Unusual Summer DC in September, calls for the Dark N' Stormy

A funny thing happened in DC during the month of September. It turned to a brutal nearly code red August summer day. Temperatures swelled suddenly from the cool Fall days past, to a sudden hot high 90s. It was humid, it was sticky, plain and in short... it was summer in DC again one of those awful ones. I thought Fall drinks were on the way, but suddenly... they weren't!

So I thought I was done with summer drinks and mojitos and the like. But nope I was wrong.

With crisis comes opportunity, and with that I could crave something to beat the heat, and that little something something.. is none other than a Dark N' Stormy. The best thing about them, they are stupid easy to make.

First off a real good Dark N Stormy uses Ginger Beer. NOT GINGER ALE! like some other people use. I go for two types of ginger beer particularly.

The first type is one that I see quite often and I'll occasionally use in a pinch, and that's DG brand. It has a very ginger sharp taste to it, one that really cuts. The second I use is a much different a subtler one made by Reed's. Reed's ginger beer, is not as high on ginger (although the taste is there), but its filled with tropical fruit and aroma. It's VERY good if you can find it.

Ginger beer is basically a concoction of ginger and soda if I could explain it simply. If you want to put ginger root in a bottle and sell it as soda pop that's what you get. The hot ginger taste I find can really cool you off and its sweet. The DG brand is much sweeter than Reed's.

That said the next important thing is the rum. Not just any rum. A true Dark N' Stormy is made with Gosling's Black Seal rum from Bermuda. It has a big dark color, a seal on the bottle, and has this (to my senses) great toffee and smooth rum flavor.

With the really hot weather all of a sudden, I found myself desiring this tasty beverage. It turned out opportunity provided me a chance to get it sooner than I expected.

Watch the quick video below to understand how to make one. CHEERS!

There is GOLD in dem dar mojitos! Organic sugar becomes diamond in the rough

While going back and tasting libations, there is much to decipher. Summer is coming to a close in DC, suddenly there is a hint of chill in the air. This is not a bad thing, it has been particularly hot this summer so we are all ready I think for a change, and with change comes different imbibing. However, the mint has been revived a bit and I went back to try some of my other rums and still mojitos and daiquiris still keep calling.

The gold rums I tasted were all very good (if you refer back to my blind rum tasting). The last rum I tasted however though was the 10 Cane a product from Trinidad/Tobago. While I did conclude that it was good I had to admit the other golds were superior with the Oronoco being just sublime. Just to note the Oronoco rum is not worth a mojito it really should be drank on the rocks with NOTHING. There was nothing to hate about the 10 Cane rum but it needed to be tested, I couldn't "TASTE" anything off of it. To cut to the chase, I decided to try the 10 Cane with my standard mojito making and also in a daiquiri. There was one slight difference though, I pulled out another weapon in my arsenal for making of the mojito. Something I wish I used more often... a bag of organic sugar.

Lets just cut to the chase. I remember when doing the tasting that the rum didn't have much sugar coming off of it in the taste. The Mount Gay Special Reserve seemed to fit that a bit better. However, when making the mojito with the organic sugar something wonderful happened. Suddenly the drink exploded in flavor.

Organic sugar has a much different appearance. it is slightly gold and brown much like it's gold rum namesake and partner. It's as if they were made for each other. When pairing the organic sugar with the 10 Cane suddenly the rum came alive, there was bouquet, vapor, the mint came off even more, and there was a lingering sweet finish but not a harsh sweetness. Long story short, it seemed the sugar brought out the rums flavor considerably.

I still had to be convinced and even used a light rum with the organic sugar for another mojito (Appleton). Still great, but the sugar didn't bring out the flavor profile as much, somehow it seemed the 10 Cane and organic sugar were in harmony.

Some things just happen by accident, some by research, other times you just get friggin lucky.

Unfortunately, I traded my Special Reserve Mount Gay for some 7 year dark, I am now missing it so for this drink. I am trying to get in as many 10 Cane organic sugar mojitos as I can, before time runs out... Seems like summer... is coming to and end.
Cheers!