Post #315078 by The Gnomon on Tue, Jun 26, 2007 1:11 PM

OK. How about this?

Didn't Little Eddie Vernon (aka Old Grog), Admiral of Vices (c.1740) introduce a rum and water concoction into the British Royal Navy to reduce drunkeness (crews having been accustomed to drinking its rum ration neat), which was named "Grog" by the disgruntled sailors?

Admiral Edward "Old Grog" Vernon
without his customary grogram cloak

Here's the original recipe from Pusser's site:

Thus he issued his infamous Order to Captains No. 349 on August 21, 1740. His order stated that the daily allowance of rum "be every day mixed with the proportion of a quart of water to a half pint of rum, to be mixed in a scuttled butt kept for that purpose, and to be done upon the deck, and in the presence of the Lieutenant of the Watch who is to take particular care to see that the men are not defrauded in having their full allowance of rum... and let those that are good husband men receive extra lime juice and sugar that it be made more palatable to them."

Oar, was Old Grog's grog just "Grog" and the cocktail known as "Navy Grog" a variety of Grog that was invented centuries later.

Oar, regardless of its origins, is it only "Navy" Grog if it is made with British Navy Pusser's Rum, the rum used (exclusively at the time) by the British Royal Navy when Vernon introduced the concoction?

Limes, you say?

What kind of limes did the Limeys use when Grog was invented?

Most likely they were Key limes. Tahiti/Persian limes probably didn't exist then. Though their history is unknown at this point, it is thought that they are a cross between Key limes and Mexican Citron, and probably came into being in the middle of the 19th Century, about 100 years after the invention of Vernon's Grog.

Therefore, I believe that all concoctions with origins predating Persian limes should call for Key limes, only relying on Persians as a substitute.

Arhh! Me hardies! I be more interested in a nautical potion known as Bumbo. Now where be me nutmeg and pomegranates?