BLACK TOT DAY 50 ANNIVERSARY 5. The Quality of Grog: Sweet Nostalgia and Hard Facts

by ,

                  BLACK TOT DAY 50 ANNIVERSARY 

5. THE QUALITY OF GROG: SWEET NOSTALGIA AND HARD FACTS

In the previous article we concentrated on debunking one of the most popular myths about Grog, the “secret formula” one, which as a matter of fact never existed. In the last issue of this series, we want to analyze a second myth, that of the great quality of Grog, celebrated and fondly missed by many as one of the best drinking experiences ever, even though there is some confusion between the Grog which sailors actually drank and the rum, often called Navy Rum or such like, used to make it, which was a blend of different rums. 

Which rums were used for making Grog? Even though an official recipe of the rum used for making Grog never existed, probably, when it was possible, the Navy victualling department looked for a certain flavor profile, but it changed over time. Let’s read some excerpts from an extensive research made by Matt Pietrek, “Setting the Record Straight on British Navy Rum”, (https://cocktailwonk.com/2019/12/setting-record-straight-british-navy-rum.html):

“What we can say with some degree of certainty is that by 1970 (when the Navy stopped issuing rum), the navy blend was approximately 60 percent Demerara rum including Port Mourant, around 30 percent Trinidad rum, and ten percent rums from elsewhere. … True Navy Rum was relatively young rum. Numerous sources suggest that the typical cask of rum destined for the Navy was shipped to England soon after distillation, and vatted for around two years in an enormous vatting system. … Simply put, Navy Rum wasn’t sitting in casks along the Thames for a decade or more. Nor in the Caribbean. Rather, real Navy Rum was primarily aged in vats in the U.K. It was certainly not “Tropically aged.” Nor can we really say it was Continentally aged, which implies aging in casks.”

Having said that, what was Grog actually like? Was it really so good? What about its aroma, flavor and finish? Clearly there is no way to know for sure, but some memories of Navy sailors are useful in order to understand what it was really like. Let me be clear: unfortunately, many nostalgic people will be disappointed. 

First, alcoholic strength: what was Grog’s actual strength? 

For a better understanding of this complex issue, it is important to remember that in British Navy language the term over/under proof alcoholic strength refers to the famous (or maybe notorious) British “proof” and  not to our commonly used  ratio of Alcohol By Volume according to the metrical system. And British proof was roughly 57% ABV. But that is not enough: to make bad things worse, alcoholic strength is often referred to also as “degrees” in some British Navy documents.

I own up that at school I was poor at Mathematics, and now I am even worse, but, with some effort and the precious help of  some British Navy documents researched and published by  Pietrek  in the above mentioned article, I am confident I managed to get it right. 

A document from 1965 makes quite clear that, in spite of many modern ads, Navy Strength rum was not 57 percent ABV: “The Issuing Strength of Rum was laid down at 4.5 under proof (unchanged today).” A spirit “at proof” was at 57 percent ABV in today’s terms. So, what is “4.5 under proof”? It means an alcoholic strength that’s 4.5 percent less than a full proof spirit. That is, 54.5 percent ABV.

You might naturally ask what Navy strength was before 1866. It seems the Navy itself wasn’t entirely sure, when it wrote in the 1965 document: “Proof” spirit is 57% spirit and 43% water by volume. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is assumed that Service rum was issued at about this strength until 1866 when the issue strength was fixed at 95.5 Proof (or 4.5 under-Proof).” But this is not our focus now. 

Therefore, now we know that the rum used to make Grog was at 54.5% ABV, at least since 1866. So, how strong was Grog itself? Obviously it depended on the quantity of rum in the ration and the quantity of water added. 

Let’s go back to our beloved “Nelson’s Blood – The Story of Naval Rum” by Captain James Pack, published in 1982.

“In 1844, the daily ration was prescribed a gill (a quarter pint Imperial), at which point rum had probably reached its apogee. Its gradual descent can be traced from this time, and, in quantitative terms, the daily ration of a quarter of an Imperial was never to be exceeded again. … With rum ascendant and all ships embarking it upon commissioning, brandy was displaced, and for arrack – the far eastern substitute of the previous century – little more was heard of it.”

In order to better understand, it is perhaps a good idea to convert the (somewhat peculiar) British measure into the metrical system.  One imperial pint  =   0,568261 liter. Therefore a gill (a quarter pint Imperial) is 0.144 liter or 14.4 centiliters.

We know from the last article of this series that in the XIX and at the beginning of the XX Century, the common use was to add 3 (three) parts of water for 1 (one) part of rum. Now we just have to make a simple proportion: 

54.5 : 100 = X : 400     

54.5 x 100 = 5.450

5.450 : 400 = 13,625

Therefore, Grog was roughly at 13.6 % ABV.

