Navy Grog
A Navy Grog is 30ml each of dark, aged and white rum, 22.5ml each of fresh lime and white grapefruit juice and 30ml of honey syrup, shaken hard for 10 to 12 seconds and strained into a double rocks glass around an ice cone, then topped with 60ml of soda water and drunk through the straw frozen into the cone. About 3.6 UK units. Donn Beach created it at Don the Beachcomber in Hollywood, and an early menu dedicated it to the gallant men of the American navy. The name reaches back to the Royal Navy: in 1740 Admiral Edward Vernon ordered his sailors’ rum ration mixed with water, and the mixture took his nickname, Old Grogram, from the grogram coat he reportedly wore, by the Oxford Companion’s account. Three rums give it a depth one bottle cannot, and grapefruit and honey keep it drier than most tiki drinks. The ice cone is the theatre, and it keeps the glass very cold.
Variations
Glassware: Rocks Glass
Garnish: Ice cone over the straw and Lime wheel if you skip the theatre
Ingredients
30ml
A rich dark rum at about 40% ABV, the low register of the three. A Jamaican style brings the weight the drink is built on.
30ml
A golden or aged rum for the middle: oak, dried fruit and body between the dark and the white. A Demerara rum suits it.
30ml
A clean white rum for brightness. It lifts the top of the drink and keeps three rums from turning heavy.
22.5ml
Squeezed the same day, for the sharp attack. Vernon’s order let sailors buy limes and sugar from their savings to make the ration more palatable.
22.5ml
White grapefruit, squeezed fresh. It brings bitterness and body where lime brings only sourness, and it is the main thing that separates this drink from the old ration.
30ml
Two parts honey to one of warm water. A light honey keeps the drink brisk; a darker one pushes it towards autumn and suits the dark rum.
60ml
Cold soda water, added in the glass. It lengthens a strong drink and lifts the citrus.
Instructions
For the ice cone, a day ahead: pack crushed ice firmly into a pilsner glass around a chopstick and freeze for at least two hours. Slide it out, push a straw through the hole and keep it frozen until needed.
Stand the ice cone in a double rocks glass of about 40cl.
Add the three rums, lime juice, grapefruit juice and honey syrup to a shaker with cubed ice.
Shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Strain into the glass around the cone.
Top with 60ml of soda water and stir once.
Our version
Ours keeps the early Don the Beachcomber build of three rums, lime, grapefruit and honey over an ice cone, but uses an aged rum for the gold Demerara, a richer two-to-one honey syrup and 60ml of soda for a longer drink.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Make honey syrup, not neat honey. Raw honey seizes into a lump in a cold shaker and stays there. Two parts runny honey to one of warm water, stirred smooth and kept in the fridge, mixes at once. Use three rums. Each covers a register the others miss: white for brightness, aged for the middle, dark for depth. One bottle makes a pleasant sour with less to it. Make the cones a day ahead. Without one, use a single large cube rather than small ice, which melts too fast into a drink this strong.
Behind the Navy Grog
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
Grog began as an order. In 1740 Admiral Edward Vernon ordered the Royal Navy’s rum ration mixed with water, four parts to one of rum, issued in two servings a day, the Oxford Companion says. Vernon reportedly favoured a coat of grogram cloth and was nicknamed Old Grogram, and the mixture took the name.
Donn Beach built the Navy Grog at Don the Beachcomber in Hollywood, where an early menu dedicated it to the gallant men of the American navy; later menus widened that to all the navies of the world. He kept his recipes secret, and the version usually published was reconstructed later.
The Ice Cone
The cone is crushed ice packed hard into a pilsner glass around a chopstick, frozen, slid out and threaded with a straw. Stood in the glass, it keeps the drink very cold, and the straw draws from the bottom. We make them in batches and keep them for weeks in a sealed bag in the freezer.
Three Rums and Honey
Each rum covers a register: white for brightness, aged for the middle, dark for depth. Together they taste of more than any one of them alone.
