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Navy Strength Old Fashioned

An unexpected spirit combo anchors the house cocktail at Queen Mary Tavern in Chicago.

The Navy Strength Old Fashioned is the cornerstone of the cocktail menu at Queen Mary Tavern in Chicago. “It’s simple, elegant, strong, and a bit counterintuitive, but it’s delicious,” says general manager Dan Smith. Despite the unusual combo of gin and rum, “it’s nothing but a classic Old Fashioned [in format], though we do add one more minor touch: a tiny bit of salt, in the form of saline solution, not enough to make the cocktail salty—just enough to make all the ingredients taste more. So it’s a nice balance of the familiar with the strange.”

Ingredients

  • 1 oz. Jamaican rum (Smith uses Smith & Cross)
  • 1 oz. Navy-strength gin (Smith recommends Hayman's Royal Dock or Plymouth Navy Strength)
  • 1/8 oz. rich demerara syrup (2:1)
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 1 light dash saline solution (150g salt : 850g water, blended in a blender until dissolved
  • Tools:barspoon, strainer
  • Glass:double rocks
  • Garnish:orange peel

Preparation

Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir to chill. Strain into a double rocks glass over one large ice cube. Express an orange peel over the top of the drink and use as a garnish.

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