Strength versus Style. The Ministry versus the Spirit. The sourced and the reacted. Ed versus Brian. Hamilton Navy Strength versus Lost Spirits Navy Style. There will be cocktails too!

First, what is Navy Rum? It is a term that is thrown about quite a bit. Smith and Cross bills itself as “Navy Strength.” Pusser's has a fleet of nautical themed names. The UK boasts an armada of "Navy Style" brands. These rums tend to are darker in color and (try to) have a rich, deep body and palate. They should be overproof with an ABV above 54%. The Navy’s official recipe is licensed by Pusser’s and is marketed as “the same Admiralty blend of five West Indian rums as issued on board British warships.” Five rums! Navy Rums are typically blends as well. Finally, Navy and Rum can only go together with the British Navy and the former Caribbean colonies.

The Kapu working definition of a Navy Rum is: a blend of molasses-based rums bottled at a minimum of 57% ABV, dark in color with a deep flavor profile that traditionally is sourced from more than one of Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad, and/or Jamaica.

By this definition, Smith and Cross is not a Navy Rum - single island. But OFTD would be be included. These are the hard choices of the rum community. This style would typically fall into the Smuggler's Cove Category Black Blended Overproof (6). The Gargano/Seale system would group these rums with twice-used bath water, I think.

Hamilton Navy Strength counts under Kapu definition. Lost Spirits does not but an Ecumenical exception will be granted due to the nature of the reactor process. It helps that the symbol of Ecumenism is a boat afloat on the sea of the world. Poetry writes itself.