By Paranoid

A problem that many people who rent in Manhattan is that they move a lot.  With so many greedy landlords, noisy neighbors, and poverty level living spaces (at least to the rest of America), folks here are are always packing up and moving to another address.  I myself will be soon making my fifth move in seven years.  One of my biggest issues is my huge cache of spirits, liqueurs, and wines.  I’m going to have to step up and drink down some of these bottles.  So I’ve selected 10 bottles of spirits that have less than one quarter of its volume left, and will make different cocktails with them.  I will be able to utilize any of my other liqueurs, bitters, and aromatized wines.  But I’ll keep making drinks until I have finished those 10 bottles, in a series that I am calling “Around the World in 10 Bottles”.

The ten bottles are:

Pimm’s No 1

Old Overholt Rye

Rittenhouse Rye

Appleton Estate Extra

Lemon Hart (80 proof)

Abuelo 7 year Rum

Coruba Dark

Brugal Anejo

Appleton White

Martin Miller Westbourn Strength Gin

The 10 straggler bottles with less than 25% volume in Paranoid’s collection.  Matey has a predilection to rum.

As you can see I have a preference for rums.  

In my first installment, I’ve decided to make the Navy Grog.  President Nixon was known to order rounds of these at the Washington DC Trader Vic’s.  We can trace its historic roots to the British Navy, when Edward Vernon, who once captained the HMS Rye (ha!), reformulated the sailor's daily ration or “tot” of rum with a dilution of water, and the addition of citrus juice.  The vitamin C in the citrus would prevent scurvy, which was a common affliction in long distance voyages.  The now limey sailors named the drink the Grog after the grogham coat that Vice Admiral Vernon was known to wear.  

Portrait of Edward Vernon “Old Grog” by Thomas Gainsborough.  Was the captain of HMS Rye.

A modern day version of the grogham coat. 

Navy Lieutenant Richard Nixon.  37th president and consumer of Navy Grog.  If it’s good enough for Dick, it’s good enough for you.

Our modern era Navy Grog comes from Don the Beachcomber who came up with this drink in the early 1940s.  Like so many of Don’s cocktails, he chose to mix various rums to come up with a more complex base.  Most recipes nowadays call for a Jamacian, a demerara, and a light white.  I will use Appleton Estate Extra and Lemon Hart 80 for the first two.  Generally a light white rum would be from Puerto Rico or the Virgin Island, like Bacardi or Cruzan.  I only have Appleton White, which is a good rum by its own right, but could make this drink a bit top heavy.  

The citrus components come from the juice of a lime and grapefruit.  Sweetening comes in the form of a honey syrup, which can be made by heating a 1:1 mix of honey and water.  This mix is stable for a couple of weeks, and makes it much easier to pour.  Finally, I prefer my Navy Grog with a bit of zing in it, in the form of spices.  In the Don the Beachcomber recipe book “Hawai’i Tropical Rum Drinks & Cuisine”, it calls for two dashes of Angostura bitters.  Some recipes call for using spiced rum.  Some add up to a quarter ounce of pimento liqueur.  Interestingly enough, Beachbum Berry’s book does not call for any kind of spice agents.  For me, I add a few healthy dashes of Bittermens ‘Elemakule Tiki bitters, a locally made bitter that is loaded with cinnamon and allspice.  

The drink is lengthened by a splash of soda water, to bring out the flavors from this spirit heavy drink, and perhaps a nod to the original watering down that Admiral Vernon called for.  But admittedly, more often than not I’ll leave it out.  There’s enough water in the juices, the honey syrup, and the dilution from shaking.  

I’m not fussy enough to make the crushed iced cone that some recipes call for, but I will certainly crush some ice for this particular drink.  

This is a beautifully balanced drink despite the full 3 ounces of rum, with the tart citrus fruit countered by the honey mix, and a hint of caribbean spices.

Navy Grog

¾ oz lime juice

¾ oz grapefruit juice

1 oz honey syrup

1 oz Appleton Estate Extra

1 oz Lemon Hart

1 oz Appleton White

2-3 dashes Bittermens ‘Elemakule Tiki bitters

¾ oz soda water

Pour juices, syrup, and rums into shaker with large cubes of ice.  Shake for 30 counts.  Strain into a large triple rocks glass filled with crushed ice.  Top with soda water.