"Not only were they paid with money, they were given rum" imagine going to the bank today to cash your check and the clerk just gives you some Bacardi and captain morgan
@@deanthompson88 I see you're of the opinion your grog concentrate should come pre-sweetened. The navy is pretty strict about their hydrometer readings though, and would reject those rums as not fitting specification.
@@israelm4156 Idk, a half a cup of whiskey would definitely give you a pretty good buzz... even if you put 10x times as much water, that would still be strong as a bud light
It's still common in the UK to refer to a hangover or feeling slightly under the weather as "groggy". Never really connected the dots until this video, thanks for the history lesson!
Funny thing. In Brazilian Portuguese, "grogue" (pronounced almost like "grog") is used as an adjective to refer to "alcoholic-like dizziness" . It's the same word for the drink.
And they say the life expectancy was because of random violence, when they fail to tell you almost everyone, everywhere, in every history book, walking from point a to point b were almost always violently alcoholic and intoxicated. I think we need to ask this question more in history, how drunk was this person when they did this? Because everyone was pretty much drunk.
Sailers Punch: a Grog derivative: One of sour, Two of sweet, Three of strong, And four of weak, And spice makes panch! Where sour is lime juice, sweet is either simple syrup, or light molasses, strong is rum, weak is black tea, and spice is nutmeg. Panch (which corrupted into punch) is the East Indian word for five. Thus: One part lime juice, two parts syrup or molasses, three parts dark rum, four parts black tea, and nutmeg to taste. Sounds like a good round for The Nutmeg Tavern!
I agree that the citrus was more than 'just a squeeze'. The navy was forcing their sailors to ingest the citrus to ward of scurvy. Citrus juice would have been a set percentage of the mixture. You do not want your citrus, 'no rum for you. I always wondered why the liquor stores sold pints, quarts and 1/2 gallons, why they sold 1/5th's of hard liquor also. Mixology.
It's good he delved into the history. It would have been a short episode otherwise! lol. >pours water >pours rum >squeezes lime drinks. Yup. That's tasty >play outro music
It can’t be that fast, you need a second and third opinion, so repeat steps 1-4 at least a dozen times to have a statistical average and trust me, by that time this video would be funny
I've said this on other videos of yours, but this legitimately feels like it belongs in the late 90s/early 00s PBS weekday block, alongside Norm Abram and Julia Child. Such a pure and wholesome educational show. I love it. You not only manage to make an obscure topic incredibly interesting, you evoke a certain nostalgia, a style that is underappreciated and underrepresented right now
I made grog with Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaican Rum and spent a few days drinking the RN ration of grog in different schedules to see how it would go. I found that dividing the grog into two servings (one around 10:00 AM and one around 5:00 PM) actually kept someone with an 18th century alcohol tolerance (read: me) from suffering any kind of debilitating drunkenness during the work day while making the day much more pleasant in general.
See, it's comments and well thought-out experiments like this that make me think the Royal Navy should never have put an end to the rum rations. Furthermore, while it only started because fresh water didn't keep very well on warships from the era of Henry VIII onwards, as time went on it eventually became a tradition for the sailors, which is probably why they had the Black Tot Day after the Royal Navy put an end to their rum rations
Me: CZcams, show me videos of Led Zeppelin playing acoustic live. CZcams: here is a video of a guy dressed in 1700 clothes making a Grog. Me: Subscribed
After the battle of Trafalgar , Rum was known as " Nelson's blood" in honor of Admiral Horatio Nelson killed during the battle aboard H.M.S. Victory. ( H.M.S. Victory is on public display in England.)
@@johnbockelie3899 Side note, I read in the book Sinew's of Power that the H.M.S. Victory cost over 63,000 pounds to build, which was many many fortunes worth of money!
When the Royal Navy and Royal Marines abolished the rum ration they had mock funerals for the rum ration, My father who was in the Royal Marines Four Five commando was a pall bearer at one of the funerals for the rum ration. It was known as Black Tot Day 31st July 1970.
I was in the 101st Airborne and attended Winter Warfare School in Quebec back in 1980. They distributed rum rations to us, but it was straight rum, not grog.
@@vksasdgaming9472 I'm assuming Holidays like Christmas and Easter, but that's not the point? Traditions should not be broken. Even if it's not required due to modern technology? The long term goal of The Leftists is slowly destroy your nation's history.
@@davenolan5709 Traditions are solutions to obsolete problems. If they provide nothing they should be forgotten. Alcoholic beverages to sailors on daily basis causes more problems than solves them nowadays.
That was actually the entire point. Surprised he had no clue about this. It wasn't the rum, it was thr vit c from the lime. Rum was just a cover for the state secret of vit c.
Many people will already know this but the lime was added as a source of Vitamin C, in order to prevent scurvy. Lemons were better for this but for a fair while the British struggled to get enough lemons and used limes instead. Hence the term Limeys for the British.
I had learned this came about donto pirates eating whatever they could find on any island they stopped at, and accidentally realized limes "cured" scurvy
What's interesting is how switching out lemons for limes actually led to crews being unknowingly vulnerable to scurvy, leading to a backslide in people's knowledge about how to prevent scurvy! By the mid-1800s, ocean voyages were often fast enough that people weren't as at-risk for scurvy, so when they changed from lemons to the much less effective limes in the 1860s, it wasn't really noticed that there was an issue -- until distant expeditions into the polar Arctic in the 1890s led to scurvy even WITH the lime rations. Google the article "Scott And Scurvy" for more info.
It's "cordiale", a type of liquer which was goven to soldiers everyday during the times of conscription. It's not anymore used by Italian army since many years and it's quite rare now because they are running out
My grandpa was in the Air Force and did joint survival training with the RCAF in Labrador. He remembers trading rabbits he'd catch (he's a serious survival baller. Could survive in any climate back in the day) with the Canadians who still got a rum ration. He's very nostalgic for Red Heart Rum, which was the kind this group was given. I finally found some! Can't wait to surprise him.
US Army also drinks a grog as part of custom and tradition when attending ceremonies. Although the recipe is considerably different than just rum, water, and citrus...
@@chrismcwhirter2606 my experience was very formal, big speech by the brass, (maby a Col. and Sgt Major. I dont remember Top being there. Lots of Butter and Warrants) upper enlisted with pots of coffee and all sorts of stuff. Thrown Into a big punch bowl and then karaoke, dancing, puking, individual passed out on decorative rug.... then we were blessed enough to be treated to a battalion run hated that full bird running up front. (We may have had th 39th Cos Com over. Germany 2002, perhaps stars were the reason for such a partay.)
I had a "Shipwreck Party" in college and everyone LOVED the Grog hot and with lemon. The problem was the guests couldn't taste the rum (nutmeg and lemon do a really good job of covering up the alcohol flavor) and they got more intoxicated than they intended!
That's what they all say unless they limit it by the drink. One hard drink of 4 oz is enough for most non-drinkers to get sloshed, yet you're talking college where enough people are there for their partying degree.
I had a huge advantage over other students when I was in college. I was already an experienced adult and a confirmed, well seasoned alcoholic. It was practically impossible for me to get more intoxicated than I intended. One, because I was quite familiar with my levels of intoxication and 2 because I usually intended to get really, REALLY intoxicated lol
I was wondering If I was the only one that noticed this, I had to go back and watch again cause I stopped listening to his words and just watched the drip. drip. drip.
The alcohol content is exactly why they mixed it with the water, to prevent disease from the nasty water. For quite a while people resorted to beer instead of water, because the water seemed to make people sick. Adding rum to the water helped keep the water potable for much longer.
I have heard it said, though, that that level of alcohol is really inadequate to sanitize anything, and that it was really the boiling that did all the work then again I've also heard a bit of citrus juice can sterilize a lot of bad water, so who even knows anything? I'm not gonna run experiments.
