Clamato is a commercial drink made of reconstituted tomato juice concentrate and sugar, which is flavored with spices, dried clam broth and MSG. Made by Mott's, the name is a portmanteau of clam and tomato. It is also referred to colloquially as "clamato juice". It is consumed in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In 1935 The Clamato Corporation of New York produced "clam and tomato juice in combination". In 1940, "Lobster King" Harry Hackney was granted the Clamato trademark. His Atlantic City restaurant, Hackney's, sold Clamato juice in cans. In 1957, McCormick & Company, Inc. applied for, and later acquired, the Clamato brand name for the seasoned blend of tomato juice and clam juice. Clamato was produced in its current form beginning in 1966 by the Duffy-Mott company in Hamlin, New York, by Francis Luskey, a chemist, and another employee who wanted to create a Manhattan clam chowder style cocktail by combining tomato juice and clam broth with spices. Its history extends further back, however, as a nearly identical drink was already present in a cookbook published a decade earlier. The employees named the new cocktail "Mott's Clamato" and secured the trademark for the new brand. The brand was owned by Cadbury-Schweppes after the company bought Mott's in 1982. As of 2008, it is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper after the business was spun off of Cadbury-Schweppes.
Mixed drinks
Clamato is used primarily as a drink mix for alcoholic beverages, and it is popular for this in both Canada and Mexico, but less so in the United States. In Canada it is primarily used to make a cocktail called a Caesar.
Beer
Clamato is also added to beer in various beer cocktails, such as the michelada; the most basic is known as a "beer 'n clam" or a "Red Eye" in Western Canada, which adds Clamato to pale lagers. In 2001, Anheuser-Busch and Cadbury-Schweppes introduced a premixed version called the "Budweiser and Clamato Chelada" in the United States, which was criticized by American beer critics. Adding more spices results in what is called sangre de cristo in Mexico.
Beefamato
Beefamato is a similar beverage, but made from beef broth and tomato juice, with a touch of Worcestershire sauce. Beefamato is a popular ingredient in many cocktails, such as "Gramma's Bloody Mary".
