Dark and Stormy

My wife recently received a bottle of Cruzan Black Strap Rum as a present from a departing co-worker. As someone who enjoys his rums, I decided to partake of the very dark looking rum. To be honest, I am more of a lighter rum drinker. Bacardi Light, Brugal Extra Anejo and Bacardi Oakheart are a few that I like to drink. To be honest, I have not been a fan of the dark rums, but have to admit that my experience has come in the form of Myers Rum. So I decided to come at the bottle with an open mind.

At first smell, it comes off as being very strong and sweet. Very much of the molasses that I assume the rum is made from. Unsure on how to drink it, I mixed it with a Diet Pepsi. Let's say that the drink was very sweet and not accepted very well by my palate. So off it went into the corner. A few weeks ago I was researching drinks and came across an article by Jonathan Miles entitled The Right Stuff (by Law) dated July 2, 2009 from the New York Times Website. Now I'll leave you to read the whole article but the gist of it is that the Dark and Stormy is a Bermudan cocktail that is patented by the Gosling's Rum Company. So I guess it took my second post to officially break the law (Sorry Mr. Gosling). Well, since I am at home and I only have Cruzan Black Strap Rum, breaking the law will have to do.

So I went out and bought some Citadedelle "Taste of the Islands" Ginger Beer to make some Dark and Stormy's. Now to be perfectly honest, I have never had any Ginger Beer and have no frame of reference on which brand is better than the others. I didn't even know that Ginger Beer was not alcoholic. What a noob I am, LOL. So as you can see from the picture to the right, I made my cocktail with the Black Strap Rum and the Ginger Beer. I would say one part rum and two parts ginger beer. What happened next was explosive.

Where the Black Strap Rum and Diet Pepsi was just sweet and blah, the Black Strap and Ginger Beer exploded in my mouth. Amazing what one change in an ingredient will do to a drink. The ginger beer gave the drink a spicy and tangy taste that the soda could not. I felt a crackle on my lips and on the back of my throat. Someone tell me if I'm wrong but that is the desired result from drinking a Dark and Stormy. Correct? Regardless, the taste was phenomenal. I think I might have found my new summertime drink.

Now keeping with the original theme of the Dark and Stormy, here is the link for the recipe which is adapted From Gosling’s recipe that accompanied the above mentioned article: Dark and Stormy

Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla

For Further Reading
- Click Here to access my friend Will Gordon's review of the Cruzan Black Strap Rum in his article Drinking the Bottom Shelf: Cruzan Black Strap Rum