@@KairuHakubi No I don't blame you lol. I've read a few things that said in situations where multiple people were exposed to e. coli, those who had drunk a lot of alcohol with the meal were less likely to get sick. Though it appears you need to drink quite a lot, and it needs to be stiff. Beer and wine don't help as much.
One interesting historical fact about the importance of rum around this time is during the early settling of Australia. There is an event known as the Rum Rebellion and the Rum Corps. Because rum was seen as the most valuable commodity in the newly settled land, there were literally cartels that completely controlled access to it giving them immense political power in the fledgling colony.
While very true on that history, rum itself is a much more loose term in Australia, where it can refer to anything from a Caribbean-style rum to any sort of sugar-based moonshine to any sort of spirit (depending on what region one is). Grog also usually refers to any sort of mixed drink to any sort of spirit to any sort of alcoholic drink (again, depending on who you're talking to) 🤣🍻
My Dad was in charge of issuing the rum ration during his time in the RN. He told me he would punch a hole in a card and issue the ration, but some crafty Matelots would pick up the punched out circles, head back to their cabin and iron them back into their card !.
did he live to see Black Tot Tuesday i.e. the last year they served the Rum ration, my great-uncle was R.N. before returning back to Ireland and joining the Irish Navy service.......he was literally vibrating with rage about it.
@@markeustace199 yes he was, he was on an Algerine class minesweeper on that fateful day. He never did tell me what happened to the rum which was left over, but I'm fairly sure it's wasn't poured over the side.
@@FMykal lmao everyone, including children, were almost always drunk before the 20th century. Alcoholic drinks were just the safest to drink health wise.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. Look at all the great works through history made by people imbibing alcohol. Like the pyramids, aqueducts, and America up until prohibition.
Did a little digging and it was right around 1770s that the evaporators were appearing that could produce fresh water. It still took a century before they were standard on naval vessels.
@@chairmanm3ow same reason why nobody smells zombies in movies even when they are near and literally decaying. Everything smells bad and you gotta get used to it.
@@chairmanm3ow also I believe in ancient Egypt women wore globs of scented wax that would drip wax over them to cover bodily odor. And that took place way before deodorant
I have found myself frequently looking for happier things to listen to/watch. It seems like most recent/modern media is very unhappy and violent. This series 100% is what I'm looking for. You've got a genuine, sweet person teaching us his passion! And he's very kind and thoughtful about it. Keep on doing the good work, Mr. Townsend!
I honestly love grog. One of my favorite drinks at home. So simple to make and it's a good sipper. Mine is 2 shots 137 proff rum, 5 shots cold water, 2 large ice cubes for more water. A shot of lemon lime juice And a shot of concentrated green tea
@@raidenmckay2604 hey some advise. Get some rum of choice. But get a high proof like thr 137 I mentioned before. Or anything over 50%,. Now get a Mason jar. And some green tea leaves. Fill the jar like halfway with rum. Now get an assortment of fruit, I like a citrus mix, a lemon, a lime, a grapefruit, and an orange. Slice those up into thin thin slices and put them into the rum with the skins attached. Then add in 2-4 teabags of preference. I like 2 green tea and 2 oolong, and sometimes il even toss in a hibiscus herbal teabag. Add any spices you want. I'd recommend a tad bit of cinnamon, and the smallest bit of allspice and nutmeg. And maybe even a dash of vanilla extract if the rum isn't already flavored. Let this all sit in your fridge in the coldest part for like 3 days. This lets all the oils in the fruit skins be absorbed but it stays too cold for some of the more gross compounds to absorb. Strain it through a coffee filter and really really squeeze every last drop of liquid from the fruits and spices. Your rum if it was white should look close to a spiced rum now but with more of a yellow cloudy tint from all the juice. Take a taste to see if you like it or if it needs a bit more flavor or if it needs to he diluted. It's delicious at least to me. Then I just add an equal amount of ice cold water to rum and shake with ice.
An 80-something friend (RIP) who joined the Canadian Navy as a young man related that a daily ration of rum was still given out following tradition just a few decades ago. A group of sailors would put their rations in one big cup and give it to one sailor who got completely wasted and went to sleep it off somewhere. They each had a weekly turn. He said it was a good thing the Canadian Navy gave up this practice in the 70s or he would have had cirrhosis of the liver.
For "historical accuracy" PUSSER'S RUM was the "official" rum of the Royal Navy until they discontinued the tradition in 1970. It can still be purchased commercially. It is distilled in Guyana and Trinidad.
At least that's the tale Pusser's marketing likes to tell. The original navy rum was sourced from multiple colonial states (Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados), and then blended as a sort of symbolic statement.
@@Kamamura2 An American corporation apparently bought the rights to PUSSER'S and continue to distill the rum commercially, as per their marketing. Line from an old Western movie:"When the legend becomes fact-print the legend".
@@Frank-mm2yp Pusser's rum was originally the legitimate recipe that a company bought the rights for after Black Tot Day. They've since changed one of the islands they get the rum from, but myself and my rum expert friends haven't noticed any taste difference.
There was an episode where talked about some recipes he'd never try, such as some pickled fish. There have been a couple foods i've seen he didnt try and he admitted he didnt like coffee.
I think he test cooks a lot of these recipes before making videos about them but there are some where he's less enthusiastic about recreating them & it's obvious from his expressions.
My dad was in the 1991 Gulf War - Sgt Major, I was 12 remember mum cleaning Shampoo bottles in the Kitchen sink then filling the bottle with Navy Rum sealing it and sending it in a package of soap etc. Somethings don't change.
@@guymorris1963 a friend shipped me Barretta 9mm steel magazines and booz when I was in Afghanistan. I was in the German army and he shipped from Germany to our base. No Paket was controlled by someone
These are awesome. The worst I ever did was get a box of flavored chocolates w/o realizing they were filled liquors. My husband said they had the best Christmas down range.
@@guymorris1963 X-Ray soldiers welfare packages? You on crack...No and even if you did how will an x-ray tell you what liquid is inside a vessel? He wasn't in prison she wasn't smuggling files in cakes FFS!
Are you at all picturing a livestream that goes on too long for John's good, and Mrs. Townsend eventually has to come in and switch the equipment off and throw a blanket over him? Because if so, yes, I would stay up on a worknight to watch that.
Yep- my Nan (RiP) told me stories about when she was younger, & how ‘ladies’ weren’t meant to drink beer neat at a pub, it was automatically given to women as a shandy, instead- like a mix of beer & lemonade/ lemon squash. And, unless you were ‘a certain kind of woman’- you only drank shandy or sherry in public, if it wasn’t wine with dinner. I’d be so screwed- I’m a spirits girl....
This is so funny, here in Brazil, we too have a common slang for any alcohol, but we call ig "grogue", and this slang can sometimes be used to define some one is drunk.
I have to correct you about something John Townsend which is very unusual. Particularly in the early Seventeen hundreds it would actually have been common for ships sailing out of Europe regardless of nationality to swing by Seville Spain and buy as much as they could carry of bitter Seville oranges. Limes don't catch on till almost the middle of the 1700 by which time sweet oranges have also been crossbred and are preferred on many ships particularly among Merchants. Limes get preferred by the British Navy principally because they don't go bad quite as quickly and for the fact that technically they can be dried if you really must and still thrown into the grog left to soak for a day and would still provide a decent amount of vitamin C. This preference for limes above all things is why British Sailors got called Limeys. Particularly in what would become the Southern United States sweet oranges really took off especially once they began being grown in Florida. The British knowledge of how to dry Seville oranges with cloves also proved true of sweet oranges and is a great contributor to what we now consider Christmas flavors. Especially with in mulled wine. An overabundance of oranges after all wouldn't make for very good cider. So Housewives and Farmers wives alike had to figure out how to preserve this stuff. While the tradition of making marmalade was already well rooted into the colonies that would become the United States. Dried oranges which could last for much longer were popular in New England where the winters could get rather nasty. the ability to preserve oranges much longer in their dried state was of great benefit to preventing people on land from getting scurvy from nutrient deficiency in winter.
