Dark 'N' Stormy

Well it's dark out and I did just see some lightning but it's not terribly stormy.

A few weeks ago I was reading something online where someone was asking what do do with some leftover Myer's Dark Rum. Someone suggested mixing it with ginger beer. That sounded pretty good. I stopped at Tower this week to see what I could find in the way of ginger beer. I've had both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions before but had not seen any lately. I started off in the beer section and completely struck out. Nothing. I think the guy in the beer section thought I might be a little nuts (he might be right) but he did really try to find it for me.

I went over to the rum section just to see what was there and ran across an official pairing:



Evidently the official name for this pairing of dark rum and ginger beer is a Dark'N'Stormy. It's from Bermuda and has to be made with Gosling's Black Seal Rum and Barritt's Ginger Beer. This promotional package came with 2 cans of Barritt's. I figured that enough to give it a try.

When I got home I sampled about a 1/4 ounce of both the Goslings and the Myers's by themselves. The colors are about the same. The Myer's has more going on with the aroma. You can really smell the molasses. The Gosling's hits you a a brighter smell of a gold rum. In tasting them I find the Myer's has many more layers of flavor going on. You really taste the molasses and it has a rocky then lingering finish. The Gosling's it's a much smoother experience: A little burn, a bit of molasses, but then it turns caramel, almost buttery, and has a smooth finish.

I can't really say if I prefer one over the other. They're just different. They're both fairly common dark rums but they each have a distinctive profile. Substituting one for the other in a cocktail recipe would result in a different creation. Probably not bad... just different.

Tonight I actually tried the Dark'N'Stormy (while baking quiches) using the supplied Gosling's and Barritt's. It wasn't bad but I did find it a bit sweet. That's a really odd thing for me to say as I like sweet drinks. Perhaps I felt the sweetness, the heavy spice, and the sweetness of the rum was just an overly powerful combination. It's definitely something I'll try again... perhaps with different ginger brews I manage to locate. I've seen some other Ginger Beers at Cost Plus before so I'll find something else there later. In the meantime a tiny glass of Gosling's or Myer's is quite nice for sipping.

Update 8/23/08
I made this with some Reed's Premium Ginger Brew that I found a my local Krogers. I liked it a little better. I think the lemon-lime taste of it adds something for me. I'd like to try it with Reed's "Extra" Ginger Bew but I'll have to find someone who carries it.