The Dark 'n' Stormy is two ingredients, and one of them is trademarked. Gosling's registered the name, and by the letter of the law a Dark 'n' Stormy is Gosling's Black Seal rum and ginger beer, full stop. In practice it's the best two-ingredient rum drink there is, and the rum you choose changes it more than anything else you can do. Here's the history, the recipe, the bottle it was built on, and the dark rums in stock that make a better one.
Shop all rum in stock at Chips Liquor
Where the Dark 'n' Stormy Comes From
Gosling's has been in Bermuda since 1806, and Black Seal, its blackstrap-dark blended rum, has been the island's rum for well over a century. The drink dates to the years after World War I, when the Royal Navy ran a ginger beer plant in Bermuda and sailors started topping it with Black Seal. Gosling's trademarked the name in the US in 1991, and it's one of the few cocktails with a legally defined recipe: anything made with another rum is, officially, something else. Bermuda's national drink, and the sailing world's.
The Recipe
- 2 oz dark rum
- 4 to 5 oz ginger beer (the spicy kind: Fever-Tree, Barritt's, Reed's Extra)
- Lime wedge, optional, and technically off-recipe
Fill a highball with ice, pour in the ginger beer, then float the rum on top so it sits dark over the ginger like a storm cloud. That's where the name comes from, and it's why you don't stir it. The ginger beer matters almost as much as the rum: use something with real ginger heat, not ginger ale.
The Best Rums for a Dark 'n' Stormy
Gosling's Black Seal (the original)
The only rum that makes the drink by its legal name. A blend of column and pot still rums aged in once-used bourbon barrels and darkened to near-black, 40% ABV, with a thick butterscotch-and-molasses sweetness that's built to sit on top of ginger. Under $25, and the rum to start with if you've never had the real thing.
Gosling's Black Seal 151
The same rum at 75.5% ABV. Use it in a smaller pour (1 oz is plenty) for a drink with the same flavor and a lot more weight, or float half an ounce on a standard Dark 'n' Stormy for the stormiest version of the cloud.
Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Black
100% pot still rum from Worthy Park, colored dark with caramel, at 46.5% ABV. Where Black Seal is sweet, this is funky: overripe banana and Jamaican ester over the ginger. The best Dark 'n' Stormy for people who find the original too soft, and under $30.
Worthy Park 109
The same distillery at 54.5% ABV, made dark specifically for the drinks that call for dark rum. It has the heat to stand up to the spiciest ginger beer, and it's the value pick on this list.
Planteray Original Dark
A $20 blend of young Barbados rum and 10-to-15-year-old high-ester Jamaican pot still from Long Pond, rested in vats in France. Spiced, fruity, and built for exactly this kind of long drink. The best bottle on this list for the money.
Coruba Dark
A classic Jamaican dark blend at 40% ABV, long a tiki-bar staple because it tastes like more than it costs. Molasses, a little spice, and a smooth landing. Interchangeable with Black Seal in the glass, and a good one to keep around for Rum and Cokes too.
Myers's Original Dark
The dark Jamaican rum most American bars poured for decades, 40% ABV. Heavy on molasses, light on funk. It makes a Dark 'n' Stormy that tastes like the one at the beach bar, which is sometimes exactly what you want.
Mount Gay Black Barrel
Not a black rum, but the double-charred Barbados blend has enough vanilla and toasted-spice depth to work, at 43% ABV. It makes a lighter, more refined version that Bermuda purists would reject and everyone else would drink two of.
Smith & Cross
Navy-strength Jamaican pot still at 57% ABV. Off-recipe and the enthusiast's choice: the funk and the ginger fight, and both win. Use 1.5 oz.
Which to Pick
- The real one: Gosling's Black Seal.
- Best overall: Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Black.
- Best value: Planteray Original Dark or Worthy Park 109.
- Smoother: Coruba or Mount Gay Black Barrel.
- Funkiest: Smith & Cross.
Shipping From Chips Liquor
Every bottle above is in stock at our Pacific Beach shop in San Diego and ships fast to most states. For more on the distilleries behind these rums, read our guides to Worthy Park, Hamilton, and Planteray, or browse the Jamaican rum collection.