Grog Blog

In a moment of sly subversive humor, CBC Radio announced the "sobering news" that consumption of alcoholic beverages aboard Royal Canadian Navy vessels would no longer be tolerated.  This means no more twice-daily tots of grog, a tradition reaching back to 1756, when the ration was put in place in the Royal Navy.

The initial half-pint (one restorative drink at noon, another at the end of the day) was a mixture of weak beer, lemon or lime juice, rum, and water. It was introduced to seamen under the Union Jack by Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon, and it is from this illustrious mariner that the drink took its name. Vernon, always attired in a grogram cloth coat, was dubbed Old Grog; thus, the drink became grog.

That liquor should be banned on RCN ships doesn't seem to us the sort of command that would be issued by the Old Salts of the service. We suspect the directive came from the seriously sober inhabitants of 24 Sussex Drive, where the only kick in the Yuletide punch comes from an extra spoonful of Sweet 'n' Low.

So our sympathy to Popeye and his pals. Meanwhile, we landlubbers will rase our glasses, and say, "Here's to you, Old Grog!"