Storm & Spice
Storm & Spice is 50ml of Expedition Spiced Rum floated over 150ml of ginger beer and 15ml of fresh lime juice in a highball full of cubed ice, with two dashes of Angostura on top, a lime wedge and crystallised ginger. About 2.0 UK units from the rum at 40% ABV; the bitters add less than 0.1. It is our spiced-rum answer to the Dark ’n’ Stormy, the Bermudian highball of black rum and ginger beer. Gosling’s own site writes the name Dark ‘n Stormy® with the registered symbol and calls Black Seal Rum its essential ingredient, so this is a different drink on the same frame. A black rum brings weight and dark sugar. Expedition Spiced Rum brings vanilla, cinnamon and clove, which gives the ginger more to catch hold of. The build is the point. Ginger beer goes in first, then the rum is poured slowly over the back of a spoon so it sits dark over the pale ginger. Left layered, the first sips lead with rum. Stirred, the two run together.
Glassware: Highball Glass
Garnish: Lime wedge and Candied ginger or a lime wheel on the rim
Ingredients
50ml
At 40% ABV, with seven real spices, two natural sweeteners, and bourbon oak in it. Its clove, cinnamon and ginger are what the ginger beer picks up, and it goes in last so it floats.
150ml
A fiery, properly gingery one, chilled. It goes in first and fills about two thirds of the glass. A sweet, mild bottle leaves the rum’s spice with nothing to push against.
15ml
Squeezed the same day and poured over the ice before the ginger beer. At 15ml it sharpens the ginger beer’s sugar without turning the drink sour.
2 dashes
Two dashes on the surface once the rum is floated. Optional, and worth it: Angostura, which its own page describes as a bouquet of herbs, fruits and spices, puts a spiced note at the nose alongside the rum.
Instructions
Fill a highball glass with cubed ice.
Squeeze the lime juice over the ice.
Pour the ginger beer in first, filling the glass to around two thirds.
Float the Expedition Spiced Rum on top by pouring slowly over the back of a barspoon.
Add two dashes of Angostura bitters on top if desired.
Garnish with a lime wedge and crystallised ginger.
Serve immediately. Stir at the table or let the storm settle first.
Our version
Gosling’s own site writes Dark ‘n Stormy® with the registered symbol and names its Black Seal Rum as the essential ingredient, so this is a different drink on the same frame. We float Expedition Spiced Rum over more ginger beer, add 15ml of lime, and put two dashes of Angostura on top to repeat the clove and cinnamon in the rum.
Source: our own specification. Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Pour the ginger beer to about two thirds before you open the rum. The rum floats because the cold, sugary ginger beer underneath is denser than the spirit. Pour the rum first and the two simply mix. Hold the spoon just over the surface, back upwards, and pour slowly onto it so the rum spreads sideways instead of diving. A fast pour punches straight through the ginger beer and the layer is gone. Ginger beer, not ginger ale. Ale is sweet and mild; a good ginger beer carries real heat, and that heat stands up to the spice in the rum. Taste the bottle first. If it is soft and sugary, the drink will be too, and no amount of lime fixes it.
Behind the Storm & Spice
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
The frame is the Dark ’n’ Stormy. The Oxford Companion says it purportedly originated among British sailors on shore leave in Bermuda after the First World War, and that another account places it earlier, in the nineteenth century. Gosling’s own page says it began in the ginger beer factory run as a subsidiary of the Royal Naval Officers’ Club in Bermuda. Punch says England’s Royal Navy opened a ginger beer plant in Bermuda in the late nineteenth century, and Paste retells a legend that a sailor after the war called the drink the colour of a cloud only a fool or a dead man would sail under, and the name followed.
Gosling’s own site writes Dark ‘n Stormy® with the registered symbol and describes Black Seal Rum as the essential ingredient in Bermuda’s signature cocktail. We have not read the trade mark register, and Storm & Spice does not use the name or claim the recipe. It keeps the float and the ginger beer, and changes the rum.