There was also pine nettle tea. Tastes vile, but it is rich in Vitamin C and was used to treat/prevent scurvy by Native American populations long before we arrived. We also incorporated it, and quickly adopted citrus fruits the moment we could.
@@alysonkiszewski5032 According to an obscure manuscript discovered from Tolkien's personal papers, orcs preferred to drink Smirnoff Ice, grape flavor.
His mug appears to be nickel lined, pure copper cups are a little more difficult to find because there are some vague concerns about health risks when copper comes into food or drinks with a ph below 6.0
@@omeganova4332 Mine is lined too. The outside is oxidized and very aged looking, but the interior is a shiny chrome color. So I always feel cool using it haha
Grogg is wildly used in the Swedish language for a spirit mixed with another drink. I never knew this word came from the british fleet, very interesting! Thanks for sharing!
And in the more rural parts, hard alcohol (whisky specifically) was used as currency since the US dollar at the time was not stable, possibly not good value depending at the time and place. Also doesn't help that before the US Constitution when the Articles of Confederation was still used, the US Federal Gov. had serious problems of funding the Continental Army and Navy since they had to ask the states for funding (by state taxes) which the states didn't do.
The daily rum ration in those days was staggering. Admiral Vernon's 'daily tot' helped alleviate all out drunkenness to some extent. He unwittingly improved the health of his crew due to the lime and sugar rations that was allotted with the daily tot. The lime would later be found out to help prevent scurvy that ravaged sailors at the time.
@@aramislima902 I love how sometimes, Travis just goes full Grog in Campaign 1 (like when he couldn't remember the word subtraction and called it reverse math)
As a kid my dad always gave me a half a cup of rum whenever I was feeling under the weather. Let’s just say that as I got older I got really good at pretending to be sick.
I have a memory of my maiden Great Aunt, who was born in 1883, sneaking into the liquor store to buy some bourbon to make me some cough mix of 1 part each bourbon, lemon, and honey when I had a terrible cold. (She didn't want anyone from church to see her buying liquor ) That felt like love to me. She was over 100 when she died.
@@casimirpiast6516 No, she was Episcopalian but born in a time when southern ladies didn't drink. She also had been a teacher, who taught all the early extension agents in North Carolina, so drinking would have been a career killer for a woman. Now Episcopalians are often know as Whiskeypalians because when 2 or 3 are gathered together there is usually a fifth. 😉
This is one of my favourite Townsends episodes! It could've been just: "Today we make grog - It is one part rum, four parts water. I want to thank you for watching as we savour the flavours and the aromas... of the 18th century!" ...but you made it an 8 minute video full of interesting, relevant information. All important parts of the history of grog without sidetracking too much. You're a very good storyteller!
Thank you for being an escape from the daily problems of my life, you're historical information and demonstrations are second to none and everything that I could hope for in a podcast on CZcams
FUN FACT: in Brazilian Portugues there is this informal word, "grogue" (pronounced "grog"), which means "drunk"/"tipsy"/"dizzy" I do believe it has some connection to the English word =)
A Gentleman - I’m American, here, and we have the same just woke up but still feeling tired meaning, too. I assume it’s a term derived from 18th c. to describe the feeling of being hung over, as a sailor might feel after a night of drinking too much grog. Only now, the connotation has evolved to be more innocent to just mean still tired in the morning.
North-German recipe for Grog: "Rum mut, Zucker kann, Water bruuk nich". (Rum is a must, sugar is optional, water is not really necessary) But I need all of those ingredients. My Papa often mixes me a Grog when I'm having a cold. I love my Grog piping hot and sweet as sin 😅
Not my parents but my grandparents consume grog with big amounts of honey instead of sugar and with alot of lemon juice when they are cold. Paired with resting in a warm bed It is quite effective against the common cold.
Love your passion and delivery every time. Fun and fascinating! Kudos to the editor for the lovely work moving parts of the paintings. Really nicely done! This is a polished and well thought out channel.
It's dripping because the barrel is made of unseasoned, unsealed wood. The wood needs to be allowed to rest and conform over several years to its new shape, then be oiled and sealed on the interior with resin or tar. Otherwise it will forever leak like this one and be useless except perhaps to briefly store nuts or other large granules.
I remember reading a book where all the sailors were required to drink their rum rations, but they weren't allowed to be intoxicated. It was a conundrum for the ship boys as they couldn't do both, although eventually they traded it to the cook for food
In Australia ‘grog’ is slang for alcohol, usually referring to spirits or liquor rather than wine or beer but it’s still used today, probably as we’re a convict country that was built on the stuff 🤣
@@otm646 When i lived there, "On the grog" was the popular usage. Where is Peter"? He is around Freds, they're on the grog Or Peter You look crook. Yeah, Me and Fred got on the grog last night. Grog also refers to beer as well. Mainly any western/anglo abased alcoholic drink. (Yeah, i know beer is a universal beverage.)
3:32 well not quite. Making water lightly alcoholic inhibits microbial growth, it does not sterilize it. You can't make dirty water safe by adding a bit of rum, but you can keep clean water safe for longer by doing so
𝅘𝅥𝅮 Well, it's all for me grog, me jolly jolly grog, It's all for me beer and tobacco. For I spent all me tin on the lassies drinking gin, Far across the western ocean I must wander.𝅘𝅥𝅮
That's why the Rum Closet was the most secure room on the ship with the Captain having the only key, and the punishment for breaking into the Rum Closet or stealing another crewmans Grog was so severe.
You joke, but it wasn't uncommon to distribute an extra ration of rum before a battle to "settle the men's nerves" at that point you are thoroughly sozzled.
That was Captain Billy Bones. He had a stroke and was told "no rum for you" essentially, so when jim started to protest that Dr. Livesey had said not to drink rum, the captain cut him off with, "Docters is all swabs!" I love Treasure Island, and I'm glad others read it too.
During the pandemic I have made Grog with what was left of a bottle of vodka I bought lemon and lime juice from my local dollar tree and I bought canned fruit be it pineapple, fruit cocktail, pears, or even oranges the fruit was always packed in syrup with water. So I would eat the fruit and pour the syrup and fruit juices in a bottle and refrigerated it and pour a shot of vodka, and the syrup juice mixture and than add lemon or lime juice and a little bit of tap water. The vodka could still be tasted but it made for a satisfying before bed cocktail that helped me sleep comfortably. I also will take the cinnamon sugar that I have and add some to a shot of ice cold whiskey to make my own version of the fireball whiskey sold at the liquor store. But I learned about grog during the pandemic and made my own variety and it was flavorful and medicinal at least to me and I didn’t drink up my booze too quick
This reminded me of an episode from a show called Bar Rescue where a guy would go into failing bar's and try to make them successful. He went to a pirate bar and their main drink was Grog and customers hated it but the owner and her staff loved it. Needless to say their bar eventually failed and closed.
Honestly that strikes me as kind of sad... you can't run a business simply doing what you want if it doesn't provide a desirable service, maybe they should have left the grog for the off hours, or developed a "company blend" based off customer feedback and left their mix as the "house blend," and advertise it as "devilishly authentic" or something to warn that it'll burn the hairs out yer nostrils. But I can't blame them for trying, and standing behind it.
Pah! We all know the true recipe for Grog(TM)! A secret mixture that contains one or more of the following: - Kerosene - Propylene Glycol - Artificial Sweeteners - Sulfuric Acid - Rum - Acetone - Battery Acid - red dye#2 - SCUMM - Axle grease and/or pepperoni At least that's the recipe for Mêlée Island Grog. ;)
A guy I served with in the Royal Navy told me his Grandad who also served but during World War 2 told him they were just constantly drunk onboard. That’s how most got through the terrifying battles.
Wow, I always thought Grog was a euphemism for alcohol, not that it was an actual drink! Whenever pirates in kids shows would talk about drinking, they would never say beer or rum, but grog. Interesting.
