The Unofficial Drink of Sailing? Works for Me

To our delight, when we brought our friends down to see Ge'Mara for the first time many of them came with a bottle to acknowledge the occasion.  David and I enjoy a nice single malt so most of them came with scotch.  However one colleague from work who used to serve in the Canadian Navy walked into my office one day and plunked down a bottle I'd never seen before.  It was Goslings dark rum.  He explained that rum is one of the oldest of modern spirits and the one most closely associated with the sea and sailing.  This I knew.  What he also said was that the Dark n Stormy is the unofficial mixed drink of sailing.  This I did not know.  But having been turned on to the charms of a properly made rum and coke by my friend Sean several years ago, I was eager to try it.  Later that week we made one in my office at the close of the business day and it was delicious.  Since that time I've been drinking them on the boat and at home and I have to say, I'm hooked.

It tastes best on the boat but I enjoy the odd one at home too

The Dark n Stormy is a simple drink made with 3 ingredients:  Ginger beer, Goslings rum and a bit of lime.  Devotees hotly debate which ginger beer is the best.  The favourite seems to be Fentimans, which I haven't been able to find yet but for my tastes any ginger beer with with a strong, spicy aftertaste works fine.

One thing that isn't up for debate is the type of rum to use.   It must be Goslings.  Apparently they have the rights to the name "Dark n Stormy."  I tend to agree that Goslings rum tastes good in the drink but I've taken to using Mount Gay Extra Old instead.  I like how it works in the drink but frankly it's a much better rum for any other application, including drinking neat.

On the matter of preparation:  Apparently the preferred way to assemble this drink is to first fill the glass with ice, then add the ginger beer and then softly pour 2.5 oz of rum on top.  If done properly the rum acts as a floater and forms a dark cloud over the comparatively light ginger beer.  I have no time for this nonsense.  I prefer to mix the drink perfectly prior to presentation so that the imbiber, be it me or a guest, doesn't have to mess around before taking the first sip.