Navy Grog

The Navy Grog is one of those cocktails that has so many variations that it is almost impossible to keep track. When you search for Navy Grog you will be lucky to find two recipes that match. Why, you ask? The likely reason is that there are quite a few ingredients in this drink and as it was passed from bartender to bartender, things were missed, added, misinterpreted, or simply personalized.

Navy Grog began exactly as it sounds, as a refreshment for British sailors and as a way to enhance and preserve the water they stored on ship and get vitamins to fight diseases. This grog dates to the mid 1700's and was typically a mix of rum, water, honey or molasses, lemon, and cinnamon that was served either hot or cold.

The Navy Grog recipes we are familiar with today stem from the tiki movement that began in the 1940's and it is said that Don Beach was the first to mix it up. Trader Vic's has a claim on the cocktail's conception as well. Both of their recipes are below, with Don the Beachcomber's being this first listing.

All recipes are for 1 cocktail.

Don the Beachcomber's Navy Grog

1 ounce white rum
1 ounce demerara rum
1 ounce dark rum
3/4 ounce lime juice
3/4 ounce white grapefruit juice
1 ounce honey syrup (1/2 water and 1/2 honey)
Club soda
Orange slice and cherry for garnish

Pour the rums, juices, and syrups into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well.

Strain into a collins glass filled with ice. Top with soda. Garnish with an orange slice and cherry skewer.

Trader Vic's Navy Grog

There is not a big difference in this recipe from Don the Beachcomber's above. The key difference is the use of pimento dram (or an allspice syrup) in place of the runny honey (or honey syrup).

Also, notice that less grapefruit is used here and is one of the few Navy Grog recipes that skips the soda.

1 ounce light Puerto Rican rum
1 ounce gold Jamaican rum
1 ounce demerara rum
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce grapefruit juice
3/4 ounce pimento dram (allspice liquer)

This cocktail is shaken and served over a mound (or customarily, an inverted ice cone) of finely shaven ice with a straw stuck inside.

Dale DeGroff's Navy Grog

This recipe is printed in Dale DeGroff's (aka King Cocktail) The Craft of the Cocktail book. I find it interesting that this is a completely different take on the grog and it certainly leans more to that traditional 18th century grog of British sailors. It is an equally great cocktail as the tiki drinks above.

1 1/2 ounces Dusser's Navy Rum
1 ounce orange curacao
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
2 ounces water
2 ounces fresh orange juice
Dash of Angostura bitters

Shake the ingredients with ice and pour into a double old-fashioned glass.

Jeff "Beachbum" Berry's Ancient Mariner

Jeff "Beachbum" Berry is considered the man at the front of the Tiki Revival that we're seeing today. Beyond reviving long-lost recipes and repopularizing drinks that had fallen out of favor Jeff has also introduced a few drinks of his own, ranging from the blatantly Polynesian to the more subtle tropical drinks like the Ancient Mariner.

According to Berry, the Ancient Mariner is an attempt to recreate the flavors of Trader Vic's Navy Grog, which was itself an attempt to decipher Don the Beachcomber's drink of the same name.

1 oz Demerara Rum
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum
.75 oz Lime Juice
.5 oz Grapefruit Juice
.5 oz Simple Syrup
.25 oz Pimento Dram (allspice liquer)

Shake ingredients with ice and strain over crushed ice in a double old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a lime wedge and mint sprig.

The Ancient Mariner made its print debut in Jeff Berry's Grog Log.