Navy Grog Cocktail Recipe

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For the past few weeks of cocktail features, our mixing has been largely thematically focused. We’ve gone through the progression of winter cocktails by mood, the full range of escapism, bargaining, and acceptance, and we’ve had a lot of mixological fun doing it. This week, we’ll be discussing a drink that’s still a fantastic winter feature, but has more to do with pragmatic ingredient availability and less with the maintenance of an abstract theme.

It goes without saying at this point, but I’m an avowed fan of Tiki drinks. Unfortunately, I also recognize that Tiki drinks are a point of misconception for a lot of people. Many people associate the category with multi-colored vats of slushy sugar and write it off as unserious. This concept is a sad disservice to what Tiki truly is, because in its true form, it offers some of the best cocktailing opportunities to showcase quality rums. Ernest Beaumont Gantt, better known as Donn Beach, knew that when he kicked off the whole Tiki cultural phenomenon by opening Don’s Beachcomber Cafe in 1934. The “rhum rhapsodies” that he made there functioned as tangible representations of his love of rum, and beautiful vehicles for blending the diverse styles of rum he had fallen in love with during his world travels. The next major player in the progression of Tiki was Victor Bergeron, the famous Trader Vic. Not long after Donn opened the Beachcomber, savvy Vic saw the opportunities alive in this exciting style of mixing and bar curation. Vic’s skill in crafting drinks only served to popularize Tiki further and bring its delicious rum drinks to a thirsty, curious, and increasingly financially comfortable audience, as post-War prosperity made greater disposable income more commonplace. Donn Beach established some of the most famous and enticing drinks in the Tiki pantheon, such as the Zombie, and Trader Vic added to that pantheon with others that have become cultural touchstones, such as the Mai Tai. Both of those drinks, as with most of their creations, function on the precise balancing of sour juices and specific sweeteners to complement their rums and offer a genuinely symphonic balance to the sipper. This approach, having the special qualities of each rum work in perfect harmony, is exactly the origin for a classic Tiki drink that both Donn and Vic cultivated over the years. It’s rum-forward, beautifully balanced, and a personal favorite.

The drink in question is the Navy Grog. As noted, both patriarchs of Tiki provided their creative touch for this cocktail, each with a slightly different recipe. The basis remains the same between them, essentially expanding the daiquiri template of rum, lime, and sugar with the rum being a blend reminiscent of the Royal Navy’s historical sourcing. Both builds include one part moderately aged rum, preferably a pot and column still blend, and likely either a rich and full-bodied expression from Guyana or an elegant medium-bodied expression from Barbados. Then there’s a lightly aged pot still rum, almost certainly Jamaican, bringing some of the aromatic funky notes. Third is one part of a light bodied column still rum, most likely Puerto Rican or Trinidian in origin, bringing crisp bright notes into play. From there, the distinction between the recipes comes down to sweetener and whether it’s accented with allspice or not. Both are wonderful and achieve the end result equally as well, just from a somewhat unique route.

To return to our original point regarding ingredient availability, this is a member of the Tiki pantheon that operates best with white grapefruit. White grapefruit was the type of grapefruit being juiced for Donn and Vic’s drinks back in the midcentury, based on agricultural availability at the time. Now, unlike pink and ruby red varieties, white grapefruit has a limited season of availability in grocery stores. Right around the beginning of December, I always get excited at my ability to make some classic Tiki drinks as they were originally built, because one can generally find white grapefruits in-store from about early December through late February. The variety is arguably most important for Zombies and Jet Pilots - stay tuned for further coverage in the coming weeks - but it makes a tasty difference for Navy Grogs too, especially the Donn Beach recipe. Though ruby red might do the job when balanced with the allspice of Vic’s recipe, the minimalist nature of Donn’s makes the zippy, briskly citrusy character of white vital.

All this goes to say that every ingredient one uses in a cocktail is important. Using good quality rums that can express the best of their flavor diversities is a necessity, but it would be a mistake to write off the various modifiers that make it a “rhum rhapsody.” Donn Beach and Trader Vic knew that, and with that same attention to detail, we can enjoy the wonderful additions to cocktailing they contributed. A Navy Grog is one of my absolute favorite ways to enjoy some good rums, and to have fun experimenting with their blending. Stop by BayTowne to grab the right bottles and then snag a white grapefruit on your way home. I think you’ll see why Tiki can be a wonderful way to enjoy rum.

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