Dark And Stormy
Dark and Stormy is truly one of my favorite cocktails, but I am a sucker for rum in its natural state as well. A great dark and stormy is like Italian cooking, combine great ingredients in the right proportions and create something magical, but it is also adventurous. If you deliver anything other than your best and there is nowhere to hide either. The original dark and stormy would have been just Dark Rum and Ginger Beer but I prefer the addition of lime juice to give some acid to balance the sugary nature of the drink. You will almost always see this in a tumbler but if you do not have the nice solid one inch ice cubes, I prefer this in an old fashioned glass with one large cube or a sphere to keep the proportions stable.
Ingredients
2 oz Dark Rum (My preference is for Gosling’s Black Seal or El Dorado 5 year)
3 oz Ginger Beer
1/4 oz lime juice
Garnish
Lime wedge
Glassware
Tumbler or Old Fashioned glass
Assembly
Place Ice in glass. Measure rum and lime juice. Pour in Ginger Beer in glass and then top with rum and lime juice. Give it one quick stir to combine.
Suggestions
If you can find a fresh made ginger beer with a real spicy heat you will never never be disappointed. If you do find yourself in the Carolina’s make this recipe with Blenheim’s Red Cap Hot ginger ale. It is a truly great soda and makes great Moscow Mules and Dark and Stormy’s.
Ginger Ale Vs. Ginger Beer
Quite simply they are the same. Most people these days that are marketing themselves as a ginger beer are producing spicier, more flavorful drinks. Rewind the clock and all ginger beers and root beers were alcoholic, and there are some alcoholic Ginger Beers on the market like Crabbie’s from Australia. Experiment with your own recipe. With soda streams and similar carbonating devices on the market, it has never been easier to make your own sodas or ginger ales. I would be remiss if I did not also include the Gosling’s Stormy Ginger Beer as an option as Gosling’s does own the trademark on the name Dark ‘n Stormy®.