This year, June 9* is International Dark ‘n Stormy® Day. Sailors and cocktail enthusiasts, exult! This delicious and potent highball was accidentally created by a Bermudian rum-making family (you know the Goslings, don’t you?) and a group of seasick mariners. In the 1920s, British Navy personnel stationed on Bermuda brewed ginger beer as a remedy for seasickness. Some daring mariners began adding a dash of the Goslings’ locally-made Black Seal Rum to ginger beer, thereby transforming a remedy for a queasy stomach into one of the most popular and well-known cocktails to date. Pour yourself a tall glass of Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer and top it off with Goslings Black Seal Rum, and raise a glass to the brilliant minds who created this liquid masterpiece.
FIVE FAST FACTS:
It follows a precise protocol
Mixing other rums with ginger beer may be tasty, but a Dark ‘n Stormy® cannot be made without the distinctive flavour of Goslings Black Seal Rum®.
Member of the Hall of Fame
The Dark ‘n Stormy was ranked nineteenth on the list of the world’s best-selling cocktails published in 2020.
The Best Mixer Available
Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer® is the most popular ginger beer in the United States.
The Flavours of Bermuda
The Dark ‘n Stormy is the official national drink of Bermuda.
A Worldwide Phenomenon
More than twenty countries import Goslings Black Seal Rum. Making the Dark ‘n Stormy a genuinely international drink.
HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL DARK ‘N STORMY® DAY
It was a stormy and dismal night…It is more plausible that James Gosling, the eldest son of wine and spirit merchant William Gosling, embarked on a journey from England to America with 10,000 pounds of merchandise on a pleasant spring day in 1806. Unfortunately, his charter expired after 91 days at sea, so James and his crew decided to travel to the closest port: St. George’s, Bermuda. Instead of leaving Bermuda for America in 1824, he and his brother Ambrose opened a shop on King’s Parade Street. Prior to World War I, the Gosling family’s distinctive black rum was referred to as “Old Rum” until they perfected their blending technique through the years. Beginning in the early 1900s, rum was packaged in repurposed champagne vessels and sealed with black wax. From that point forward, the rum was commonly known as “Black Seal.”
In the 1920s, Royal Naval Officers who were producing their own ginger beer discovered the family’s rum. They inadvertently created a delicious and renowned cocktail by adding a generous splash of dark rum to their sparkling drink. According to legend, the cocktail’s name was derived from an old fisherman’s remark that it had the “colour of a cloud that only fools or the dead would sail under.” On June 9, 1980, the Gosling family registered a trademark for the Dark ‘n Stormy® cocktail, protecting the drink’s recipe worldwide and ensuring that a drink can only be advertised as an authentic Dark ‘n Stormy® if it contains the main ingredient, Goslings Black Seal Rum®.
INTERNATIONAL DARK ‘N STORMY® DAY DATES
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | June 23 | Tuesday |
| 2021 | June 9 | Wednesday |
| 2022 | June 9 | Thursday |
| 2023 | June 9 | Friday |
| 2024 | June 9 | Sunday |
