Last Friday the Cocktail Advent Calendar gave us Vin Brule, a warm wine based drink, a potent tipple to share with your kin. This Tuesday is a cannon blast of Grog, a hot rum blooded gulper to get lit up punch a police horse in his big ol’ teeth. Our Grog is less pirate minded, it has civility; it is a “Privateer’s” drink. Because as Wayne Curtis would point out in, “And a bottle of Rum,” Grog was invented after the days of all the best pirates. The British Navy would give us rum to make drinking water potable, with the addition of lime sugar and spices, Grog became a, “proto-West Indian Cocktail.”
Add small pox scars, subtract teeth and replace the barrel with a body, then you have a more accurate story.
In times of backbreaking work, sickness and complete lack of women, Grog was the best possible respite. In a modern world filled with all the hassle of TPS reports, office politics and non-dairy creamer you deserve respite from your masters, too. But, because your work life has improved over that of an 18th century sailor, your grog has followed suit. Seems that “Jack Nastyface” was a common nickname for the Grog dispenser on a ship, today at Rob Roy you’ll have the charming Bryn instead. And to replace kill-devil, stagnant water and “other(s)” you’ll have a fine blend of rums and spices.
Grog: it used to be a little less, “Yo, ho, ho,” and a bit more, “I hope I don’t get dysentery.”
Grog
- Goslings
- Appleton V/X
- Fresh Lime
- Demerara Syrup
- Cinnamon
- And a good time to experiment with a few dashes of some type of bitters.
Hopefully you’ll taste our Grog and remember that “a fine blend of rums and spices” is why humans traveled across the globe in the first place.
What proportions do you recommend?