Rum was part of the so-called "triangle trade". Or at least molasses was. Hopefully they put more than just a small squeeze of lime in their grog as this was needed to prevent scurvy.
my high school history was a joke, really heavily political (they taught parts of history that were important to our local governments political bias) so channels like this are a godsend
My fraternity is a military fraternity, meaning we were founded at a military academy and many of our traditions were military-esque traditions. One of those was an activity we held with grog, and even though we had to stop making it alcoholic, it was one of people's favorite traditions. Super cool to learn the history behind it.
"Not only were they paid with money, they were given rum" imagine going to the bank today to cash your check and the clerk just gives you some Bacardi and captain morgan
LOL
Bacardi and Captain Morgan's?.... i'd be furious!. Make that an El Dorado 15 year and throw in some Bumbu and they'd have themselves a deal.
@@deanthompson88 true, but if they were watering down their stuff already i dont think a bunch of diseased malnourished sailors would be picky lmao
@@deanthompson88 I see you're of the opinion your grog concentrate should come pre-sweetened. The navy is pretty strict about their hydrometer readings though, and would reject those rums as not fitting specification.
I wouldn't mind getting paid in Hamilton or Wray and Nephew.
1700's Navy: We're not fighting a war unless we're piss drunk the entire time.
Oh no the pirates are here they are going take our rum
The only way to fight a war
Incorrect. Did you even watch the video? The whole point of grog was making sure the rum was diluted enough to keep men from getting intoxicated.
Lol
@@israelm4156 Idk, a half a cup of whiskey would definitely give you a pretty good buzz... even if you put 10x times as much water, that would still be strong as a bud light
Monkey Island: Grog is the most potent, volatile drink in the world
Townsend: It's watered down rum
I know! I'm disappointed it doesn't have dissolving properties:)
Rum AND jam. :)
Monkey island, great memories of 90s computer games
Grog™
Hell, you can't even light it on fire.
It's still common in the UK to refer to a hangover or feeling slightly under the weather as "groggy". Never really connected the dots until this video, thanks for the history lesson!
You've just blown my mind. I hadn't made that connection
Good call
Here in the US we use the term Groggy. i always connected it with that early moment before you've had you coffee, but a hangover makes sense too
Funny thing. In Brazilian Portuguese, "grogue" (pronounced almost like "grog") is used as an adjective to refer to "alcoholic-like dizziness" . It's the same word for the drink.
I'm pretty sure if you speak English you've heard that
I remember "Black Tot Day".
The last rum ration issued to Her Majesty's sailors in '70.
(Yes, I'm old ).....
Almost 50 years ago. And yet it's still the same "Her Majesty".
@@petergray2712 queenie sure aged well huh?
@@Wolvenworks all that taxpayers' money keeps one healthy.
England problem was the EU or... the novelty?
DO they issue any alcohol at all in the British navy? They do in the Australian navy. Their policy is "Two beers per day, perhaps"
Im scared to even ask what the definition of "alcoholic" was in the 18th century..
"Everyone"
And they say the life expectancy was because of random violence, when they fail to tell you almost everyone, everywhere, in every history book, walking from point a to point b were almost always violently alcoholic and intoxicated. I think we need to ask this question more in history, how drunk was this person when they did this? Because everyone was pretty much drunk.
I think the sad truth is, compared to today, not very.
@@shamusbob7969 I ask myself that about my early adulthood
Peter M if you breathe you ain’t an alcoholic yet
It is worth mentioning that Naval Rum was much stronger than is usual today, at about 109% US proof (54.5% ABV).
Isn't naval rum typically 151 proof nowadays?
@@thisguy5017 no
@@alansmith2892 must just be a Canadian thing. I've never seen any brand under 151 (but some higher than that) here.
This is where the term “navy strength” for both Rum and Gin came from
Woods Navy Rum.
Chased with a Carlsberg Elephant.
Tell me I’m not worldly.
Anyone?
Grog is just watered down rum?! Turns out the club has been serving it the whole time!
Sailers Punch: a Grog derivative:
One of sour,
Two of sweet,
Three of strong,
And four of weak,
And spice makes panch!
Where sour is lime juice, sweet is either simple syrup, or light molasses, strong is rum, weak is black tea, and spice is nutmeg.
Panch (which corrupted into punch) is the East Indian word for five.
Thus:
One part lime juice, two parts syrup or molasses, three parts dark rum, four parts black tea, and nutmeg to taste.
Sounds like a good round for The Nutmeg Tavern!
That sounds good with the molassas and tea
I agree that the citrus was more than 'just a squeeze'. The navy was forcing their sailors to ingest the citrus to ward of scurvy. Citrus juice would have been a set percentage of the mixture.
You do not want your citrus, 'no rum for you.
I always wondered why the liquor stores sold pints, quarts and 1/2 gallons, why they sold 1/5th's of hard liquor also.
Mixology.
Sounds good; I like everything in the list
Wonderful recipe-thank you!
Planter's Punch/Sailor's Punch/Barbados Rum Punch is fairly standard. Grog was something else, however.
It's good he delved into the history. It would have been a short episode otherwise! lol.
>pours water
>pours rum
>squeezes lime
drinks.
Yup. That's tasty
>play outro music
Would have made an amazing April 1st episode.
It can’t be that fast, you need a second and third opinion, so repeat steps 1-4 at least a dozen times to have a statistical average and trust me, by that time this video would be funny
@@4philipp yep-if you like your first glass of grog, have a second one to celebrate; if you don't like it, have another until you get it right
what about the onion episode 🤔
I've said this on other videos of yours, but this legitimately feels like it belongs in the late 90s/early 00s PBS weekday block, alongside Norm Abram and Julia Child. Such a pure and wholesome educational show. I love it. You not only manage to make an obscure topic incredibly interesting, you evoke a certain nostalgia, a style that is underappreciated and underrepresented right now
Now that you’ve mentioned it, I cannot unsee it. Not that I’m complaining, though!
I can see myself watching this as a kid on pbs maybe I was just a weird kid
it really does have that vibe/aesthetic to it, Townsends keeping a dying art form alive and strong
I made grog with Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaican Rum and spent a few days drinking the RN ration of grog in different schedules to see how it would go. I found that dividing the grog into two servings (one around 10:00 AM and one around 5:00 PM) actually kept someone with an 18th century alcohol tolerance (read: me) from suffering any kind of debilitating drunkenness during the work day while making the day much more pleasant in general.
thank you for your service sir
The dedication to science is commendable ...
We are grateful for your contributions to society
See, it's comments and well thought-out experiments like this that make me think the Royal Navy should never have put an end to the rum rations. Furthermore, while it only started because fresh water didn't keep very well on warships from the era of Henry VIII onwards, as time went on it eventually became a tradition for the sailors, which is probably why they had the Black Tot Day after the Royal Navy put an end to their rum rations
In the modern day that's called alcoholism lmao
Me: CZcams, show me videos of Led Zeppelin playing acoustic live.
CZcams: here is a video of a guy dressed in 1700 clothes making a Grog.
Me: Subscribed
I stumbled into his channel and I love it! Same here, Subscribed.
Did you type "loop zoop" in search bar?
I know not how or why I came to be here, but I'm gonna stay for a while.
After the battle of Trafalgar , Rum was known as " Nelson's blood" in honor of Admiral Horatio Nelson killed during the battle aboard H.M.S. Victory. ( H.M.S. Victory is on public display in England.)
@@johnbockelie3899 Side note, I read in the book Sinew's of Power that the H.M.S. Victory cost over 63,000 pounds to build, which was many many fortunes worth of money!
When the Royal Navy and Royal Marines abolished the rum ration they had mock funerals for the rum ration, My father who was in the Royal Marines Four Five commando was a pall bearer at one of the funerals for the rum ration. It was known as Black Tot Day 31st July 1970.
I was in the 101st Airborne and attended Winter Warfare School in Quebec back in 1980. They distributed rum rations to us, but it was straight rum, not grog.
