Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
Gosling's Black Seal is a black rum from Bermuda at 40% ABV, heavy with molasses and burnt caramel, blended by the Gosling family firm. Gosling’s own site calls it the essential ingredient of its Dark ‘n Stormy ®, and our Dark ’n’ Stormy and Rum Swizzle both use it.
Quick Facts
Sealed and upright, out of direct light.
None of the 14 listed allergens. Recipes change: check the bottle.
About Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Deep molasses and burnt caramel with a dark spice edge: a black rum built to read through ginger beer from the top of the glass.
A Bermuda firm blending since the 1860s
Gosling Brothers began in 1806, when James Gosling's cargo of wine and spirits ended up in St George's, Bermuda, rather than America. The family started blending rum after its first oak barrels arrived in 1860. Black Seal is that blend: a black rum, heavy with molasses and caramel, bottled at 40% ABV.
It belongs with the dark rums by weight. It is sweeter and less bitter than blackstrap, and the colour comes partly from the blend rather than only from years in wood.
The trade mark ties a drink's name to the bottle
Gosling’s own site puts its registered ® mark on Dark ‘n Stormy, and the accounts of how far back the mark goes differ: Difford’s Guide says the company first trademarked the name in the late 1970s, while the Oxford Companion records the Gosling family’s claim of 1991 and a 2015 federal complaint against Pernod Ricard over a recipe on its website. Difford’s quotes the company’s chief executive as saying it objects only when a drink is called a Dark ‘N Stormy, not to rum with ginger beer. The mark protects a name in one country; it says nothing about what you pour at home.
Our two recipes use it for weight
Black Seal in our recipes
Rum
- Dark ’n’ Stormy
- 60ml
- Rum Swizzle
- 60ml
With
- Dark ’n’ Stormy
- 100ml ginger beer
- Rum Swizzle
- Falernum, pineapple, orange, lime, bitters
Method
- Dark ’n’ Stormy
- Float over the ginger beer, unstirred
- Rum Swizzle
- Swizzle over crushed ice
What the rum does
- Dark ’n’ Stormy
- Dark top layer and molasses weight
- Rum Swizzle
- Keeps the fruit from taking over
| Dark ’n’ Stormy | Rum Swizzle | |
|---|---|---|
| Rum | 60ml | 60ml |
| With | 100ml ginger beer | Falernum, pineapple, orange, lime, bitters |
| Method | Float over the ginger beer, unstirred | Swizzle over crushed ice |
| What the rum does | Dark top layer and molasses weight | Keeps the fruit from taking over |
In the Dark ’n’ Stormy the rum is floated over chilled ginger beer and served unstirred, so the first sip is rum and the last is ginger. In the Rum Swizzle it is spun through crushed ice with 15ml of falernum and three juices until the glass frosts, and its weight stops the drink tasting of fruit alone.
Using Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
Usage
60ml in both of our recipes that name it: poured onto 100ml of chilled ginger beer as a float in the Dark ’n’ Stormy, and swizzled with falernum, pineapple, orange and lime in the Rum Swizzle. It also suits any recipe that asks for a heavy black rum.
Pro Tip
For a Dark ’n’ Stormy that looks right, fill the glass with ice to the top before the ginger beer goes in. The ice gives the rum something to settle on, and the dark layer holds for longer.
Top Tips
- Add it last in a Dark ’n’ Stormy. Trickled off a spoon, it settles on the ginger beer as a dark layer.
- Chill the ginger beer, not the rum. The float holds better when the mixer is cold and the glass is full of ice.
- Work out units at 40%. Each of our two Black Seal drinks takes 60ml, which is 2.4 units of rum alone.
- Anywhere a recipe asks for black or dark rum with weight, it will do the job; it is sweeter than blackstrap.
Possible Substitutions
- Dark Rum: Another rich black rum: excellent, though the trade mark makes it a different drink
- Blackstrap Rum: Heavier and more bitter
Production Method
By Gosling’s own account, a blend first sold from the barrel into customers’ own bottles as Old Rum, and from the First World War in reclaimed champagne bottles sealed with black wax, which gave it the name Black Seal.
History & Context
By Gosling’s own account, James Gosling, the son of a wine and spirits merchant, sailed from Gravesend for America in 1806 and put in at St George's, Bermuda. By its own account it began blending rum after its first oak barrels of rum distillate arrived in 1860. By the company's account the Black Seal name came after the First World War, when the rum was sold in reclaimed champagne bottles sealed with black wax.
More to explore
Common Questions
What is Gosling's Black Seal?
Does a Dark ’n’ Stormy have to use Gosling's?
Why is it called Black Seal?
Why does the rum float on the ginger beer?
Is Gosling's Black Seal the same as blackstrap rum?
What can I use instead of Gosling's Black Seal?
Sources.
Checked between 16 October and 19 October 2026.
- Goslings, “Goslings: our story”.
- Goslings, “Goslings Black Seal Rum” (producer’s product page).
- Difford’s Guide, “Trademarking cocktails” (secondary source: the name is protected, not the ingredients; Gosling’s first trademarked the Dark ‘N Stormy in the late 1970s; the Black Seal serve).
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Paul Clarke), “Dark and Stormy” (secondary source: the Gosling family claimed a trademark in 1991; a 2015 federal complaint against Pernod Ricard; the origin stories).
From the Guides
Made with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
Featured In These Cocktails
Often Used With
Updated 19 October 2026