Navy Grog - How to Make the Classic Rum & Honey Tiki Cocktail
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- Опубликовано: 11 сен 2024
- Here's how to make the classic Tiki drink the Navy Grog, which is made with Light Cuban-Style Rum, Dark Jamaican Rum, Demerara Rum, (or in this case, a Navy Strength combination of the two), Lime Juice, Grapefruit Juice, Honey Syrup, Soda Water and an Ice Cone for garnish. This is the 1941 Don the Beachcomber version. The other popular variation is the Trader Vic’s version.
The Trader Vic’s version uses the same combination of rums and citrus, but swaps the honey syrup and soda water for simple syrup and pimento dram. Some of the measurements are a little different as well, but it’s pretty close. The Trader Vic’s version is the one that Martin and Rebecca Cate feature in their book, Smuggler’s Cove. It’s also the version that Beachbum Berry fell in love with and that made him a dedicated, obsessive fanatic of tiki culture, which set him on a path to writing several books on the subject, opening his own tiki restaurant and selling some tiki gear that was hard to come by otherwise.
Because of this and the obsession it triggered in Berry, the Navy Grog is arguably the most important tiki drink in the canon of exotic cocktails. Berry is the reason for the tiki revival and his tireless efforts to research, reconstruct and resurrect the lost art of tiki cannot be overstated. Berry went above and beyond. He was the Indiana Jones to the raiders of the lost tiki. He collected notebooks, cracked codes, found hidden scraps of paper with recipes scrawled on them, he interviewed bartenders, coerced and cajoled widows and children of the godfathers of the tiki world and eventually was able to unearth a lot of the lost art of the tiki drink. Berry conquered all of those questions and we are enjoying the exotic fruit juices of his labor.
The name of this drink is an allusion to the British Royal Navy’s rum ration. In 1740, Admiral Edward Vernon, who was called “Old Grog” because he wore coats of the cheaper fabric, grogram, decided that the daily allotment of half a pint of full-strength (57% ABV) rum was too much, so he cut the ration with water. This mixture of rum and water became known as “grog”. Some 55 years later, citrus was also added to the daily rations.
Both Donn’s and Vic’s version used a blend of three rums, a light rum, a dark Jamaican rum and a Demerara (Guyanese) rum. For the Jamaican and Demerara, I’m using a Hamilton Navy Strength, a blend of the two. It is “60% Guyana rum at 154 proof and 40% Jamaican rum at 170 proof” and are slowly blended and stirred “for 48 hours before dilution to 114 proof.” This blend is not 50/50 like Donn’s recipe called for, but it works wonders in this drink. But be careful because this is going to be a strong one. Okole Maluna!
Recipe:
1 oz Light Rum
1 oz Dark Jamaican Rum
1 oz Demarara Rum
1 oz Honey Syrup
0.75 oz Lime Juice
0.75 oz Grapefruit Juice
0.75 oz Soda Water
garnish Ice Cone with straw
(instead of Jamaican and Demarara, I used 2 oz of a Navy Strength blend of both rums)
Add all ingredients (except ice cone) to a shaker. Shake with ice. Strain into Double Old Fashioned Glass over Ice Cone. Serve with straw through Ice Cone.
Music:
El Que Quiera Bailar 3 by Martin Landh
via Epidemic Sound
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Featured in this Episode:
Caña Brava 3 Year Rum
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Hamilton Navy Strength Rum
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Soda Siphon
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Smuggler's Cove by Martin & Rebecca Cate
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Potions of the Caribbean by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry
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Bar Tools:
Beachbum Berry's Navy Grog Ice Cone Garnish Kit
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Pilsner Glass
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Chopsticks
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Double Old Fashioned Glass
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Bamboo Paper Straws
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Cuisinart Citrus Juicer
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Lewis Bag & Ice Mallet
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soda water into the shaker !? o.O
My response to someone else's question about that got lost in the thread. Here it is again:
That's what the recipe called for. It was a Donn choice, or at least Beachbum's reprinting of Donn's recipe. Tiki recipes are very particular and very precise. That's why they call for specific amounts of ice and a crazy combination of rums and all sorts of things. In this case, you're just adding a little more dilution to the really potent drink because it's not going into crushed ice and the soda offers a hint of the gassiness, but you're not making a highball. Hope that makes sense. Cheers!
