Dark and Stormy

In honor of September being about “preparedness,” I wanted to share a few ideas of how to best prepare and host a cocktail party. At Blackberry, we always talk about how the classics are what people gravitate towards. Although our bar program sports creative and seasonally inspired cocktails, it isn’t always easy tracking down the ingredients and equipment needed to develop such drinks. With that being said, it becomes even more arduous to recreate signature cocktails in a home setting. This is where the classics come in. As bars evolved and became a place where guests would order individual drinks, their menu items would often be prepared batched and then scaled down to an individual order. Here in lies the secret to preparing for an easily executed cocktail party. Rather than worrying about the dashes, the muddling, zesting, and so on, resort to creating a punch that can be poured and finished with a soda or tonic. With September ushering in a change of seasons, we like to slowly incorporate darker spirits such as rums and whiskeys while fading out gins and vodkas. This time of the year, we especially like the classic drink called “The Dark and Stormy.” Made with Gosling’s Rum, freshly squeezed lime juice, and Gosling’s ginger beer, this cocktail still tastes refreshing because of the lime juice and bubbles of the ginger beer, but reminds you of the changing of seasons with its subtle spicy and textured finish. All the drink calls for is freshly squeezed limes, a bottle of Gosling’s Rum, a carafe in which to store the premade mix and Gosling’s ginger beer as the finishing touch.