The Dark and Stormy has made its' way into the world of mainstream cocktails as arguably the most flavorful of all the highballs.

A two ingredient cocktail that can be made while sitting in a lawn chair AND it's packed full of deliciousness? Yeah, sign me up.

What's a Dark 'n Stormy taste like?

It's a bold yet refreshing combination of spicy ginger and the caramel, toffee, vanilla notes of Gosling's rum.

Simply delicious.

Taking a sip of a finished dark and stormy

How to make a Dark 'n Stormy

Fill a highball glass with ice
Slowly and carefully pour in ginger beer
Measure rum and float on top
Garnish with a lime wedge (optional)

By pouring the rum from your jigger gently on top of the ginger beer you can make it float on top giving the drink a really cool look. Obviously give it a few stirs before you sip but it looks really nice to serve them that way.

The Key

All you need to be careful of when making the drink is keeping as much carbonation in the ginger beer as you can.

For this reason I suggest you do not measure it with a jigger but rather eyeball it while pouring it slowly. Vigorous pouring or measuring will lead you down the road to a flat cocktail... no thanks.

Once you get a feel for how much ginger beer you like just try to remember about how far up your glass to pour.

After the drink is finished you have the option of garnishing it with a lime wedge if you want to be able to add some tartness. I have also seen versions garnished with a nice sprig of fresh mint which is not part of the official recipe but would be a nice touch.

Opening a bottle of Fever Tree Ginger Beer

Don't fuss too much over the ratios in the Dark and Stormy. Start with something close to the recipe below, adjust it if needed, and remember how you like it.

Choosing the ginger beer for cocktails

Ginger Beer is a non-alcoholic carbonated beverage that is fermented to create a deliciously strong natural ginger flavor.

There are plenty of solid options on the market and the important part of hunting down ginger beer is that you find one that is nice and spicy. You need something with some backbone to stand up to the rum.

Gosling's Black Seal has a ton of flavor and if you pair it with a wimpy ginger beer the rum will overpower the entire drink.

NOTE:

Ginger Beer is NOT the same thing as Ginger Ale. Ginger Ale is a light watered down soda that yields an unexciting cocktail.

What is the best ginger beer for my cocktail?

Some nice options are:

FEver TREE (AFFILIATE)

Fever Tree is well known for producing some of the best mixers in the cocktail world. This is my favorite straight forward spicy ginger beer.

REED'S (affiliate)

For something with more unique flavor try Reed's which makes their ginger beer with pineapple, lemon and lime juice, honey and spices.

FENTIMAN's (affiliate)

This should be your choice if you want a really deep and spicy ginger beer to make a really bold Dark and Stormy.

No matter what you decide on try to go for something that has real ingredients. It's going to be more than half of your cocktail so it better be good!

Pouring the Goslings rum on top of the dark n stormy

Goslings Black Seal dark Bermuda rum

The Dark n' Stormy is the most specific of the highballs, since it is a licensed trademark of the Gosling's rum company meaning if you order a Dark 'n Stormy (in most areas) it is legally required to be made with Gosling's Black Seal Rum.

The Gosling's lawyers will probably not find you for making your Dark 'n Stormy with Appleton Estate or Cruzan for your backyard BBQ, but if you market it at scale, or profit from making a different version....THEY WILL FIND YOU!