Popularity
Chell said the drink was an immediate hit with the restaurant's patrons, claiming it "took off like a rocket". Within five years of its introduction, the Caesar had become Calgary's most popular mixed drink. It spread throughout Western Canada, then to the east. Coinciding with its 40th anniversary, a petition was launched in 2009 in the hopes of having the Caesar named the nation's official mixed drink. In Calgary, Mayor Dave Bronconnier celebrated the drink's anniversary by declaring May 13, 2009 as Caesar Day in the city.
The Mott's company was independently developing Clamato, a mixture of clam and tomato juices, at the same time the Caesar was invented. Sales of Clamato were initially slow: Mott's sold only 500 cases of Clamato in 1970, but sales consistently increased after the company's distributors discovered Chell's drink. By 1994, 70% of Mott's Clamato sales in Canada were made to mix Caesars, while half of all Clamato sales were made in Western Canada. Motts claims that the Caesar is the most popular mixed drink in Canada, estimating that over 350 million Caesars are consumed every year.
Outside of Canada, the Caesar is virtually unknown. In the United States, it is typically only available at bars along the Canadian border. Elsewhere, bartenders will frequently offer a Bloody Mary in its place. The drink can be found in parts of Europe, but it is mostly found where there are higher populations of Canadians. The drink's anonymity outside of Canada has come in spite of concerted marketing efforts. Producers of clam-tomato juices have speculated that their beverages have been hampered by what they describe as the "clam barrier". They have found that consumers in the United States fear that there is too much clam in the beverages. However, a beer cocktail consisting of Clamato, lager beer, and various (usually "secret") herbs and spices, often called the Michelada, has been growing in popularity in the United States, having been brought there from Latin-American immigrants.
The Caesar is popular as a hangover "cure", though its effectiveness has been questioned. A study by the University of Toronto released in 1985 showed that drinking a Caesar when taking aspirin could help protect a person's stomach from the damage aspirin causes.
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