I guess that means you got to put some muscle into it to keep your shaker sealed... ;-)
Nah. It's not that much carbonation. It's harder to keep it sealed for a dry shake with an egg white.
It’s such a small amount it shouldn’t be a problem with a tight grip
Easy drink to double or triple in the shaker, if you do that, add the soda once shaken and stir with a bar spoon. But if you shake a single, you can shake it with the rest.
I'm a bartender, a new one at that. Been working for about 4 months now and you have no idea how much I love your videos I'm a visual learner so I watch these videos like 10 times make the drinks at my bar and recommend them to my guests, great stuff here man hoping to become a great bartender one day, thanks for the help.
Great to hear. Thank you for your kind words. Glad you dig the channel. Cheers!
This is a variation of traditional Caribbean rum punch, which is in turn based on the old water and rum "grog". The recipe itself is an old maritime rhyme; "One of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, and four of weak." One part sour (usually lime or any sour citrus juice) two of sweet (two parts of any sweet will do although usually a less refined sugar or sugar syrup is used) three of strong (this is the rum of course; you can get creative with your mix but tradition doesn't much care) and four of weak (usually water, although tea was pretty commonly used as well). Typically some spice was added as well, usually nutmeg or some blend of mulling spices. This is good chilled but it's also really good at room temperature or even warmed.
Exactly. That's what Donn based his version of the Planter's Punch on. Then that became the Zombie. Then he used that same framework to riff dozens of different drinks, changing sweeteners and juices and combining rums to make something new. This is one of those riffs, only with 3 of strong, 1 1/2 of sour, 1 of sweet and 3/4 of weak. Haha. Cheers!
Thank you again for making these videos! I often "suffer" the role of bartending for my friends since I picked cocktails as a hobby. Your videos are great and I always learn new stuff.
Great to hear. Thanks for the love. Cheers!
Man, It is so sad that Tiki is so much more loved and appreciated on the mainland, and not here on O'ahu. Don created the International Market Place (re-opened in 2016, with the same banyan tree he used as an office still there). He helped create the Hawai'ian tourist industry (to the dislike of many locals, but fueling the economy). There are few Tiki bars here, and none, to my knowledge, with the attention to history and craftsmanship that you exhibit in your vids. You give more love to him, than the island he loved. Thanks for the great history and vids! Hopefully, at some point, bartenders, and restaurentures, will love him in Hawai'i, the way you, and the mainland, does.
Glad you liked this one. Yeah, Don fell in love with Polynesia and tried to capture what he loved about it by recreating a type of atmosphere and fantasy in his bar(s). Maybe the islands didn't take to it the same way because all they had to do to experience it was open their front doors. I have to admit, even on the mainland, there are only a handful of places to go to experience well-made classic tiki drinks and the perfect ambiance. San Francisco, San Diego and Chicago. Have great tiki bars. Also, I hear good things about Portland/Seattle tiki bars, but I haven't been there myself. Then there is also Latitude 29, which is in NOLA. Tiki is a tough one. The mugs and rums and syrups can be expensive and time consuming, not to mention the decor. But if you go to a bar, most times the drinks are disappointing. And if they get the drinks right, sometimes the decor ain't right. That's usually the experience in LA, good drinks or good tiki atmosphere, pick one. So, unless you live in those cities mentioned above, the best place to get these drinks made this way is to make them at home.
@@DistinguishedSpirits Spot on about LA. Which place in San Diego have you been?
I made a couple of them this week, and from my experience, the real trick is in adding just the right amount of honey and mixing it or shaking it at the right time. The general drink has a very citrus-y taste and it can be kind of sour to a newcomer if it isn't balanced with just the right amount of honey. The honey will mix best if it is warmed and well mixed in before adding any ice.