Honey takes the place of the ration’s sugar. As a syrup it mixes at once, and its own flavour shows: light and floral for a brisk drink, darker for a heavier one.
Why Grapefruit
Vernon’s ration was rum and water, with lime and sugar where the men bought them. Grapefruit is the change that makes it a cocktail.
Grapefruit brings bitterness where lime brings only sourness, and the bitterness keeps the drink from reading as sweet. It also has more body than lime, so it holds up against three rums and 30ml of honey syrup.
The two citrus split the work: lime for the sharp attack, grapefruit for the bitter finish and the weight. That is why the drink takes 22.5ml of each.
From the Ration to the Tiki Bar
Grog from Vernon’s ration to Don the Beachcomber’s Navy Grog and ours
Vernon’s grog, 1740
- Rum
- One part
- Citrus
- Limes, if the sailor bought them
- Sweetener
- Sugar, if the sailor bought it
- Lengthener
- Four parts water
- Served
- Two servings a day
Navy Grog, early Don the Beachcomber recipe
- Rum
- About 30ml each of dark Jamaican, gold Demerara and white rum
- Citrus
- About 22.5ml each of lime and white grapefruit
- Sweetener
- About 30ml of honey and water, equal parts
- Lengthener
- About 22.5ml soda
- Served
- Old Fashioned glass, shaved ice cone
Navy Grog (ours)
- Rum
- 30ml each of dark, aged and white rum
- Citrus
- 22.5ml each of lime and grapefruit
- Sweetener
- 30ml honey syrup, two to one
- Lengthener
- 60ml soda
- Served
- Double rocks glass, ice cone; about 3.6 UK units
| Drink | Rum | Citrus | Sweetener | Lengthener | Served |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vernon’s grog, 1740 | One part | Limes, if the sailor bought them | Sugar, if the sailor bought it | Four parts water | Two servings a day |
| Navy Grog, early Don the Beachcomber recipe | About 30ml each of dark Jamaican, gold Demerara and white rum | About 22.5ml each of lime and white grapefruit | About 30ml of honey and water, equal parts | About 22.5ml soda | Old Fashioned glass, shaved ice cone |
| Navy Grog (ours) | 30ml each of dark, aged and white rum | 22.5ml each of lime and grapefruit | 30ml honey syrup, two to one | 60ml soda | Double rocks glass, ice cone; about 3.6 UK units |
Black Tot Day
The Royal Navy issued its last daily rum ration on 31 July 1970, nicknamed Black Tot Day, the Oxford Companion says. The Navy Grog came out of Hollywood, but its name and its rum come from that tradition.
How to Serve It
In a double rocks glass around the cone, with the straw frozen into it. At 90ml of rum it is a strong drink, and one is usually enough.
For another of Donn Beach’s multi-rum drinks, make a Zombie; for an older rum punch, a Planter’s Punch.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Dark RumDark rum is a heavy, deep-coloured rum, counted at 40% ABV in our recipes, whose colour may come from years in oak, from blending or from added caramel, which Regulation (EC) 110/2008 allows. It brings weight and a burnt-sugar note to punches, hot drinks and tiki builds: the Rum Runner, the Hurricane and the Planter’s Punch.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Navy Grog?
Why is it called grog?
When did the Royal Navy stop the rum ration?
What is the ice cone and do I need it?
Which three rums should I use?
What makes Trader Vic’s Navy Grog different?
How strong is a Navy Grog?
How did the Royal Navy make grog?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Wayne Curtis), “grog” (secondary source: Vernon’s order of 1740, four parts water to one of rum, split and served twice daily; the nickname Old Grogram from his grogram overcoat; Donn Beach’s Navy Grog first in print in 1942).
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Martin Cate), “rum, navy” (secondary source: the daily ration of as much as half a pint (240ml) cut in 1824 and 1851; the last day, 31 July 1970, nicknamed Black Tot Day, with mock burials at sea and black armbands).
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026