Celery soda you say? Why on earth would someone make soda out of celery? My first memory of celery soda comes from Marx Bagel Shops in Cincinnati. Occasionally when we visited this excellent kosher deli, we were allowed to get Dr. Brown's soda as a treat. Dr. Brown's makes wonderful black cherry and cream sodas, but they are also one of the few remaining companies to make celery soda (Dr. Brown's markets theirs as "Cel-Ray"). Celery soda was originally sold as a medicinal tonic (in the 1860s, celery was considered a "super food"), but continued on in Jewish delis around the world as a perfect pairing for pastrami sandwiches (as it goes excellently with salty foods). In the 1930's, celery soda was so popular with the New York Jewish community that some people even referred to it as "Jewish champagne" (thanks Wikipedia). Since I knew celery soda was a real thing that people chose to drink on occasion, I was confident that there had to be a palatable drink out there somewhere featuring this weird flavor. I just had to find it!It turns out there were plenty of recipes for home made celery soda, and some of these folks even had suggestions for cocktails. But I wasn't about to go to the effort to make my own celery soda before I had tried one of these cocktails first - the pay-off needed to be worth the effort! I scoured every single grocery store in South Bend looking for Dr. Brown's. Even the usually excellent Bamber's International Market (which had a whole wall of craft sodas) failed to turn up Cel-Ray. I finally broke down and bought a combo pack from Amazon with Cel-Ray and Cream Soda (yum), as all my efforts to find it locally went for naught. As it turns out, it probably would have been easier to make my own, even if celery seed is a little hard to find (try a Whole Foods if you have one nearby).
Once I had acquired my own 6 pack of Cel-Ray, it was time to whip up a "Johnny Utah," the most intriguing recipe I found online. It comes from Polite Provisions in San Diego, by way of Imbibe Magazine (their recipe is here). It is essentially a fizz-forward margarita that substitutes hints of herbs, pepper, and bitter celery spice instead of sweeter curacao. The recipe I used calls for celery seed syrup, but had a note that you could substitute Cel-Ray soda instead. I tried to follow the recipe exactly, but the lime and salt flavors overwhelmed my celery soda. That wouldn't do, as my whole reason for making this cocktail was to feature the celery! Try the recipe below for my twist on the recipe, a cocktail that prominently features the vegetal, savory flavor of celery, paired with 100% agave tequila and kosher salt:
Top with 2 1/2 oz of Cel-Ray soda and add a pinch of kosher salt.
Garnish with a lime wheel and serve.
This is a great way to introduce unsuspecting friends to celery soda - let them try and guess the mystery ingredient in their savory margarita! You can also make your own celery soda instead of Cel-Ray (using Alton Brown's recipe liked above or another one). You can guarantee that is what I will do as soon as I'm out of Dr. Brown's - I'm not repeating all of that fruitless driving around again!
I hope you enjoy your modified Johnny Utah!
