Dark and Stormy

Bermuda, early 20th century. Goslings rum has been produced in Bermuda since the 1800s by the Gosling family. The combination of Goslings Black Seal and Barritt's Ginger Beer became a nautical tradition — both products were produced in Bermuda and available on British Royal Navy ships. Goslings registered the 'Dark 'n Stormy' trademark in the United States, making it one of the few legally protected cocktail names.

The Dark and Stormy is one of the few trademarked cocktails in the world — Goslings Black Seal rum and Barritt's ginger beer, owned by the Gosling family of Bermuda, who have registered the name and the recipe. It is also genuinely excellent: the dark rum's molasses depth, with its caramel and coffee notes, floats on the sharp ginger heat of a quality ginger beer over ice and lime, creating a drink that is simultaneously warming and refreshing. The visual — a dark layer of rum floating on ginger beer — is the cocktail's signature and its serving protocol. It is Bermuda's national drink and a nautical tradition: Goslings rum has been shipped on British Royal Navy vessels, and the dark rum-ginger beer combination became standard sailor's drink.

FOOD PAIRING: The Dark and Stormy's rum depth and ginger heat pairs with Caribbean, grilled, and spiced preparations. Provenance 1000 pairings: jerk chicken (the ginger echoes the scotch bonnet heat, the rum connects to the Caribbean), fish and chips with malt vinegar (the ginger and acidity mirror the vinegar), pulled pork with ginger BBQ sauce (direct ginger harmony), coconut curry (the rum's molasses and the ginger's heat amplify the coconut's sweetness), and gingerbread cake.