Tag: NavyGrog

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Tiki-Ko and the Sinking Ship Room

One of the nice perks of the Central California Tiki marketplace was the location in the parking lot across the street from Tiki-Ko and the Sinking Ship Room. Two world-class tiki bars across the street from the marketplace, opening at 1 pm on a Saturday! Staff was just as friendly as in our past visits, a strength of the establishment.

Tiki-Ko is a smaller space with a large U-shaped bar and some booth and lounge seating on each side. Very much a traditional tiki bar, with exotica playing and featuring colorful lighting. This set-up lends itself to some interaction with the bartenders, depending on how busy it is, of course. Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed the Mary Ann cocktail (similar to a Tradewinds) and a delicious El Duderino with coffee liqueur and coconut cream. I had a pretty good Mai Tai but didn’t love the Navy Grog.

After an early dinner, we went back and hung out in the Sinking Ship Room, catching the last bit of the set from Par Avion. This space has a low ceiling and is elaborately decorated like the hull of a ship. Though there are a few stools by the bar, this space is really more of a lounge setup. You order at the bar and then the drinks are brought to your table. Music here is vintage 1920s, giving this a very different feel from Tiki-Ko upstairs. We both truly enjoyed the frozen Grasshopper (topped with a thin mint) and Mrs. Mai Tai liked the frozen Monkey’s Gone to Heaven cocktail featuring banana. I tried the Three Dots & a Dash which as very forward with a very grassy Agricole – not my favorite. I did enjoy the NA Saturn made with an alcohol-free Gin.

Though these two bars share essentially the same cocktail menu and staff, they’re really two different spaces (you have to exit the building to go to the other) and have different hours. Either one is amazing though, making Bakersfield a destination location for any tikiphile.

Mai Tai
Three Dots & a Dash
Tiki-Ko Interior
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Navy Grog at Kona Club

Popped into Kona Club and found that the service issues I’d experience before were not an issue this time. And the Navy Grog wasn’t bad at all. Still free poured and served with cubes and not crushed ice, but I did like this cocktail.

There is good energy here in the evenings.

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Dr. Funk Navy Grog

Unlike the Mai Tai which has a well-established canonical recipe, the Navy Grog does not. There’s the Don the Beachcomber version. There’s the Trader Vic’s version. There are versions that blend key ingredients from both. And then there are places that do something different. This is the Dr. Funk Navy Grog.

Still a heavy cocktail with lots of grapefruit and rum, but it does not lean into the traditional ingredients such as honey or pimento dram. Instead, Dr. Funk introduces a different set of spices including Grapefruit Bitters. It is worth trying and you might even prefer this recipe.

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Navy Grog Grapefruit Shootout

My previous White vs. Red Grapefruit juice comparison was with a classic cocktail served up, the Old Friend. In that taste test, I preferred the sweeter Red Grapefruit. But that was a cocktail without a lot of sweeteners.

Today’s comparison is with a tiki classic, the Navy Grog. And the recipe is our own Ultimate Navy Grog that blends the historical recipes from Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic, and includes our potent Ultimate Mai Tai rum blend as one of the base spirits. This recipes includes a full two ounces of sweeteners, counterbalancing 1½ ounces of citrus.

Ultimate Navy Grog
¾ oz Lime Juice
¾ oz Grapefruit Juice
1 oz Honey mix
½ oz Pimento Dram (Hamilton)
½ oz Vanilla Syrup (BG Reynolds)
1½ oz Ultimate Mai Tai Rum
1½ oz Demerara Rum (Hamilton 86)
Shake with crushed ice. After pouring into glass, top with 2 oz of Soda.

I made two Navy Grogs and found that the Red Grapefruit version felt thin on the tongue. Meanwhile, I found that the White Grapefruit introduced a noticeably heavier body to the cocktail, and this version simply tasted better overall. So, the White Grapefruit was the clear victor in this taste test.

