Make An Authentic Navy Grog, With Help From Beachbum Berry

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jun 13, 2013 3:00PM

Jeff "Beachbum" Berry is one of the world's foremost experts on all things tiki, so when he introduces something new, we pay attention. He has an empire of books and a wonderful app, and now he's done something new: revived an almost-forgotten drink.

The "Navy Grog" is a classic tiki drink invented by Don the Beachcomber in 1941. The drink, which includes lime, grapefruit, honey, soda water and three kinds of rum (the recipe is below and in the Tiki+ app) has an interesting twist - a huge ice cone with a straw through the middle of it. This both chills the drink as you drink it and looks fairly spectacular, but the cone is almost impossible to make without specialized tools. Until now, the recipe included a messy process of filling a pilsner glass with shaved ice, and only one bar in the world still makes the drink because it's a pain in the neck.

The Beachbum is here to save the day. He got the original method for making the ice cone out of a former Beachcomber's employee. He's paired up with Cocktail Kingdom and they have manufactured a kit so you can make the ice-cones at home. For $18, you can own a semi-authentic piece of tiki culture and seriously impress your friends. Our own Rob Christopher calls it the "ultimate tiki nerd accessory."

How do you use the thing? We'll let the Beachbum take it from here.

You can use the cone in any Tiki drink served in a rocks glass (such as the Mai Tai). But here’s the drink it was invented for: To make one Navy Grog, place in your shaker 3/4 ounce each fresh lime juice, white grapefruit juice, and club soda; 1 ounce each gold Demerara rum, dark Jamaican rum, and white Cuban (or Puerto Rican) rum; and 1 ounce honey mix (1 part honey dissolved in 1 part warm water). Shake well with plenty of ice, then strain into a glass containing your ice cone.

Get mixing!