Dark and stormy with a dried lime wheel.
The whole drama of a dark and stormy is in the build: ginger beer first, then dark rum floated on top so it bleeds down through the glass like weather rolling in. Get the order wrong and you've just made a brown drink. Get it right and you've made a storm cloud.
The lime is the lightning in it, a small squeeze of sour to cut the sweetness of the ginger beer. The garnish, though, wants to stay up top. A fresh wedge sinks and clouds the layers; a dried lime wheel floats clean on the surface and keeps the dramatic gradient intact.
What you'll need
- 60ml dark rum (Goslings or a rich aged style)
- 120ml fiery ginger beer
- 10ml fresh lime juice
- 1 dried lime wheel
- Ice, to fill
How to make it
- Fill a tall highball glass with ice.
- Pour the ginger beer over the ice first.
- Add the squeeze of fresh lime juice and stir once, gently, to wake up the ginger.
- Float the dark rum slowly over the back of a bar spoon so it sits on top in a dark layer.
- Lay a dried lime wheel on the surface and serve before the rum has fully sunk. The slow bleed is the show.
Why dried beats fresh here
A fresh lime wedge does its job inside the drink, where the juice belongs. As a garnish it just gets in the way: it sinks, it muddies the layered look, and it knocks the rum cloud down before anyone's seen it. A dried lime wheel stays on the surface, keeps its shape, and lets the storm roll for the whole drink instead of collapsing in the first minute.
Use fresh juice for the lightning. Use a dried wheel for the cloud line on top.
Use the Lime jar, about 25 wheels, a storm on standby.