That's what happens when you let the Politically Correct Politicans make decisions for the military. No more traditions allowed.
@@davenolan5709 They still get rum in special occasions.
@@vksasdgaming9472 I'm assuming Holidays like Christmas and Easter, but that's not the point? Traditions should not be broken. Even if it's not required due to modern technology? The long term goal of The Leftists is slowly destroy your nation's history.
@@davenolan5709 Traditions are solutions to obsolete problems. If they provide nothing they should be forgotten. Alcoholic beverages to sailors on daily basis causes more problems than solves them nowadays.
The citrus was another important part since it helped prevent scurvy
That was actually the entire point. Surprised he had no clue about this. It wasn't the rum, it was thr vit c from the lime. Rum was just a cover for the state secret of vit c.
@@app0ll0nysus he said its for medicinal purposes of course the guy knows it dummy
That's why you Yankees used to call us (British) "Limeys"
@@rodjones117used to?
@@huberticusrex well I haven't heard it in years
This guy is the Bob Ross of historical reenactments, so wholesome!
Agreed...
Couldn't have described him better
Yeah.
I laughed at this harder than I thought I would. 🤣
@@harshalshah4685 it wasnt a joke
Many people will already know this but the lime was added as a source of Vitamin C, in order to prevent scurvy.
Lemons were better for this but for a fair while the British struggled to get enough lemons and used limes instead. Hence the term Limeys for the British.
I had learned this came about donto pirates eating whatever they could find on any island they stopped at, and accidentally realized limes "cured" scurvy
Cool info
It's also why they call germans krauts. Sauerkraut
What's interesting is how switching out lemons for limes actually led to crews being unknowingly vulnerable to scurvy, leading to a backslide in people's knowledge about how to prevent scurvy! By the mid-1800s, ocean voyages were often fast enough that people weren't as at-risk for scurvy, so when they changed from lemons to the much less effective limes in the 1860s, it wasn't really noticed that there was an issue -- until distant expeditions into the polar Arctic in the 1890s led to scurvy even WITH the lime rations. Google the article "Scott And Scurvy" for more info.
Citrus and sugar was added to naval officer’s grog rations
Tbh if I had to live hundreds of years ago without air-conditioning, heat, medicine, clean water, electricity, etc., I’d probably be an alcoholic too
Not just yes but hell yes.
i have all of that and wouldn't dream of not having my daily pint of rum
*livers were much sturdier during that era of humanity...we've lost so much since then*
Lol I still am or was an alcho
Seriously though can you imagine being a sailor back then?! You would HAVE to drink to get through the day!
The Italian military still occasionally get liqueur in their MRE kit.
for real?
@@jeppepedersen7006 Steve1989mreinfo has a video on an Italian ration, it had a clear plastic packet that holds about a shot or so of liquor.
How much? Twice a week?
@@Archer-op9cp Its a relatively rare ration that gets issued out lile others (it is given randomly, from the same pool as the others)
It's "cordiale", a type of liquer which was goven to soldiers everyday during the times of conscription. It's not anymore used by Italian army since many years and it's quite rare now because they are running out
My grandpa was in the Air Force and did joint survival training with the RCAF in Labrador. He remembers trading rabbits he'd catch (he's a serious survival baller. Could survive in any climate back in the day) with the Canadians who still got a rum ration. He's very nostalgic for Red Heart Rum, which was the kind this group was given. I finally found some! Can't wait to surprise him.
We still drink Grog in the navy today as part of custom and tradition when attending certain ceremonies.
Which Navy?
@@L.K.S.R. Royal Navy.
US Army also drinks a grog as part of custom and tradition when attending ceremonies. Although the recipe is considerably different than just rum, water, and citrus...
@@chrismcwhirter2606 my experience was very formal, big speech by the brass, (maby a Col. and Sgt Major. I dont remember Top being there. Lots of Butter and Warrants) upper enlisted with pots of coffee and all sorts of stuff. Thrown Into a big punch bowl and then karaoke, dancing, puking, individual passed out on decorative rug.... then we were blessed enough to be treated to a battalion run hated that full bird running up front. (We may have had th 39th Cos Com over. Germany 2002, perhaps stars were the reason for such a partay.)
Here we drink Grog at every party
Grog? Well, here’s a video I can “get onboard” with!
booo
I had a "Shipwreck Party" in college and everyone LOVED the Grog hot and with lemon. The problem was the guests couldn't taste the rum (nutmeg and lemon do a really good job of covering up the alcohol flavor) and they got more intoxicated than they intended!
I have personally found that warm drinks also seem to taste less alcoholic.
@doubleheadergr i said warm not hot
That's what they all say unless they limit it by the drink. One hard drink of 4 oz is enough for most non-drinkers to get sloshed, yet you're talking college where enough people are there for their partying degree.
I had a huge advantage over other students when I was in college. I was already an experienced adult and a confirmed, well seasoned alcoholic. It was practically impossible for me to get more intoxicated than I intended. One, because I was quite familiar with my levels of intoxication and 2 because I usually intended to get really, REALLY intoxicated lol
Kinda like the Apple Pie moonshine my roommate made in Germany lol
The fact that your keg is leaking rum all over the floor throughout the entirety of this video is hurting my seafaring soul...
I was wondering If I was the only one that noticed this, I had to go back and watch again cause I stopped listening to his words and just watched the drip. drip. drip.
"Why's the rum always gone..."
some bad coopersmiths he is trading with
It leaks like his cabin roof. ;)
“They need this rum to be happy at work...” I guarantee I’d be much happier at work with a rum ration.
I keep asking at work, but everyone thinks I'm joking.
Actually rum might have actually been helping keep them healthy. Alcohol can kill food-borne bacteria and prevent food poisoning.
The alcohol content is exactly why they mixed it with the water, to prevent disease from the nasty water. For quite a while people resorted to beer instead of water, because the water seemed to make people sick. Adding rum to the water helped keep the water potable for much longer.
I have heard it said, though, that that level of alcohol is really inadequate to sanitize anything, and that it was really the boiling that did all the work
then again I've also heard a bit of citrus juice can sterilize a lot of bad water, so who even knows anything? I'm not gonna run experiments.
@@KairuHakubi No I don't blame you lol. I've read a few things that said in situations where multiple people were exposed to e. coli, those who had drunk a lot of alcohol with the meal were less likely to get sick. Though it appears you need to drink quite a lot, and it needs to be stiff. Beer and wine don't help as much.
Proofed rum was about 50% those days so a good dose of that to your water would help.
I stand corrected! I was more thinking of the weak beer people would drink all the time
One interesting historical fact about the importance of rum around this time is during the early settling of Australia. There is an event known as the Rum Rebellion and the Rum Corps. Because rum was seen as the most valuable commodity in the newly settled land, there were literally cartels that completely controlled access to it giving them immense political power in the fledgling colony.
While very true on that history, rum itself is a much more loose term in Australia, where it can refer to anything from a Caribbean-style rum to any sort of sugar-based moonshine to any sort of spirit (depending on what region one is). Grog also usually refers to any sort of mixed drink to any sort of spirit to any sort of alcoholic drink (again, depending on who you're talking to) 🤣🍻
In Swedish, the word for home-made mixed drinks is actually "grogg" so it definitely crossed borders.
My Dad was in charge of issuing the rum ration during his time in the RN. He told me he would punch a hole in a card and issue the ration, but some crafty Matelots would pick up the punched out circles, head back to their cabin and iron them back into their card !.
The real question is, did he even wanna stop them
did he live to see Black Tot Tuesday i.e. the last year they served the Rum ration, my great-uncle was R.N. before returning back to Ireland and joining the Irish Navy service.......he was literally vibrating with rage about it.
@@markeustace199 yes he was, he was on an Algerine class minesweeper on that fateful day. He never did tell me what happened to the rum which was left over, but I'm fairly sure it's wasn't poured over the side.
