Saturday, December 6, 2008

Grog


The word grog refers to a variety of alcoholic beverages. The word originally referred to a drink made with water or "small beer" (a weak beer) and rum, which was introduced into the Royal Navy by British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon on 21 August 1740. Modern versions of the drink are often made with hot or boiling water, and sometimes include lemon juice, lime juice, cinnamon or sugar to improve the taste. Rum with water, sugar and nutmeg was known as bumboo and was more popular with pirates and merchantmen.By contrast, in Australia and New Zealand, the word has come to mean any alcoholic drink.


In Sweden and some subcultures within the English-speaking world, grog is a common description of drinks not made to a recipe, but by mixing various kinds of alcohol and soda, fruit juice or similar ingredients; i.e. a highball with no defined proportions. The difference between the Swedish definition of grog and long drinks, mixed drinks or punches is the number of ingredients. The number of ingredients in drinks may vary, but grog typically has just one kind of liquor (most commonly vodka or brännvin) and one kind of a non-alcoholic beverage. The term Busgrogg (mischief grog) refers to a mix of beer or cider and vodka or brännvin.

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