Army & Navy Cocktail

The Army & Navy cocktail is a drink built with dry gin, orgeat syrup, lemon juice, and angostura bitters!

Army & Navy Cocktail Info

Some believe that the Army & Navy cocktail was created to honor the centuries-old football game between the United States military and the naval academies. This bright and nuanced mix of gin, lemon juice, and orgeat is a classic, and like many cocktails, there's a semi vague story behind it. It is said to have been created or at least popularized at Washington, D.C.-based The Army and Navy Club, an officers' club that served the Daiquiri for the first time in the U.S. However, the club does not provide any details about the origins of the Army & Navy.

Noone fully knows where it was invented, but the Army & Navy cocktail was first documented in David Embury's 1948 book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. Embury did not recommend the recipe as it was written. One part lemon juice, one portion orgeat, and two parts gin. He wrote, "I have given you the original recipe, which I think is terrible." Embury suggested a more boozy drink using his 1:2.8 recipe (one part sweetener, two parts sour, eight parts base). This version is more balanced, with less orgeat than the original; the new recipe also calls for aromatic bitters to create a perfect mix of sweet, tart, and boozy.

This cocktail has a creamy, sweet almond syrup, its secret weapon. This opaque, lightly floral syrup first appeared in cocktails in 1921. By the 1940s, it was a crucial ingredient in many Tiki drinks. It lends its almond-tinged nuttiness and sweetness to classics like the Mai Tai or the Saturn. It is truly a fantastic sweetener for a lot of drinks.

Orgeat can be made or bought, just make sure you get premium orgeat if you decide to buy it.