| The Dark'n'Stormy Staying on theme with my desire for some weather, I figured I would highlight one more thing Southern California seems to lack: my favorite cocktail. The first time that sweet nectar touched my lips was out of a silver trophy cup at the IYAC in Newport the night our team won the Raingutter Regatta. Born in Bermuda (who knows when) at the Royal Naval Officer's Club when they discovered that a floater of black rum made their ginger beer taste so much better. Legend has it the name was inspired by a comment from a patron saying that the black rum floater looked like a thundercloud in the glass the "color of a cloud that only a fool or a dead man would sail under". Too many of these thunderclouds sure makes you feel like a dead man (woman) walking the next day... Made with Goslings Dark Rum (2 oz, floater), Barritts Ginger Beer (4 oz.), and a slice of lime it is perhaps one of the tastiest and most dangerous cocktails. It's appropriate served seaside, or puddle-side if you can't find a body of water but need a Dark-n-Stormy. Please keep up the count and have one for me (or a few) until I can get back across the Mississippi River to the Atlantic side.  |
| The best, and only proper Ginger Beer for the Dark-n-Stormy. Also the color of the can is BRILLIANT. I want to use this color in a lavatory or dining room. Ooh a dining room with chocolate brown and off-white graphic drapes... |
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| The other key ingredient. Delicious Gosling's Black Rum. (They have their own Ginger Beer Brand, now too, but I am a bit of a Dark-n-Stormy snob and insist on Barritt's unless I am really desperate in say, Manhattan or California...) |
This post is dedicated to Michael Francois O'Neill who was a champion on that Raingutter Team, and whose enjoyment of above mentioned cocktail inspired a message befitting a t-shirt. And also to The Hawk who has shared many of these drinks in fine establishments scattered around our little island.
Cheers to the nights (and days) in Newport!
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