Avast ye, mateys!
Legend has it that the skull of the infamous English pirate Edward Teach (better known as Blackbeard) was fashioned into a rum punch bowl after he was killed in a sea battle off the coast of North Carolina in 1718. While we’re not completely certain that that did indeed happen, or, if it did, what happened to the skull bowl, we here at Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge think that such a ghoulish story sets the mood for our October Cocktail of the Month, the Navy Grog, a potent and delicious rum drink with citrus and allspice flavors. Why, you ask? Because it’s served in a mug shaped like a skull. Shiver me timbers!
Although we may tend to associate rum with pirates (you know the song: “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest – Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum”), it has just as much if not more of a connection to the British Navy. Rum began being rationed to seamen in the Caribbean in the 1650s, and the twice-a-day ration of rum and water (colloquially known as “grog” to the sailors) became official British Navy regulation in 1756 and lasted until 1970. The name for the beverage comes from the first proponent of the daily ration (diluted with water both to save money and deter drunken brawling between sailors), Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, who was referred to as “Old Grog” because of the grogram coat he wore. Seamen began to refer to the diluted and halved rum ration as “grog” in a defiant and sarcastic way, and for a while “grog” became the go-to term for a cheap, diluted alcoholic drink.
The grog of the British Navy eventually inspired the Navy Grog, a classic Tiki drink invented in the 1940s by Donn Beach (of the Don the Beachcomber restaurant chain). His Navy Grog consisted of a number of different rums, lime juice, grapefruit juice, honey, and club soda, and was served in an Old-Fashioned glass with a snow cone of shaved ice surrounding the straw. There have been a number of variations of this concoction over the years, and the Bryant’s version is no exception to this: our Navy Grog is still quite a clap of thunder, served on shaved ice (sorry, no snow cone folks) but in a novelty skull mug instead of the Old-Fashioned glass.
As if drinking the Navy Grog for a special price all month long wasn’t enticing enough, we’re giving you the opportunity to walk away with your very own skull mug! Order the Navy Grog during our Old Fashioned Cocktail Hour and you can purchase the skull mug you drink it from for just an extra four dollars (so $10 total). You can still purchase the mug if you can’t make it to our happy hour though. All month long on weekdays after 8pm and on Fridays and Saturdays you can enjoy the drink and take home the skull mug for $12.
Stop in and splice the mainbrace with the Navy Grog for a special price all month long.
Fun facts:
We get our current word “groggy” from grog, the first meaning of which dates from the late 18th century meaning to be intoxicated from grog.
Mount Vernon, George Washington’s Virginia home, was named after Edward Vernon by Washington’s half-brother Lawrence, who had served under the admiral during the War of Jenkins’ Ear (yes, that was a real war).
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