After the end of WWI, according to Pack, things changed “The twenty-year interval between wars was a stable period in rum’s history although there was an important change made, the last before its abolition as it turned out. It had been represented in a review of service conditions that grog would be more acceptable with less water in the mix, and trials were carried out in 1937 and implemented a year later. The puritan-minded viewed the change with disfavor, and in a way it did savour of putting the clock back. Strangely, the Admiralty had shown little concern about the quantity of water to be added to make grog … When the results of the trial showed that a change to two-water grog (two parts of water for one of rum), would be infinitely preferred to the existing three-water grog, and that the trial itself had been carried out without adverse consequence, Their Lordships were prepared to consider the matter. A Select Committee consisting of the Fourth Sea Lord (responsible for supplies), the Director of Victualling and other celebrities, tasted samples of the various mixtures laid before them and approved the change to two-water grog.”

Therefore, in the last period of its existence, the Grog which some living witnesses could drink, was made up of two parts of water for one part of rum. Let’s make the proportion again: 

54.5 : 100 = X : 300     

54.5 x 100 = 5.450

5.450:300 = 18.16

To sum up, modern Grog was roughly at 18.16 % ABV

So, British sailors drank little more than 1/5 liter of Grog at roughly 18.16 % ABV. Well, not very strong at all, even though it was not a small quantity. To make an example that is easy to understand for us modern drinkers, assuming that a normal distillate ration today is 4 centiliter, they drank more or less as much alcohol as is contained in 3 drinks. Or, since a bottle of good wine is usually 750 cl at 13-14% ABV, they drank as much alcohol as is contained in a bottle of good wine. Actually, not a lot, but not a little either, considering that we are talking about Navy sailors on duty and not about a group of leisure diners.

This is enough about the alcoholic strength of Grog, but what about its quality?

As our readers know, this series of articles relies mostly on Pack’s book. James Pack was a Navy officer, he lived through the last decades of the Tot, a cultivated, passionate man who carried out extensive research on the subject, therefore a reliable source. Moreover, he was understandably a bit nostalgic, so, as well as reliable he is biased in favor of Grog. And yet, if we read carefully what he writes, doubts cannot fail to arise as to the actual quality of  Grog, at least  according to our modern standards.

To begin with, let’s consider the quality of the rum in the Grog.  “When distilled, rum is as colourless as gin – or water! Therefore it was necessary to give rum colour before supply to ships and, fortuitously, seamen also favoured a dark colour. The addition of caramel or dark sugar to the rum provided the required answer both to satisfy officialdom and personal preference.”  Therefore the dark colour did not come from the ageing process, but from the addition of caramel and dark sugar, which obviously changed the flavor too, making it much sweeter. Not exactly an auspicious beginning for an assessment of the quality of Navy rum.

Moreover, when describing the above mentioned change from the three-water to the two-water Grog, Pack writes: “In many ways two-water grog would have been more convenient administratively in wartime, with the added benefit of retaining its flavor and quality for a longer period …” And later, describing the first steps of the daily ritual, he writes: “At this time no water is added as grog becomes flat and tasteless within forty-five minutes or so of mixing.” 

I absolutely  do not want to play the role of a snobbish connoisseur , but we all know that a good rum, if water is added, decreases its alcoholic strength, but it must not lose its aroma and its flavor, certainly not “within forty-five minutes or so” ! Therefore, that rum could not have been that good. 

Anyway, sailors liked it that way. But what did sailors really want when they drank their Grog? What did they expect from their daily ration? Did they want to savor a good sipping drink, as a discerning, picky drinker does today? It would appear not, what they were looking for was mainly alcohol and its welcome effect on body and mind. Let’s read the testimony of Mr. P. Curtis chief petty officer, after the Word War II. 

“After the war, we still held large stocks of the foreign blends, particularly at Singapore where I happened to be, and so Their Lordships, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the superintending victualling store officer should ascertain the exact blend of rum most acceptable to the post-war navy. In HMS Terror, the shore base in Singapore, there were no less than six chief pussers serving at the same time. The SVSO had a brainwave – who better than those six to give impartial but balanced judgement? Consequently the six of us mustered in his office, furnished with a large table, chairs, samples of rum from everywhere, with cheese, butter, dry biscuits, etc. for cleaning the palate after each sip. The normal method of judging wine is fourfold, - the colour, the aroma or nose, the taste, and the aftertaste. Rum is different! As all old timers will know, the only way to drink a tot is to swallow it whole, grimace, and then sit down to appreciate the glow which spreads from the stomach and engenders that wonderful feeling of peace and general bonhomie.’

And, if the above were not enough, here is a last testimony with which we would like to complete our journey around Tot:

“What’s left you DRINK – only officers and ladies sip!” 

Marco Pierini