Dark and Stormy Cocktail

Deep rum makes a beautiful partner to a spicy ginger beer in the dangerously delicious Dark and Stormy cocktail!

The Dark and Stormy was one of the very first “specialty” cocktails that my husband and I served, at one of our very first “grownup” cocktail parties at our little New York City apartment shortly after we were married.

Despite it being a very simple cocktail to make, I distinctly remember how fancy I felt serving these delicious drinks!

These days, it’s such a mainstay in our house that we make sure we always have our favorite ginger beer on hand to mix with some spiced rum.

Let’s make a Dark and Stormy!

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Cocktails To Add To Your Recipe Book

Our cocktail library is one of the most robust parts of Lovely Indeed and we’ve got everything, from basic to very fancy! Here are a few more cocktails that I think you’d love if you like a Dark and Stormy.

Be sure to bookmark or pin them so that you can find them again easily!

• Classic Dirty Martini
• Baileys White Russian
• Sidecar Cocktail Recipe
• Boulevardier Cocktail Recipe
• Negroni Cocktail Recipe
• White Negroni Cocktail
• Paloma Cocktail Recipe

What is a Dark and Stormy?

Despite its moody name, the Dark and Stormy cocktail is a delicious and easily drinkable cocktail, with a very fun flavor profile.

Dark rum lends the drink the vague feeling of being a bit tropical, and spicy ginger beer adds a bite that balances it nicely.

Fresh lime juice brings it all together.

Historically, it’s said that the cocktail was originally attributed to sailors who would make the concoction to both stave off scurvy with the lime, and settle their stomachs with the ginger beer.

And in case you wanted to know, the official rum of the Dark and Stormy is Goslings Black Seal, a rich and flavorful rum from Bermuda.

But what do I always say? Use what you’ve got.

Is Ginger Beer the Same as Ginger Ale?

In a word, nope!

While ginger ale is more akin to a soda (carbonated water flavored with ginger syrup), ginger beer is actually brewed and fermented.

While ginger beer is nonalcoholic, the fermentation process gives it much more of a bite and some can be very spicy.

You can, of course, use ginger ale instead of ginger beer, but the result will be much more mellow than a true Dark and Stormy.

My personal favorite ginger beer to keep around is Reeds. (Be sure not to get the zero sugar kind; the flavor really suffers for the altered recipe.)

Adding Dry Ice to a Cocktail

Why dry ice?

I mean, why not?!

Honestly, I originally tried the Dark and Stormy cocktail with dry ice because I was hosting a bunch of girlfriends at my house around Halloween and I wanted to create some spooky, silly vibes with the cocktail.

It turned out to be great fun, and is very easy to do. I found dry ice at my local supermarket.

However! I’m not recommending that you add dry ice to your cocktail. That’s your business.

In my research, I learned that dry ice is safe to add to a cocktail as long as you don’t ingest it. If you allow it to melt (it will sink to the bottom of your glass so that you can identify it), it will not add anything harmful to the cocktail.

You don’t want to touch it with bare skin, as it can burn.

I would not give a child a drink with dry ice in it, especially unsupervised.

And as always, you have to practice safety when handling dry ice and using it in food and drinks.

So all in all, I’m definitely not suggesting that you should add dry ice to your cocktails, because it shouldn’t be ingested or touched. I’m just telling you how I added it to ours. 😉

Ingredients You’ll Need

You might already have what you need in your home bar!

Rum. A dark, spiced rum is just the ticket for a Dark and Stormy! If you want to go by the book and make it classic, try Goslings Black Seal Bermuda Rum.

Ginger Beer. I recommend a ginger beer that’s not too spicy, especially if it’s your first time using it as a mixer.

Limes. Lots of fresh lime juice pulls the drink all together!

Dry Ice. Again, not suggesting you use dry ice! Simply informing you that you can find it at your supermarket. And advising you that you should neither touch it with bare hands nor ingest it.

How to Make a Dark and Stormy

1. Add ice to a glass.
2. Pour in 2 oz rum, 1/2 oz lime juice, and fill with ginger beer.
3. Garnish with a lime.
4. If you’d like to add dry ice, gently stir the drink so that the regular ice comes to the top. Then add a small chip of dry ice and watch so that it settles to the bottom. Do not ingest the dry ice.

One Fun Thing to Try

If you’d like to make your Dark and Stormy look the part, try adding lime juice and ginger beer to the glass first, then gently pouring the dark rum in last as a floater.

If you do it just right, the dark rum will stay on top, creating the look of a stormy sky.

Your guests can give the drink a mix before sipping to incorporate the spirits with the mixers.

And if you need more cocktail ideas, don’t miss our Bee’s Knees or Gin Fizz!

Cheers! xoxo

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