"Hello my name is 18th century humanity - and I'm an alcoholic."
The only way to be in the 18th century.
Way worse now.
@@FMykal lmao everyone, including children, were almost always drunk before the 20th century. Alcoholic drinks were just the safest to drink health wise.
@@davevaderlp784 Beer would be the best option then. Would be probably better even today instead of drinking Cola and other Sodas all day.
You say that like it’s a bad thing. Look at all the great works through history made by people imbibing alcohol. Like the pyramids, aqueducts, and America up until prohibition.
Did a little digging and it was right around 1770s that the evaporators were appearing that could produce fresh water. It still took a century before they were standard on naval vessels.
If I had to smell feces and BO 24/7, and couldn’t drink the water, I would be hammered 24/7, too.
Was there a concept of body odor before deodorant was marketed as a solution for it
@@chairmanm3ow same reason why nobody smells zombies in movies even when they are near and literally decaying. Everything smells bad and you gotta get used to it.
That's why I don't remember college....
@@chairmanm3ow I think you answered your own question. No one would have thought of making a solution if it wasn’t a concept before hand
@@chairmanm3ow also I believe in ancient Egypt women wore globs of scented wax that would drip wax over them to cover bodily odor. And that took place way before deodorant
I have found myself frequently looking for happier things to listen to/watch. It seems like most recent/modern media is very unhappy and violent. This series 100% is what I'm looking for. You've got a genuine, sweet person teaching us his passion! And he's very kind and thoughtful about it.
Keep on doing the good work, Mr. Townsend!
I find How To Cake It very relaxing as well.
Amen.
Here !Here! I'll toast to that 🍻
In swedish the word "grogg" is used meaning a 2 part drink, jack and coke or gin and tonic for example :)
Det stämmer! Pröva rom och påskmust om du inte redan gjort det, höjdare!
Gin and juice
Garlic butter and vodka
No one cares, John.
Yeah now, in the 18th century it obviously had a different meaning.
I honestly love grog. One of my favorite drinks at home. So simple to make and it's a good sipper. Mine is
2 shots 137 proff rum, 5 shots cold water, 2 large ice cubes for more water. A shot of lemon lime juice
And a shot of concentrated green tea
I came to the comments to find a recipe thanks man lol
@@raidenmckay2604 hey some advise. Get some rum of choice. But get a high proof like thr 137 I mentioned before. Or anything over 50%,. Now get a Mason jar. And some green tea leaves. Fill the jar like halfway with rum. Now get an assortment of fruit, I like a citrus mix, a lemon, a lime, a grapefruit, and an orange. Slice those up into thin thin slices and put them into the rum with the skins attached. Then add in 2-4 teabags of preference. I like 2 green tea and 2 oolong, and sometimes il even toss in a hibiscus herbal teabag. Add any spices you want. I'd recommend a tad bit of cinnamon, and the smallest bit of allspice and nutmeg. And maybe even a dash of vanilla extract if the rum isn't already flavored. Let this all sit in your fridge in the coldest part for like 3 days. This lets all the oils in the fruit skins be absorbed but it stays too cold for some of the more gross compounds to absorb.
Strain it through a coffee filter and really really squeeze every last drop of liquid from the fruits and spices. Your rum if it was white should look close to a spiced rum now but with more of a yellow cloudy tint from all the juice. Take a taste to see if you like it or if it needs a bit more flavor or if it needs to he diluted. It's delicious at least to me. Then I just add an equal amount of ice cold water to rum and shake with ice.
An 80-something friend (RIP) who joined the Canadian Navy as a young man related that a daily ration of rum was still given out following tradition just a few decades ago. A group of sailors would put their rations in one big cup and give it to one sailor who got completely wasted and went to sleep it off somewhere. They each had a weekly turn. He said it was a good thing the Canadian Navy gave up this practice in the 70s or he would have had cirrhosis of the liver.
For "historical accuracy" PUSSER'S RUM was the "official" rum of the Royal Navy until they discontinued the tradition in 1970. It can still be purchased commercially. It is distilled in Guyana and Trinidad.
At least that's the tale Pusser's marketing likes to tell. The original navy rum was sourced from multiple colonial states (Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados), and then blended as a sort of symbolic statement.
@@Kamamura2 An American corporation apparently bought the rights to PUSSER'S and continue to distill the rum commercially, as per their marketing. Line from an old Western movie:"When the legend becomes fact-print the legend".
I highly recommend the Pusser’s Black Powder Proof Rum
Pisser's is great rum, but nothing beats nights in Key West with a neat glass of Pilar..
@@Frank-mm2yp Pusser's rum was originally the legitimate recipe that a company bought the rights for after Black Tot Day. They've since changed one of the islands they get the rum from, but myself and my rum expert friends haven't noticed any taste difference.
Just once I want to see him spit something out and say, “That’s disgusting!”
Parched corn.
There was an episode where talked about some recipes he'd never try, such as some pickled fish. There have been a couple foods i've seen he didnt try and he admitted he didnt like coffee.
the coffee and eggs one he hated
Check out the stewed crab one 🤢
I think he test cooks a lot of these recipes before making videos about them but there are some where he's less enthusiastic about recreating them & it's obvious from his expressions.
Canadian Navy was still giving out rum rations until 1972 :)
My dad was in the 1991 Gulf War - Sgt Major, I was 12 remember mum cleaning Shampoo bottles in the Kitchen sink then filling the bottle with Navy Rum sealing it and sending it in a package of soap etc. Somethings don't change.
Nothing ever got x rayed ?
@@guymorris1963 a friend shipped me Barretta 9mm steel magazines and booz when I was in Afghanistan. I was in the German army and he shipped from Germany to our base. No Paket was controlled by someone
These are awesome. The worst I ever did was get a box of flavored chocolates w/o realizing they were filled liquors. My husband said they had the best Christmas down range.
@@guymorris1963 X-Ray soldiers welfare packages? You on crack...No and even if you did how will an x-ray tell you what liquid is inside a vessel? He wasn't in prison she wasn't smuggling files in cakes FFS!
10 out of 10 for your mum, hope your dad made it home safe.
"I'm a grog-swilling, foul-smelling pirate and I’m selling these fine leather jackets.”
nothing more relevant than a movie quote dreamt up by some 20 yo jew in a boardroom
I scrolled through the comments until I found a Monkey Island reference.
Stan's the man
Do you have one in size 3? Of course you don't! Because you're not
really a jacket salesman!
Hey! That's my line!
Dammit Mr Townsend I want the full sailor experience and watch you get slammed on this channel..................
You know for historical accuracy
I think that would be alot of fun to see. You know, historical accuracy/first hand experience... Please do this lol
Are you at all picturing a livestream that goes on too long for John's good, and Mrs. Townsend eventually has to come in and switch the equipment off and throw a blanket over him?
Because if so, yes, I would stay up on a worknight to watch that.
@A Handsome Fella I'm sure OP meant drunk. It didn't read right at all.
Um, uh, PHRASING dude?!
I second that motion
Here in Australia, interestingly, 'grog' is the common slang for any alcohol to this day
Yep- my Nan (RiP) told me stories about when she was younger, & how ‘ladies’ weren’t meant to drink beer neat at a pub, it was automatically given to women as a shandy, instead- like a mix of beer & lemonade/ lemon squash.
And, unless you were ‘a certain kind of woman’- you only drank shandy or sherry in public, if it wasn’t wine with dinner.
I’d be so screwed- I’m a spirits girl....
This is so funny, here in Brazil, we too have a common slang for any alcohol, but we call ig "grogue", and this slang can sometimes be used to define some one is drunk.
Same with some here in the uk
Your show is a great escape from , well, everything else on CZcams.
BUT WHY IS THE RUM GONE?!?!?
LOOOL!!!.....
Why is the rum always gone
Your name's a TRIP!😅
KEEP ELIZABETH AWAY FROM THE RUM!!
