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 British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon introduced into the Royal Navy on 21 August 1740. Vernon wore a coat of grogram cloth and was nicknamed Old Grogram or Old Grog. 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 bumbo 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 (in Sweden the mixture is usually between 25%-50% spirit and 75%-50% softdrink), but by mixing various kinds of alcohol and soda, fruit juice or similar ingredients (in the USA this would be 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, cognac or eau de vie) and one kind of a non-alcoholic beverage. Grosshandlargrogg (Wholesaler grogg) refers to a mix of Eau de vie and Trocadero (a caffeinated apple- and orange flavored soft drink) .

In Fiji, the term "grog" refers to a drink made by pounding sun-dried kava root into a fine powder and mixing it with cold water. Traditionally, grog is drunk from the shorn half-shell of a coconut, called a "bilo."

Grog has also been used as a metaphoric term for a person's vices, as in the old Irish song "All for Me Grog".