Hurricane Week Cocktail: The Dark & Stormy

The first time I had a Dark & Stormy was at a magical place called Bar Tonique in New Orleans, which seems fitting, what with Isaac getting all in our grill and whatnot.

Bar Tonique classifies the Dark & Stormy as a "cooler," and its recipe boasts a list of fancy things like "black strap navy rum, house-made ginger syrup, house-made demerara syrup," and "charged water." I do not know what several of those things are. Will I let that stop me? NO.

*This bottle opener is from Vince's parents' restaurant, now closed, and is one of two surviving copies. China Doll!

Since I live in a decidedly non-NOLA city, we are going to use fewer ingredients, and also store-bought ones. I know you don't think I'm about to make my own ginger syrup when there is a storm on the way.

Ingredients:

Dark rum

Ginger beer
Lime
Ice

How to make it:

1. Pack a glass with ice. (We used a 59-cent bag of ice from Sonic, which I highly recommend if you are Sonic-adjacent. It is truly the best.)

2. Pour in two jiggers of rum (you should probably use Kraken Black Spiced Rum, since it is delicious, readily available, and has a good label). You can use the 1 oz. side of the jigger, or the 2 oz. side. I'll let you guess which side we used.

3. To that, add two jiggers of ginger beer...

4. ...and a quarter of a lime, squeezed. 

Mix all up. Enjoy in front of your Louisiana map.

Have another. Get all excited about photography and bust out your ancient Polaroid Land Camera. Take terrible pictures.

Have another. Wait for the rain.

Have another.

All photos: Ben Corda

Comments

[Shawn Lee]

AB, I would love to find out what kind of camera Ben Corda uses. His photography really has a depth that is amazing. You two make a great creative pair. Please share!

[Caitlin]

Well, my Abita Strawberry shows a lot less effort, but cheers! Still waiting for the rain in Lafayette, but the trees are getting a nice workout in.

[jlg]

This is the most delicious drink - I discovered it at a wedding in Bermuda.

Your version is actually more authentic -
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/fashion/05shaken.html
I've been told by one bartender that the Gosling's folks do spot checks to make sure the correct rum and ginger beer are being used.

[AB]

@Shawn Lee: I am pretty sure he used a Nikon for these, but I'm not sure which one or which lens(es). Ben?

@Caitlin: Our trees are getting a workout, too. The wind is reminiscent of Rita, which I do not enjoy.

[tracy]

hi.
i normally don't post links of my website on people's blogs because i think it's stupid. people do it to me all the time and i look at the links cuz i'm like whhhhhhhhhhhyyyyy are junking up my comment section. so yeah.

but here i am thinking about drinking with you...and how we would probably be compatible drinking buddies because i too love a good dark & stormy (and I've had my eye on that rum!!! that bottle alone is dope)

http://www.shutterbean.com/2011/dark-stormy/

i think you will like my photo mashup

also. look at your smile!! be safe! keep drinking!

[AB]

@Tracy! I love it. I almost didn't post this because I knew it had been covered on several other sites. But this drink is so good it needs to be shared with as many as possible.

Also, I liked the pictures.

[Julie]

Love! Glad to find that (1) I am not the only person who buys alcohol based on the label, and (2) that other people also make cocktails in response to wind. Or water. Any element is fine. Solidarity, sister!

[jodi]

abchao, you are all kinds of adorable.

[Ben Corda]

@Shawn Lee: Such kind words and AB is right on! I used a Nikon D300 and I believe a 35mm f/2 and a 10-20mm f/4 for these shots. Of course the most important ingredient is a little Louisiana sunshine!

[Jenny]

I love this post and also am super intrigued. Did you see Beasts of the Southern Wild? I'd love to hear your take on it, given the state of the weather near your home.

[hannah]

Oh my god, Sonic ice IS the best ice. Effer, I am not sonic adjacent.

[Shawn Lee]

Thank you, AB and Ben.

[Kristen]

Amount of drinks we make at our house = none (since I don't thinking opening a beer/cider and corking a bottle count). Amount of drinks I want to make every time you do one of these posts? 1,000. Seriously. If I make one of your drinks will I look as cool and cute as you? How many of those drinks do I need to, ahem, DRINK, in order to feel as cool and cute?! :-)

[ambertz]

YOU CAN BUY SONIC'S ICE? how did i not know this?

[JenB]

I can't understand why you would retweet someone's complaint about hurricane jokes so that Dooce would do something. I teach ethics, and I'm kind of interested in why you were so offended by someone... being offended? You'd think a professional writer would not be so vindictive and would appreciate that writing is meant to stir up individual opinions. I just don't get it. The playing field is not level.

By the way quite a few studies in psychology suggest that nice people do not say they are nice, but are humble enough to say something more like "I am just like everyone else, and make mistakes." What you did was pretty clearly not nice- so saying you are nice is a strange kind of cover for an action that isn't.

Anyway, what a shame.

[AB]

You're right, Jen. I should have ignored it and I don't know why I didn't. I feel terrible about the whole thing, really, and that people are upset. I have always done my best to stay away from internet drama and I wish the whole thing had never happened.

I'm happy to give you my thoughts re: ethics, nice people, etc. if you want to take it to email, but I'd really rather keep my comments section free from this stuff. I'm at hello at abchao dot com. Thanks!

[dooce]

This is for JenB:

Let's get one thing clear: AB did not retweet anything to get me to do something. So you're making an assumption. A wrong one. Bad move for someone who teaches ethics.

I did what I did because I do not think it's nice to talk shit about people publicly. That's exactly what that woman was doing. Talking shit. She could have been offended and worded it in a way to make her intentions clearer, but she did not. She talked shit passive-aggressively. Her comment then caused a whole shit-talking discussion about AB. IN PUBLIC. That's not nice. AB was the victim here, not someone who is going to shit talk in public and then scream foul when I call them out on it.

If I am a bully for calling foul, let me be a bully. If I point out that someone is talking shit publicly and the resulting scrutiny is uncomfortable, maybe they will rethink doing so in the future. I was shining a light on shitty behavior that is way too rampant online. The shame is the total lack of decency on behalf of those people.

You can disagree with all of this, I don't really care. But do not falsely assume that AB tried to get me to do something. Those were my actions alone.

AB is the nice one. I'm the bully.

[AB]

Lord, Lord. OK, no more talk about this. It's over, everyone has said what they needed to say, this too shall pass, etc. It's time to move on. Plus, this cocktail ain't gonna make itself.