Rums gone too
I have to correct you about something John Townsend which is very unusual. Particularly in the early Seventeen hundreds it would actually have been common for ships sailing out of Europe regardless of nationality to swing by Seville Spain and buy as much as they could carry of bitter Seville oranges. Limes don't catch on till almost the middle of the 1700 by which time sweet oranges have also been crossbred and are preferred on many ships particularly among Merchants.
Limes get preferred by the British Navy principally because they don't go bad quite as quickly and for the fact that technically they can be dried if you really must and still thrown into the grog left to soak for a day and would still provide a decent amount of vitamin C. This preference for limes above all things is why British Sailors got called Limeys.
Particularly in what would become the Southern United States sweet oranges really took off especially once they began being grown in Florida.
The British knowledge of how to dry Seville oranges with cloves also proved true of sweet oranges and is a great contributor to what we now consider Christmas flavors. Especially with in mulled wine.
An overabundance of oranges after all wouldn't make for very good cider. So Housewives and Farmers wives alike had to figure out how to preserve this stuff. While the tradition of making marmalade was already well rooted into the colonies that would become the United States. Dried oranges which could last for much longer were popular in New England where the winters could get rather nasty. the ability to preserve oranges much longer in their dried state was of great benefit to preventing people on land from getting scurvy from nutrient deficiency in winter.
Underrated comment. I'll take your comment as fact
How did the English dry oranges with cloves?
There was also pine nettle tea. Tastes vile, but it is rich in Vitamin C and was used to treat/prevent scurvy by Native American populations long before we arrived. We also incorporated it, and quickly adopted citrus fruits the moment we could.
@@jgkitarel love how taste is subjective. I enjoy a nice hot mug of pine needle tea while out in the bush lol
"Where does Grog come from?" The Orcs... duh
I really thought grog was a LoTR Uruk drink, never happen to me that it could be a real thing.
Grog is a Goliath, actually
Vox Machina
I thought orcs drank draught.
@@alysonkiszewski5032 According to an obscure manuscript discovered from Tolkien's personal papers, orcs preferred to drink Smirnoff Ice, grape flavor.
I realized as I was watching this that I had all the ingredients to make it, including the copper mug. So now I'm drinking grog with lime.
How was it Flint?
@@valandes1861 Refreshing. The alcohol was diluted enough, I could see it being a nice drink to sip on during a warm summer evening.
His mug appears to be nickel lined, pure copper cups are a little more difficult to find because there are some vague concerns about health risks when copper comes into food or drinks with a ph below 6.0
@@omeganova4332 Mine is lined too. The outside is oxidized and very aged looking, but the interior is a shiny chrome color. So I always feel cool using it haha
@@FlintSparkedStudios I do love the look of copper, and it really does insulate like nothing else
Production value continues to impress!
Grogg is wildly used in the Swedish language for a spirit mixed with another drink. I never knew this word came from the british fleet, very interesting! Thanks for sharing!
What a good happy guy. His story telling of old times catches ones attention, and brilliantly so!
American Revolution:
Gen. Washington: "We fight for our independence! Come on, men!"
Men: "Ain't be no fighting without the sweet rum''
Give me booze or give me death
And in the more rural parts, hard alcohol (whisky specifically) was used as currency since the US dollar at the time was not stable, possibly not good value depending at the time and place. Also doesn't help that before the US Constitution when the Articles of Confederation was still used, the US Federal Gov. had serious problems of funding the Continental Army and Navy since they had to ask the states for funding (by state taxes) which the states didn't do.
Sam Adams: "Patriots drink my fookin' beer!"
It's all for me grog, me jolly jolly grog, it's all for the beer and tobacco!
The daily rum ration in those days was staggering. Admiral Vernon's 'daily tot' helped alleviate all out drunkenness to some extent. He unwittingly improved the health of his crew due to the lime and sugar rations that was allotted with the daily tot. The lime would later be found out to help prevent scurvy that ravaged sailors at the time.
From 1665 the initial ration was a full pint per day served in 2 halves, one at midday the other at early evening, around 5pm 😊
Right, listen up: If you have ale, then you have a friend in Grog Strongjaw.
Is it Thursday yet?
@@Jeremycook_ Don't worry, it's almost Thursday! (YAY NEW CRIT ROLE!)
A goliath of towering height
@@aramislima902 I love how sometimes, Travis just goes full Grog in Campaign 1 (like when he couldn't remember the word subtraction and called it reverse math)
easily the brains of the group.
"I would like...to RAGE!!"
-Grog, Vox Machina
These are the comments I clicked on the vid for
Bidet.
I was gonna comment that. Lol
This is a comfortable little niche I find myself in here. Thank you for providing it.
Well, let's not forget Yasha now either!
As a kid my dad always gave me a half a cup of rum whenever I was feeling under the weather. Let’s just say that as I got older I got really good at pretending to be sick.
I had BlackBerry brandy toddies.
@Jordan. I sympathize with your ailment.
I have a memory of my maiden Great Aunt, who was born in 1883, sneaking into the liquor store to buy some bourbon to make me some cough mix of 1 part each bourbon, lemon, and honey when I had a terrible cold.
(She didn't want anyone from church to see her buying liquor )
That felt like love to me. She was over 100 when she died.
@@katmandudawn8417 was she a Baptist? That sounds like my baptist family haha
@@casimirpiast6516 No, she was Episcopalian but born in a time when southern ladies didn't drink. She also had been a teacher, who taught all the early extension agents in North Carolina, so drinking would have been a career killer for a woman.
Now Episcopalians are often know as Whiskeypalians because when 2 or 3 are gathered together there is usually a fifth. 😉
This is one of my favourite Townsends episodes! It could've been just:
"Today we make grog - It is one part rum, four parts water. I want to thank you for watching as we savour the flavours and the aromas... of the 18th century!"
...but you made it an 8 minute video full of interesting, relevant information. All important parts of the history of grog without sidetracking too much. You're a very good storyteller!
The last Royal Navy rum ration was handed out on 31st July 1970, there after known as "Black tot day".......
"groggy" - too much grog 🙂
Or to little ?
Groggy.. So that's what that means. I always used that word to describe how I felt the morning after too much drinking.
"Sick is he? Give him some medicine boys"
Looks like meat's back on our menu boys!
"Just a little bite!"
Thank you for being an escape from the daily problems of my life, you're historical information and demonstrations are second to none and everything that I could hope for in a podcast on CZcams
In the Army we had a Grog ceremony at every annual event, to cheers to the fallen.
FUN FACT: in Brazilian Portugues there is this informal word, "grogue" (pronounced "grog"), which means "drunk"/"tipsy"/"dizzy"
I do believe it has some connection to the English word =)
In North America, groggy is another word that can mean drunk / tipsy /dizzy, no doubt from the same origin
In Spanish as well. But used as well when you are very very sleepy.
In sweden the word grogg is used for cocktails. And groggy is used to describe dizzyness.
A Gentleman - I’m American, here, and we have the same just woke up but still feeling tired meaning, too. I assume it’s a term derived from 18th c. to describe the feeling of being hung over, as a sailor might feel after a night of drinking too much grog. Only now, the connotation has evolved to be more innocent to just mean still tired in the morning.
In Canada, groggy is used to describe a foul smell or a White woman dating a black guy.
North-German recipe for Grog:
"Rum mut, Zucker kann, Water bruuk nich". (Rum is a must, sugar is optional, water is not really necessary)
But I need all of those ingredients. My Papa often mixes me a Grog when I'm having a cold. I love my Grog piping hot and sweet as sin 😅
Your Papa sounds wise and caring.
You know, they also used to have this other saying as well, it goes:
Du. Du hast. Du hast mich. (synthesizer riff)
Ask him to make me a glass 🍻
Wassa
Not my parents but my grandparents consume grog with big amounts of honey instead of sugar and with alot of lemon juice when they are cold. Paired with resting in a warm bed It is quite effective against the common cold.