Why Spiced Rum Works Here
Black rum and ginger beer work together because both are assertive. One brings weight and dark sugar, the other heat, and neither covers the other.
Expedition Spiced Rum changes the character of the pairing. Vanilla, cinnamon, clove and orange peel sit close to ginger, so the ginger beer picks up the rum’s spice instead of running beside it. The lime keeps the sugar in both in check, and the Angostura on the surface, which Angostura’s own page describes as a bouquet of herbs, fruits and spices, adds a spiced note at the nose.
The Float
Lime over the ice, then ginger beer to about two thirds of the glass. Then the rum, slowly, over the back of a spoon held just over the surface. The spirit is lighter than the cold, sweetened ginger beer, so it spreads across the top. Dark over pale: that is the storm cloud in the name.
Drink it layered or stir it. Layered, the first sips lead with rum and the ginger rises as the glass empties. Stirred, it is one drink from the first sip to the last. Both are the same recipe.
Ginger Beer, Not Ginger Ale
Ginger ale is mild and sweet, made to be drunk on its own. Ginger beer is fiercer, with a burn at the back of the throat that grows through the glass. With ale the rum’s spice has no opponent, and the drink turns sugary and dull. Buy the hottest bottle on the shelf and chill it well before it goes in.
Three Ginger Beer Highballs
Storm & Spice beside the Dark ’n’ Stormy as Gosling’s recipe page gives it, and the Pack Mule
Storm & Spice (ours)
- Rum
- 50ml Expedition Spiced Rum
- Ginger beer
- 150ml
- Lime
- 15ml
- Bitters
- Two dashes Angostura
- Build
- Ginger beer first, rum floated
- UK units
- About 2.0
Dark ’n’ Stormy (Gosling’s recipe)
- Rum
- Two ounces, about 60ml, Gosling’s Black Seal
- Ginger beer
- Six ounces, about 180ml
- Lime
- A wedge as garnish
- Bitters
- None
- Build
- Ginger beer first, rum floated
- UK units
- About 2.4
Pack Mule
- Rum
- 50ml Expedition Spiced Rum, with 10ml syrup
- Ginger beer
- 100 to 120ml
- Lime
- 20ml
- Bitters
- None
- Build
- Stirred, copper mug
- UK units
- About 2.0
| Drink | Rum | Ginger beer | Lime | Bitters | Build | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storm & Spice (ours) | 50ml Expedition Spiced Rum | 150ml | 15ml | Two dashes Angostura | Ginger beer first, rum floated | About 2.0 |
| Dark ’n’ Stormy (Gosling’s recipe) | Two ounces, about 60ml, Gosling’s Black Seal | Six ounces, about 180ml | A wedge as garnish | None | Ginger beer first, rum floated | About 2.4 |
| Pack Mule | 50ml Expedition Spiced Rum, with 10ml syrup | 100 to 120ml | 20ml | None | Stirred, copper mug | About 2.0 |
Gosling’s own drink is the Dark ’n’ Stormy; for spiced rum stirred into ginger beer with more lime, make a Pack Mule.
Ice
Pack the highball to the brim with cubed ice first. A packed glass chills the ginger beer fast and keeps it there, and in our experience cold ginger beer keeps its bubbles and holds the float. Crushed ice melts fast, flattens the ginger beer and breaks the layer before it forms.
Make it at home
Watch it made
Plays from YouTube's privacy-enhanced player. Nothing loads until you press play.
The Spirit
Jerry Can Spirits Expedition Spiced RumA spiced rum built for balance. Madagascan vanilla leads, with Ceylon cinnamon, ginger and cassia through the middle and bourbon oak on the finish. 40% ABV, designed to work neat, over ice, and across classic and modern cocktails.
Need the Rum?
Pick up a bottle of Expedition Spiced Rum to make this cocktail.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Storm & Spice?
How does it differ from a Dark ’n’ Stormy?
Ginger beer or ginger ale?
Why does the rum float?
Should I stir it?