It's best to make sure it's honey syrup (ruclips.net/video/qZ9ndISIL8Q/видео.html), not just straight up honey. Straight honey will most likely end up clinging to the walls of your shaker and not quite making it in your drink.
Also, try it all again with the exact measurements and ice cubes if you don't have an ice cone. When made that way, I find it a touch on the sweet side.
Great recipe, my new go-to
The original too! Cheers!
As always sir, excellent video! Always love the history lessons.
Thanks for the love.
Another AMAZING video. As always, thank you for this education.
Cheers! Glad you dug it.
Awesome mate, thank you very mutch for the recipe and for the trick with the pilsner glass
cheers
No worries. Glad you dug it. That pilsner trick came from Tony Ramos, a long-time Don the Beachcomber bartender. He told the trick to Beachbum Berry, of course, who shared it with the world. Cheers!
I've had this on my to-do list for a while now, finally got around to it. Great stuff!
Nice. Glad you liked it. It was the first Tiki drink I really liked. (Mostly only had sweet & sour, overly sweet things that were passed off as Tiki)
I'm not a drunken sailor.. butvim sure we'll enjoy this tonight!
You will. Cheers!
Look here mystery man voice person, stop giving me such wonderful easy ideas because I am going to make them 😂
This one is great and pretty easy... as far as Tiki goes. So, you'll want to give it a go.
I've never seen a recipe shake soda water. I'd usually laugh at the suggestion but you're no amateur cocktail maker. Is that definitely the proffered method?
I was really surprised by that. Was expecting to hear "we want to keep the carbonation in the glass"
I have the exact same question
Haha. Exactly. You know all of my expressions.
Yeah, so that's what the recipe called for. It was a Donn choice, or at least Beachbum's reprinting of Donn's recipe. Tiki recipes are very particular and very precise. That's why they call for specific amounts of ice and a crazy combination of rums and all sorts of things. In this case, you're just adding a little more dilution to the really potent drink because it's not going into crushed ice and the soda offers a hint of the gassiness, but you're not making a highball. Hope that makes sense. Cheers!
Maybe they wanted a little more acid too.
Delicious! I've always only ever just mixed rum water and ice for breakfast drink, called it grog
You must be an 18th century British sailor.
you sir are lovely. thank you for all your hard work.
Thanks for the love. Cheers!
This one looks like a lot of fun to do!
For sure. Give it a whirl. Let me know what you think.
This is so rich in history! I love food and now alcohol drink history!
Excellent. Glad you liked this one. It's certainly an important one for the tiki renaissance we're experiencing.
For this drink you'll need... everything you done have
Honestly, because the story is so complicated. And I have yet to find a solid accounting of it. There's a lot of mythology there.
This is tonight’s Tiki cocktail choice but I did opt for Trader Vic’s version (or close but with no soda but Dram but made ice cones for the Don touch) cheers
Basically the Vic version is the Ancient Mariner (ruclips.net/video/pTYk1UQQZOk/видео.html).
i mentioned the qb cooler to you in another video, but try this side by side with that - it's an interesting contrast. that one uses 5 of these ingredients and soda water too, but with a blender & crushed ice. similar but different character, definitely.
i should do a side by side with both navy grogs too. ugh tiki's a rabbit hole
Haha. Indeed. But that's part of the fun.
Still loving your videos. Maybe you should include how to order the amazing drinks you create? Not everyone has the ability, time or equipment to make these drinks, and don't feel confident asking a bartender to make them some 'navy grog'. I know from experience that some people don't even know how to order a whiskey with ice.....
The simplified version would be 2-3 oz of a big flavorful rum (depending on how strong your rum is), grapefruit, lime, honey and water if you can't do soda. Shake it. Serve it over a large ice cube. It's essentially a complex rum sour.