This channel is simply amazing. Well done, John.
I need to request rum alongside my paychecks from my employer, only solace in life afterall 😂
When I was deployed in the Middle East during the 90s, we had non alcoholic Lowenbrau beer.
I was drinking lies!
And then along came Haji with his "3 Kings".
We noticed the Brits were getting a LOT of 'shampoo'. Never did prove anything, but the Chief in supply sure seemed very happy.
@@dadillen5902 that would have been ashore then, aboard they only had to pop into the Mess while off duty 😁
So this is humanity's secret of success: getting boozed up legally.
Pretty much. lmao
Y'know those really successful people in history? They were super determined, and they were on drugs.
Hey John, love your videos. Thank you for all you do on behalf of history preservation! It's so important. You do excellent work!!
Love your passion and delivery every time. Fun and fascinating! Kudos to the editor for the lovely work moving parts of the paintings. Really nicely done! This is a polished and well thought out channel.
This has become one of my favorite channels
Can’t unsee: the grog barrel never stops dripping, lol. “Who’s been sneakin’ the grog?!”
Some say the keg is still dripping to this day...
Seriously tho it was straight up pouring out from that spot when he used the tap.
It's just a looping animated gif. It was designed to never stop dripping. Graphic designer God loves you. Trust in Him.
It's dripping because the barrel is made of unseasoned, unsealed wood. The wood needs to be allowed to rest and conform over several years to its new shape, then be oiled and sealed on the interior with resin or tar. Otherwise it will forever leak like this one and be useless except perhaps to briefly store nuts or other large granules.
@@manicmusketry6570 "years"?!
ain't nobody got time for that
I like how you are almost always smiling.
You obviously like to talk about these things and it makes the video way better for it.
Thank you!
I remember reading a book where all the sailors were required to drink their rum rations, but they weren't allowed to be intoxicated. It was a conundrum for the ship boys as they couldn't do both, although eventually they traded it to the cook for food
In Australia ‘grog’ is slang for alcohol, usually referring to spirits or liquor rather than wine or beer but it’s still used today, probably as we’re a convict country that was built on the stuff 🤣
Can you use it in a sentence, as you'd hear it in conversation? In the States it's not a very common term.
@@otm646 on the grog/out of grog/get more grog. Very common here. Get it up ya!
Imagine the fun of all of those convicts headed to Australia drinking grog the whole time as part of their rations.
@@otm646 When i lived there, "On the grog" was the popular usage.
Where is Peter"?
He is around Freds, they're on the grog
Or
Peter You look crook.
Yeah, Me and Fred got on the grog last night.
Grog also refers to beer as well. Mainly any western/anglo abased alcoholic drink.
(Yeah, i know beer is a universal beverage.)
that's funny, in brazilian portuguese, being "grogue" is like a term for being drunk
5:38 seems like your barrel is leaking!
oh no! its true
3:32 well not quite. Making water lightly alcoholic inhibits microbial growth, it does not sterilize it. You can't make dirty water safe by adding a bit of rum, but you can keep clean water safe for longer by doing so
Warm grog with a wedge of orange is a perfect drink out on a cold boat
𝅘𝅥𝅮 Well, it's all for me grog, me jolly jolly grog,
It's all for me beer and tobacco.
For I spent all me tin on the lassies drinking gin,
Far across the western ocean I must wander.𝅘𝅥𝅮
Captain: "Gunners! Fire upon that ship!"
Gunners: *Slurring drunkenly* "W-which one?"
The middle one.
Put yer eye patch down!
All of them!
That's why the Rum Closet was the most secure room on the ship with the Captain having the only key, and the punishment for breaking into the Rum Closet or stealing another crewmans Grog was so severe.
You joke, but it wasn't uncommon to distribute an extra ration of rum before a battle to "settle the men's nerves" at that point you are thoroughly sozzled.
Love your channel! Thank you for all that you do!
I love these informative videos! Thank you!
I can't help but be distracted by the keg dripping on the floor.
Trogdor see I didn’t see that until you mentioned it. Now my OCD is flared up lol
We will never get to see the B roll ... John gets smashed, dancing on the table wanting everyone to call him Laverne!
What we are seeing is the morning of the fourth day of filming.
"Jus un more take 'hic!'"
"Doctors is all swabs, Jim...Gemme' Rum"!...Long John Silver
That was Captain Billy Bones. He had a stroke and was told "no rum for you" essentially, so when jim started to protest that Dr. Livesey had said not to drink rum, the captain cut him off with, "Docters is all swabs!" I love Treasure Island, and I'm glad others read it too.
During the pandemic I have made Grog with what was left of a bottle of vodka I bought lemon and lime juice from my local dollar tree and I bought canned fruit be it pineapple, fruit cocktail, pears, or even oranges the fruit was always packed in syrup with water.
So I would eat the fruit and pour the syrup and fruit juices in a bottle and refrigerated it and pour a shot of vodka, and the syrup juice mixture and than add lemon or lime juice and a little bit of tap water.
The vodka could still be tasted but it made for a satisfying before bed cocktail that helped me sleep comfortably.
I also will take the cinnamon sugar that I have and add some to a shot of ice cold whiskey to make my own version of the fireball whiskey sold at the liquor store.
But I learned about grog during the pandemic and made my own variety and it was flavorful and medicinal at least to me and I didn’t drink up my booze too quick
I am the grog, Randy.
Groomed Sweetie Captain Lahey, what happened to all the grog rations?!
Grog is a popular drink in germany, during the winter time.
but it's usually served hot, not cold.
I am so glad I found this channel!!
This reminded me of an episode from a show called Bar Rescue where a guy would go into failing bar's and try to make them successful. He went to a pirate bar and their main drink was Grog and customers hated it but the owner and her staff loved it. Needless to say their bar eventually failed and closed.
Honestly that strikes me as kind of sad... you can't run a business simply doing what you want if it doesn't provide a desirable service, maybe they should have left the grog for the off hours, or developed a "company blend" based off customer feedback and left their mix as the "house blend," and advertise it as "devilishly authentic" or something to warn that it'll burn the hairs out yer nostrils. But I can't blame them for trying, and standing behind it.
Pah! We all know the true recipe for Grog(TM)!
A secret mixture that contains one or more of the following:
- Kerosene
- Propylene Glycol
- Artificial Sweeteners
- Sulfuric Acid
- Rum
- Acetone
- Battery Acid
- red dye#2
- SCUMM
- Axle grease and/or pepperoni
At least that's the recipe for Mêlée Island Grog. ;)
Battery accid, must be why the cups won't last.
I approve of this recipe.
“why is the rum always gone?” - Jack sparrow
-gets up- oh thats why
Captain. Captain Jack Sparrow.
He stole that line from Mr. Allnut..... ;)
A guy I served with in the Royal Navy told me his Grandad who also served but during World War 2 told him they were just constantly drunk onboard. That’s how most got through the terrifying battles.
These little vignettes are great - love this stuff!
Wow, I always thought Grog was a euphemism for alcohol, not that it was an actual drink! Whenever pirates in kids shows would talk about drinking, they would never say beer or rum, but grog. Interesting.
Rum was part of the so-called "triangle trade". Or at least molasses was.
Hopefully they put more than just a small squeeze of lime in their grog as this was needed to prevent scurvy.
they had separate limejuice rations
@@trequor They did, but the sailors would famously refuse to take them, so mixing it in to the grog was common to make it hard to avoid.
I love how i learn more about history from you than highschool history class.
my high school history was a joke, really heavily political (they taught parts of history that were important to our local governments political bias) so channels like this are a godsend
North German coastal areas we all still enjoy a warm Grog in winters under the very same name!
My fraternity is a military fraternity, meaning we were founded at a military academy and many of our traditions were military-esque traditions. One of those was an activity we held with grog, and even though we had to stop making it alcoholic, it was one of people's favorite traditions. Super cool to learn the history behind it.