Drinks

Army And Navy

Army & Navy.

This is a gin sour sweetened with orgeat, which is unfortunately offered far too rarely. We think that should be changed.

60 ml Royal Dock navy strength gin
25 ml lemon juice
15 ml Meneau orgeat

Preparation: Shaken.

The Army & Navy is basically nothing more than a gin sour in which the sugar syrup is replaced by orgeat.

The oldest recipe of this name that we could find dates back to 1930 in an American book, “The Drinks of Yesteryear” by Jere Sullivan. There, however, it is a rum sour with a little grenadine.

The first combination of gin, lemon juice and orgeat appears in 1933, in George Lurie’s “Here’s How”, with the name “Japanese No. 2”. The orgeat and also the name is a reference to the Japanese Cocktail. However, this variant uses too little lemon juice to be a sour, and is thus not an “Army & Navy” despite the same ingredients. “Peychaud’s Orgeat” from 1935 comes closer to it, but also contains Peychaud’s Bitter. In 1937, “Army And Navy” was published by R. de Fleury, but here, too, it is something else – a combination of gin, lemon juice, vermouth and bitters.

David Wondrich notes that G. Selmer Fougner, a columnist for the New York Sun, reported on the Army & Navy in 1934. This was said to be an invention of New York advertising man Caroll Van Ark, who had submitted his recipe stating: »An inexpensive drink, but it tastes like a million.« [6] In 1945, this version appears again. In “300 Ways to Mix Drinks” by R. M. Barrows and Betty Stone.  In “300 Ways to Mix Drinks” by R. M. Barrows and Betty Stone. There, an Army & Navy is prepared from equal parts gin, orgeat and lemon juice. The book was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the recipe was then taken up by David A. Embury in 1953, with double the proportion of gin. It is surprising that the Army & Navy, or rather a gin sour with orgeat, has been quite rarely published altogether, for it is extraordinarily delicious.

Where it got its name from can only be speculated. Presumably it was named after an “Army and Navy Club”. In Washington D.C., the “United Service Club” was founded in 1885 and renamed “The Army and Navy Club” in 1891. [5] It is said that this club gave the name to the drink because the daiquiri played an important role there. A dubious argument, since both mixed drinks, the Daiquiri and the Army & Navy, have no ingredient in common. The only thing they have in common is that both are a sour. [1] However, there has also been an “Army and Navy Club” in London since 1837, which was ranked among the best clubs in the world. [2-244] [4] Likewise, there was an “Army and Navy Club” in San Francisco. [3] The truth will probably not be found out.

Sources
  1. https://www.portobelloroadgin.com/news/army-and-navy/?age-verified=cead40f736: Navy Strength Serves: Army and Navy Cocktail. 2. September 2018.
  2. https://archive.org/details/londonclubstheir00nevi/page/244/mode/2up: Ralph Nevill: London clubs. Their history & treasures. New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company, (1911).
  3. https://www.navyhistory.org/2016/06/chow-the-navy-daiquiri/: Chow: The (Navy) Daiquiri. Vom 30. Juni 2016.
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_and_Navy_Club: Army and Navy Club.
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_and_Navy_Club_(Washington,_D.C.): Army and Navy Club (Washington, D.C.).
  6. https://www.thedailybeast.com/answering-your-toughest-cocktails-and-spirits-questions David Wondrich: Answering Your Toughest Cocktails & Spirits Questions. 19. Juni 2017.
Army & Navy.
Army & Navy.

Historical recipes

1930 Jere Sullivan: The Drinks of Yesteryear. Seite 15. Army & Navy.

For Army Generals 1/3 Bacardi Rum
and Navy Admirals. Dash of Grenadine
. Juice of half of lime
. A little sugar
. Shake and strain into cocktail glass.

1930 Jere Sullivan: The Drinks of Yesteryear. Seite 40. Army and Navy [Punch].

Every day in Use mixing glass with ice; a good dash
Washington. of Grenadine Syrup; juice of whole lime;
. add a little water; mix well together with
. spoon; a drink of Bacardi Rum; stir
. again and strain into stem punch glass;
. and garnish with fruit.

