Nadia George
March 26, 2024
For centuries, sailors aboard Navy vessels in the Caribbean seas would make the grog cocktail, a delicious drink containing Navy rum and lime juice. In the contemporary world, there are many variations you can prepare as a bit of a riff on the classic grog recipe.
Adding pineapple or some citrusy elements like grapefruit or passionfruit to the traditional grog recipe means you introduce extra zesty notes along with the lime juice that goes into making the grog cocktail.
Blackstrap essentially refers to the last stage molasses attains which is used to prepare rum, to infuse it with lots of intense, smokey and complex flavour. This is the slightly dark and sludgy and thoroughly bitter component that is attained when sugarcane is crushed into juice to process it for making rum.
Put a little bit of sweet and creamy tropical fun into your traditional navy grog with the addition of coconut cream or simple coconut shavings that help to make the concoction a bit mild. You can also prepare the navy grog in chilled coconut water.
This is yet another variation perfect for your tiki party. A tiki grog puts a lovely island-like spin on the cocktail by pouring in a blend of dark and light rum and doing away with the navy rum that has far greater alcohol content.
While this one is hardly an inventive spin, mixing hot buttered rum into lime juice and simple syrup to make the grog cocktail is a thoroughly inviting prospect. The soft, slightly salty butter adds a little surprise element into the drink that undercuts some of the bitter and intense flavours in a classic grog.