But that's the tough part with Tiki drinks, unfortunately unless you're going to Smuggler's Cove, Latitude 29, Tacoma Cabana, Three Dots and a Dash and a handful of others, you're not going to get this version of the drink. And if you ask them to make it this way, you might not be happy with the results. Tiki drinks are some of the hardest to get consistently when you order them. You can get a great Manhattan at most places now, but these complicated drinks, that were secret for a generation and lost for another one, are not going to be made consistently. But at the same time, I get it, they are hard to make at home. These are advanced drinks.
Great, as usual.
Cheers!
Totally love this channels and have been trying your tiki drinks.
Great. Glad you're digging it. Cheers!
those are the sharpest ice cubes I've ever seen.
Question for fellow viewers: would you guys use the straw when drinking this beverage? I only ever use the straw with highballs, snowy drinks, or anything in a large mug. Is this weird or normal?
Love a classic navy grog, it was one of the first tiki drinks I ever made. One question though: where the heck do you manage to find white grapefruits? I've never even seen one so I'm stuck with ruby red, and frankly I feel like I'm not really getting the full effect of grapefruit based drinks.
I found some at a local farmer's market, some at Trader Joe's and more at Whole Foods, but yeah, they are not as ubiquitous as would be ideal. But if you can get your mitts on some pink grapefruit, you might like it a little better than ruby red.
Do you think it would be possible to make the ice cone with crushed ice and paper snow cone cups? I was thinking of doing a navy grog for an upcoming tiki party and thought it would be fun but not mandatory to do the ice cone.
Probably. Just need something to hold it’s shape. But you definitely gotta make sure to make a hole for the straw. So a paper cone and a straw. Let me know how it turns out.
Tried making this and it was tasty. Question re the soda water, I don't have a soda syphon, and used store bought soda water, which as you probably know has added minerals and I think salts which imparts a taste. Would that be the correct water to use, or would seltzer water (without the added minerals) be better?
I don't think you'll have to worry that much about it. Those minerals will impact the flavor, particularly if you're sensitive to them, but it will be pretty minimal if you're not. Luckily today it's pretty easy to find good club sodas like Q (amzn.to/36Pce51) or Fever Tree (amzn.to/31hNIrU). Those should be good if the minerals in mineral water are too much for you.
Yes! It's the mallet again!!!
⚒
I've been trying for so long to actually find an original recipe for Trader Vic's Navy Grog. I know the Smuggler's Cove version is an adaptation of it, but I can't find the original for the life of me. I have found the version printed in the 1972 Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide, but it seems to include far too much allspice dram (0.75 oz!). I actually find the Smuggler's Cove rum categorization system to be really annoying and cumbersome, so I'm thinking perhaps of using their general recipe but with the rum specificity from Beachbum Berry Remixed (aged Jamaican, light Puerto Rican/Cuban, Demerara), but even then, I find myself wanting to know the original! Have you ever seen a reliable source for the original Trader Vic recipe? I know you do extremely thorough research, so you're probably the best person to ask on RUclips at the moment haha.
Haha. Short answer: no.
The Beachbum rum combo comes straight from the Trader Vic's 70's recipe, so presumably that's a pretty authentic rum mixture. Bum says in his book, Potions of the Caribbean, that he discovered through guess and check that the Trader Vic Navy Grog mix was just equal parts lime, grapefruit and allspice.
Unfortunately, I don't have any more info than that right now.
I too find allspice dram to be overpowering in a lot of mid-century recipes and I usually like to rein that in a bit.
Oh wow, I need to try that ice thing... I guess I'll just HAVE to make me a cocktail to sit it in... Would be silly otherwise
Hahaha. You got the idea.
So how much of a difference would the drink taste if light rum was substituted for gold?
Probably not too far off. The important thing is to get a balance of rum flavors. The Cuban/Puerto Rican style rum is there to make the drink a little more "dry" or less sweet. If you use a blended rum with a great flavor profile that you like, that will work as well. Let me know how it turns out. Cheers!
why in the world would you shake the soda??
Can't wait to try it! If you were to do the allspice dram recipe would you ever buy the Bitter Truth Pimento Dram? I hope you will do the zombie soon, I've looked at several recipes and they're all miles apart from each other, some use OJ, some maraschino liqueur, some grapefruit. It's all very frustrating!