1933 George Lurie: Here’s How. Seite 45. Japanese, No. 2.

Gin . . . . . . . . . . . 2/3 jigger Orgeat . . . . . . . . 1/6 jigger
. Lemon . . . . . . . . . 1 spoon
Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass and
serve.

1934 William T. Boothby: „Cocktail Bill“ Boothby’s World Drinks. Seite 94. Japanese, No. 2.

Gin . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/3 jigger Orgeat . . . . . . . . . 1/6 jigger
. Lemon . . . . . . 1 spoon
Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass and serve.

1935 Anonymus: Cocktail Memoirs of Fresco Lime. Seite 13. Orgeat Delight.

1/2 Jigger Nuyens Sirop d’Orgeat
1/2 Jigger Burnetts White Satin Gin
Juice of 1/2 Fresco lime
Cracked ice — shake well

1935 John Held: Peychaud’s New Orleans Cocktails. Peychaud’s Orgeat.

2 Dashes Peychaud’s Bitters.
1/2 Ounce Lemon Juice.
1/2 Ounce Orgeat.
1 Ounce Dry Gin.
Shake well in Ice. Serve in cocktail
glass.

1937 R. de Fleury: 1800 – And All That. Seite 29. Army And Navy.

1/2 Hiram Walker’s Dry
Gin
1/4 Lemon Juice
1/4 French Vermouth
1 Dash Orange Bitters
Shake.

1937 Salvador Trullos Mateu: Recetario internacional de cock-tails. Seite 80. Army And Navy Cock-Tail.

Media parte ginebra BOOTH’S.
Cuarta parte de jugo de limón.
Cuarta parte vermouth CAZALIS &
PRATS.
Una gota de orange bitters. Bátase.

1945 R. M. Barrows & Betty Stone: 300 Ways to Mix Drinks. Seite 5. Army and Navy Cocktail.

1/4 Lemon Juice
1/4 Orgeat
1/4 Dry Gin
Shake well with ice end strain.

1948 Trader Vic: Bartender’s Guide. Seite 142. Japanese Cocktail.

1 oz. dry gin 1/4 oz. orgeat
. 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
Shake with cracked ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass.

1953 David A. Embury: The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. Seite 224. Army & Navy.

1 part Lemon Juice
1 part Orgeat
2 parts Gin
I have given the original recipe which, to my mind, is horrible. If made
to my 1:2:8 formula, it is merely the Gin Sour (page 126) with orgeat
used in place of sugar syrup.

1963 Luigi Veronelli: I cocktails. Seite 19. Army and Navy.

1/3 dry gin
1/3 succo di limone
1/3 sciroppo d’orzata

1963 Luigi Veronelli: I cocktails. Seite 70. Army and Navy Cocktail.

1 bicchiere e 1/3 di dry gin
1/3 di bicchiere di succo di limone
2 cucchiai di sciroppo di orzata
ghiaccio a cubetti
Riempire lo shaker fino a 1/3 della sua altezza con ghiac-
cio. Aggiungere il succo di limone, il dry gin e lo sci-
roppo di orzata. Chiudere lo shaker, agitarlo vigorosa-
mente, lasciarlo riposare un secondo, e riprendere infine
ad agitarlo, ma più lentamente. Servire subito.

1973 Anonymus: 500 Ways to Mix Drinks. Seite 30. Army and Navy Cocktail.

1/4 lemon juice
1/4 orgeat
1/2 dry gin
Shake well with ice and strain
into cocktail glass.

2014 Tony Conigliaro: 69 Colebrooke Row. Seite 100. Army And Navy. 50 ml gin; 25 ml lemon juice; 15 ml orgeat syrup.

explicit capitulum
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About

Hi, I'm Armin and in my spare time I want to promote bar culture as a blogger, freelance journalist and Bildungstrinker (you want to know what the latter is? Then check out "About us"). My focus is on researching the history of mixed drinks. If I have ever left out a source you know of, and you think it should be considered, I look forward to hearing about it from you to learn something new. English is not my first language, but I hope that the translated texts are easy to understand. If there is any incomprehensibility, please let me know so that I can improve it.