called Marco's. Chell spent three months developing the recipe, drawing on Venetian-style clams-in-tomato sauce as the base flavor. Clamato, a commercial tomato-and-clam juice blend, was a 1966 Mott's product that gave the drink its distinctive brine. The Caesar is now Canada's unofficial national cocktail; the Bloody Mary remains American.

VODKA // NEARBY

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