How strong is a Storm & Spice?
Sources.
Checked between 18 October and 19 October 2026.
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Paul Clarke), “Dark and Stormy” (secondary source: purportedly among British sailors on shore leave in Bermuda after the First World War, another story earlier; the Gosling family claimed a trademark for the recipe in 1991).
- Punch, “Dark ’n’ Stormy” (secondary source: England’s Royal Navy opened a ginger beer plant in Bermuda in the late nineteenth century).
- Paste, “Happy Hour History: The Dark ‘n’ Stormy” (secondary source: the legend of the sailor and “the colour of a cloud only a fool or a dead man would sail under”).
- Gosling’s, “Goslings Rum” (the owner’s site: Dark ‘n Stormy® with the registered symbol; Black Seal Rum the essential ingredient of Bermuda’s signature cocktail).
- House of Angostura, “Aromatic Bitters” (producer’s own page: nose “Aromatic Bouquet of herbs, fruits and spices”).
- Gosling’s, “Dark ’n Stormy ®” (the owner’s recipe page: originated in the ginger beer factory run as a subsidiary of the Royal Naval Officers’ Club in Bermuda; 6 oz Stormy Ginger Beer, 2 oz Black Seal Rum, a lime wedge; ginger beer first, rum floated; no register entry read).
You Might Also Like
Pack Mule
A Pack Mule is 50ml of Expedition Spiced Rum, 20ml of fresh lime juice and 10ml of sugar syrup over ice in a copper mug, lengthened with 100 to 120ml of ginger beer and given one stir, then finished with a lime wheel and a mint sprig. About 2.0 UK units from the rum at 40% ABV. It is our mule. The published spiced rum mule, the Jamaican Mule, is a short drink: 75ml of ginger beer, a quarter-measure of lime and a rich syrup. The Pack Mule takes the same four parts and opens them out, with the lime doubled to 20ml and the ginger beer run long, because Expedition Spiced Rum brings its own sweetness and the vanilla, cinnamon and clove in it want room and acid rather than more sugar. The ginger beer decides most of it. A dry one with real heat suits the rum, and the syrup is set by how sweet the bottle is: the full 10ml for a dry ginger beer, none for a sweet one.
The Old Standard
The Old Standard is 50ml of Expedition Spiced Rum, 10ml of demerara syrup, two dashes of Angostura and one of orange bitters, stirred in a mixing glass for 20 to 30 seconds and strained over a single large cube or fresh cubed ice in a rocks glass, with a wide strip of orange peel expressed over the top. About 2.1 UK units: 2.0 from the rum and about 0.1 from the bitters. It is our rum Old Fashioned. The format is spirit, sugar, water and bitters, the parts in the first definition of a cocktail known to be an alcoholic drink, which the Oxford Companion dates to a Hudson, New York, newspaper of 1806, and with nothing else in the glass it shows the spirit plainly. Two changes follow from the rum. Demerara syrup replaces white sugar, because its caramel meets the vanilla and oak. Orange bitters join the Angostura, to lift the orange peel already in the rum at the nose. Everything else is the Old Fashioned, measured.
Jerry Can Julep
The Jerry Can Julep is 60ml of Expedition Spiced Rum, eight to ten fresh mint leaves pressed lightly with 10ml of simple syrup, and a dash of Angostura over a glass packed with crushed ice, finished with a mint bouquet and, if you like, an expressed orange peel. About 2.4 UK units. It is our julep. The Mint Julep is usually bourbon, but the format is older and looser than that, and the Oxford Companion describes nineteenth-century juleps made with French brandy, peach brandy, wines and Dutch gin as well as whisky. Spirit, sugar, mint and a great deal of crushed ice is all it asks. Expedition Spiced Rum suits it because its vanilla and cinnamon are warm where mint is cool. The syrup stays at 10ml because the rum brings sweetness of its own, and the Angostura goes on top of the ice, where it meets the mint at the nose.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Dan Freeman · Updated 19 October 2026