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Navy Grog Stress Relief

Looked like I picked the wrong year to quit drinking booze. We are all very upset by the insurrection and attempted coup in WDC today.

This Navy Grog is for Mrs Mai Tai. I made my own too. Too early to drink. Too crazy not to.



I am disgusted by the traitors and deplorables. I urge law enforcement to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law – and also to look at the police that seemed to have a lax approach today. We all know how things would have been different had the skin color of the “protesters” had been different.

Here is the recipe if you want to numb the pain.

Ultimate Mai Tai Navy Grog
¾ oz Lime Juice
¾ oz Grapefruit Juice
1 oz Honey mix
½ oz Pimento Dram (Hamilton)
½ oz Vanilla Syrup (BG Reynolds)
1 ½ oz Ultimate Mai Tai Rum
1 ½ oz Demerara Rum (Lemon Hart)
Shake with crushed ice. After pouring into glass, top with 2 oz of Soda

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Secret Recipe Navy Grog

Last Navy Grog Experiment

After publishing my “definitive” Ultimate Mai Tai HQ Navy Grog recipe on Saturday, I received a note with another Navy Grog recipe from a tiki VIP. Like, very V.I.P.

I was pleased to see the recipe was similar to mine (which perhaps prompted the message), though it used different rums. I was sworn to secrecy, so I won’t be spilling the beans, but let’s just say that I was humbled by the peek behind the curtain.

So, this is the secret benefactor Navy Grog. And I must say it was pretty damn good. Like, really really good. Anyone would be lucky to get this served to them in a tiki bar that might or might not be near you.

Personally, I liked mine a little bit better, mostly because the rums are handpicked and tuned to my palette. Though, since I used a total of five different rums (all mid to top shelf) it wouldn’t be easy to use them in a commercial bar.

Playing around with the Navy Grog this week has been fun. Now off to the next tiki cocktail challenge.

Previous:

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Search for the Ultimate Navy Grog: Part 2

After trying the historical Navy Grog recipes from Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic, I tried a modern riff that included elements of both recipes (see: Search for the Ultimate Navy Grog: Part 1). This combo recipe was even better, but still wasn’t quite the heavy cocktails I was looking for in a Navy Grog. So, I set sail to make my own.

The historical recipes lean on a mix of rums, including some lighter ones. But I felt that the rum should be darker and heavier, so I turned to an old standby: my house Mai Tai Rum blend. This is a mix of rums largely from Jamaica and this blend has a higher ABV ratio as well.  I combined this rum with Lemon Hart, a mainstream Demerara rum. I also decided to go for the full three ounces of rum in the cocktail.

As a reminder, the Ultimate Mai Tai Rum mix is equal parts:

  • Appleton Estate Rare Blend Aged 12 Years (“Appleton 12”)
  • Smith & Cross Traditional Jamaica Rum
  • Plantation OFTD
  • Plantation Xaymaca

I really liked the soda in the modern riff, so I wanted to keep that in the recipe. But I also wanted a higher amount of honey and other sweeteners to balance the higher amount of rum. I decided to use an equal ratio of Pimento Dram and Vanilla Syrup, a combo historically known as Don’s Spices #2 from the Nui Nui.

Ultimate Mai Tai Navy Grog

¾ oz Lime Juice
¾ oz Grapefruit Juice
1 oz Honey mix
½ oz Pimento Dram (Hamilton)
½ oz Vanilla Syrup (BG Reynolds)
1 ½ oz Ultimate Mai Tai Rum
1 ½ oz Demerara Rum (Lemon Hart)
Shake with crushed ice. After pouring into glass, top with 2 oz of Soda.

I really liked this, and it definitely reminded me of the great Navy Grogs I had at the Kon-Tiki in Oakland. If you like your Navy Grogs thick and heavy, I think you’ll love this recipe.

Glassware and tiki mug by B-Rex

Further Adventures: