Dark rum floated over spicy ginger beer drinks in layers at first — molasses-deep rum on top, sharp fizzing ginger below — until the rum bleeds down through the bubbles and turns the glass the colour of a gathering storm cloud. Served long over ice with a squeeze of lime to brighten the spice and trim the rum's sweetness, it is the Moscow Mule's darker, rum-soaked cousin.
Garnish: Lime Wedge
Built · Highball · On the Rocks
build
Fill a highball glass with ice cubes.
add
Pour the ginger beer over the ice.
top
Float the dark rum on top so it bleeds down through the ginger beer for the signature storm-cloud effect.
garnish
Garnish with a lime wedge; squeeze it in if you like.
The story belongs to Gosling Brothers, the Bermuda rum firm, which says the drink took shape on the island shortly after the First World War, when sailors found that a measure of the company's Black Seal rum was just what the local ginger beer needed. No individual inventor is on record. Gosling Brothers has owned a US trademark on the name since 1991, and the International Bartenders Association now lists the drink in its official specifications with Gosling's as the rum.