Food

How to Make a Dark ‘N’ Stormy: Dark ‘N’ Stormy Cocktail Recipe

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Oct 22, 2024 • 1 min read

If you ask someone to think of a tropical cocktail recipe, they’ll probably name any number of fruity and colorful rum drinks, like a Daiquiri or a Sex on the Beach—but there’s one tropical rum cocktail that is rich and a little more brooding than its mixed-drink relatives: the Dark ‘N’ Stormy.

The Dark ‘N’ Stormy cocktail calls for just two ingredients—Gosling’s dark rum and ginger beer—which means the correct flavors are crucial; don’t substitute the dark rum with spiced rum or the ginger beer with ginger ale. The cocktail is usually served in a highball glass and garnished with a slice of lime. When poured carefully, the rum will float atop the ginger beer, creating an overcast look similar to a stormy sky.

If you substitute vodka for rum in a Dark ‘N’ Stormy (and serve it in a copper mug), you get a Moscow Mule.

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History of the Dark ‘N’ Stormy

The flavorful Dark ‘N’ Stormy cocktail originated in Bermuda immediately after World War I, where an early member of the Gosling rum family combined Gosling’s Black Seal rum and the local Barritt’s ginger beer. Legend has it that a sailor held up the drink and said it was “the color of a cloud only a fool or a dead man would sail under”—and the Dark ‘N’ Stormy was born.

Dark ‘N’ Stormy Cocktail Recipe

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makes

1 cocktail

prep time

3 min

total time

3 min

Ingredients

  1. 1

    Fill a tall glass (such as a highball glass) with ice cubes.

  2. 2

    Pour ginger beer into the glass.

  3. 3

    Pour rum into the glass; if you pour carefully, the rum should float atop the ginger beer.

  4. 4

    Garnish with a lime wedge, if desired. Serve cold and stir before drinking.

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