Totally. Bitter Truth works. They make some good stuff. I've got a Zombie on the docket, but I have a couple others scheduled first. Stay tuned...
How are you finding white grapefruit? I can't seem to that anywhere
Farmer’s markets.
I live in Texas. I don't think we grow white grapefruit here.
They are available in TX. Look for Oro Blanco.
Here's a link to a landscaping company that will plant one for you. BOOM! bit.ly/2FvFa8b
@@DistinguishedSpirits I ended up getting White Grapefruit juice. I hope that's the same or similar.
Nice video! Looks great. Does demarara rum come from some specific Island or rum area or is it just a general category of rum? I find it hard to distinguish what rums are demarara and what rums are not.
Yeah, it's dark rum from Guyana. If you can't find all three rums, you can just use a big, full-flavored dark rum or blend of dark rums. Plantation makes a lot of dark blends and are usually easy to find. Hope that helps.
It does! Thank you very much :)
Another great tiki drink video, thanks for taking the time to upload all these fabulous recipes. Have you gotten a chance to visit latitude 29?
Thanks. Glad you liked it. No, I haven't made it to Latitude 29. I definitely will though, the next time I'm in the Big Easy.
Highly recommend it-- it reinvigorated my love for craft cocktails.
wow, what a pleasant drink. and grapefruit + honey is such a nice flavor combo (yes, i am looking at you, brown derby cocktail). whats that?, i *will* have another, thank you (hiccup)
Love that one. It's on the docket, so stay tuned. Cheers!
Will you do a video on the Hurricane?
Not sure. At this point, it won't be any time soon. I've got a full schedule planned and, at this point, I don't even know if I'll get through that. Haha. I definitely considered it for this run of tiki/summer rum drinks. But it will most likely have to be in 2018.
How many days before How To Drink rips off this one?
Haha. He doesn't rip me off, besides it would have much better camera work.
shame you stopped doing videos
Haven't stopped. It's just been a busy couple months.
Given the medicinal intent of this concoction, I have a modest proposal: rename it the Scurvy Grog.
Calm down Jonathan Swift.
So does this mean you want to call it the Scurvy Gulliver?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal
wtf is avocado honey? 4:15
It's the nectar source for that particular honey. I went into more detail on it in this video: ruclips.net/video/S4aPbVLP2XM/видео.html
If the soda water is sparkling DO NOT add it to the shaker.....
What do you mean?
He means that if you shake the coctail the bubbles will get lost
I see. Well, in that case, the soda water in the shaker question was addressed a couple times in this thread. Here it is again:
That's what the recipe called for. It was a Donn choice, or at least Beachbum's reprinting of Donn's recipe. Tiki recipes are very particular and very precise. That's why they call for specific amounts of ice and a crazy combination of rums and all sorts of things. In this case, you're just adding a little more dilution to the really potent drink because it's not going into crushed ice and the soda offers a hint of the gassiness, but you're not making a highball. Hope that makes sense. Cheers!
FYI Paragraph 4 seems to be missing some words and the math in Paragraph 5 doesn't add up. Great video though! To have enough ice cones for guests you need to plan in advance!
doctorx0079 What math doesn't add up?
RUclips wouldn't let me post the whole write up, so I just cut and cut and cut until it allow me to post it. I'll try to fix it up later, because sometimes you can add more to the Description after it's live, but if you wanna check out the full write up, I posted it here: www.reddit.com/r/Tiki/comments/6p1v7n/navy_grog_how_to_make_the_most_important_tiki/
so much tiki ._.
Tiki overload!!!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
"Demerara rum"...Ot was all good until there.
Haha. So, you only made it 30 secs into the video?
Distinguished Spirits I used honey rum instead and it only tasted honey haha. Gotta try another tiki
Yeah, just get a good blend (instead of the 3 separate rums) and use 3 oz of that. I think you'll like that one better. Cheers!
Distinguished Spirits thank you for your attention. U got a sub :)
i.imgur.com/NzI5cVX.jpg