028 – Safe Harbour

Sydney’s Covid ‘lock-down’ has inspired me to explore the legally-risky ‘Dark & Stormy®’, ‘Rum Mule’, ‘Dark & Sue Me’, and ‘Safe Harbour’ mixes.

Let’s take a look at the ‘Dark & Stormy’ cocktail’s history, and explore some of the cocktail’s legal issues, construction, and maybe leave the name and drink alone, and make something better and more flexible – a true ‘cocktail’ from the ‘Mule’ (Lime Juice and Ginger Beer) class of cocktails.

Make your own ‘mix-at-home’ Locktail, the ‘Sydney Safe Harbour’ or your own ‘Rum Mule’.

METHOD – Fill a copper mule mug (best choice), or alternatively a highball, double rocks, or tumbler with ice cubes or ice pieces. Add 60ml Rum, 30ml fresh lime juice, 2-to-4 dashes of Black Walnut Bitters (optional) and then fill the glass to your preference with Ginger Beer (at least 100ml) and then stir in the glass. Garnish with a slice of lime or lime wedge.

HISTORICAL NOTES – The ‘Dark ‘n Stormy’ has since 1991 been the registered trademark of Gosling’s Black Seal Rum in the United States. So in the USA, and possibly other jurisdictions, it is technically illegal to make a ‘Dark ‘n Stormy ®’ without using Gosling’s Rum, and also illegal to change the recipe, which is Gosling’s Rum and Ginger Beer only, if you want to call the result a ‘Dark ‘n Stormy’.

I guess that says a lot about the litigious nature of the USA, and thankfully this is a rarity in mixology circles, with only a small number of ‘trademarked’ cocktails, some others including the ‘Painkiller’, ‘Sazerac’ and ‘Hand Grenade’. It stands in the way of creativity and exploration, and expects Bartenders to be legally aware of recipes, and yet still make them and promote them on behalf of a ‘trademark owner’.

To construct mixed drinks to someone else’s inflexible specifications is an anathema to the idea of cocktail making. A trademarked mixed drink isn’t really a ‘cocktail’ any-longer, as an ‘inflexible formula’ and lack of evolution and creativity, it is ‘dead’ to changing tastes, exploration and individual expression.

Thankfully for make-at-home ‘Lock-tails’, you can do whatever you want, and call them whatever you want. If you’re in the USA, perhaps call your drink a ‘Safe Harbour’ or a name of your own choosing, and then mix with whatever flavours suit your taste, add lime, fresh Ginger, an infused syrup, and of course your favorite Rum. Explore and create and challenge your tastes and changing desires. Some cheeky mixologists have gone to calling their drink the ‘Dark ‘n Sue Me’.

How strong Gosling’s claim is on the mix of Rum and Ginger Beer is up for debate. Ginger Beer was relatively common in the early 1800’s, especially in the Caribbean and Rum producing nations. The British Navy specifically naming Ginger Beer, as a treatment or tonic for sailors suffering from sea-sickness. As we saw with the ‘Gimlet’, sailors were renown for mixing the non-alcoholic ingredients they were ‘instructed’ to consume, or came into contact with, into combinations with their alcohol rations. These rations, in the early 1800’s, were predominantly Rum for regular ‘below-deck’ sailors, Gin being reserved for Officers. The ‘Royal Navy’ did not end the tradition of a Rum ration until 31 July 1970 (yes only 51 years ago) after almost three centuries.

The British Navy’s Rum history goes as far back as 1655, and was officially recognised as a ‘ration’ in 1731. Rum had the advantage of not going ‘off’ and perishing on lengthy sea voyages. Lime juice and sugar were made available to ‘dilute’ the Rum and fight scurvy, giving the Royal Navy Sailors the nickname ‘limeys’. By 1810, the Navy’s Rum was a consistent specified blend, dictated by the Admiralty and sourced from British territories. It is clear that the combining of Ginger Beer, Rum, and even Lime Juice was happening well before Gosling’s started formulating Rum blend’s in 1860. Well and truly before their ‘Black Seal Rum’, provided in champagne bottles reclaimed from the British Officers’ Mess, and sealed with black-wax, during and after World War One (Black Seal from around 1914).

The name of the cocktail apparently comes from an unknown sailor saying in respect of the mix, that it was “the colour of a cloud that only a fool or dead man would sail under.” This eventually becoming the ‘Dark and Stormy’ moniker. The drink remained in Bermuda and other tropical territories until after World War One, until thanks to the US experiment with Prohibition (1920–1933), American’s would travel to whatever island they could to have a holiday accompanied with alcohol. The drink went back to the USA with them, becoming very popular in American Bars, before, during and after the Second World War.

The Gosling Black Seal Rum certainly has the ‘dark’ colour and flavours suited to this mix, and played a big part in the cocktail’s success in Bermuda and the USA, however owning the history of the name is questionable and more marketing and commercial defense than historical reality. The trademark was only acquired by Gosling’s in 1991. What is even more questionable is that in Australia, the ‘Dark & Stormy’ was registered by Bundaberg Rum in 1993. What that says about the Australian Intellectual Property Office (IP Australia) and how this could be considered Bundaberg’s Intellectual Property, I’ll leave you to judge for yourself. I refuse to drink Bundaberg Rum, let alone mix a cocktail with it.

THE OFFICIAL MIX – The ‘Dark & Stormy’ is included in the International Bartender Association (IBA) ‘New Era Drinks’ list, here. The IBA recipe is the trademarked one, calling for 60ml of Gosling’s Rum, and 100ml of Ginger Beer, in a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with a lime wedge or slice.

The ‘Dark & Stormy’ is really one part of the ‘Mule Family’ in the opinion of many commentators, and I will be making this 28th ‘Lock-tail’ from the tradition of the ‘Mule’ (Ginger Beer and Lime Juice) cocktails, as a ‘Safe Harbour’ or ‘Rum Mule’ cocktail. If you want to try a ‘strict’ Dark ‘n Stormy, the photo and recipe above will serve as instruction.

TASTING NOTES – The combination of lime juice with ginger beer is a refreshing inspiration, sweet, sour and delicious. With the coldness of ice and the acidity of a ‘mule’, drinking from a copper mug has an extra element to the flavour from the ‘tang’ of the metal. This is effectively a ‘chemical reaction’, the acid is slowly corroding the copper. In the US, it is prohibited to allow copper to come into contact with acidic foods and drinks, and Mules are certainly acidic. Some copper is good for you, your body uses it, copper helps create blood cells and healthy bones, nerves and immune function. However too much can be harmful, leading to nausea, diarrhea, headaches, irritations, and other conditions. So enjoy this ‘copper taste’ occasionally, but don’t drink acidic beverages from copper mugs all the time or too often.

From the ‘mule base’, this drink is a celebration of Rum, usually dark rum. The flavour of the rum sits very well alongside the sweet and sour lime and ginger. That is a good reason for selecting a rum that you like. It is fine to use a spiced rum if that is where your palate takes you.

LOCKTAIL CHANGES – There isn’t much point in exploring a cocktail that you can’t change or adjust to your preferences, or explore and innovate over time. So I have only introduced the ‘Dark & Stormy®’ for the purpose of historical background and the IBA listing, but I am going to start from a ‘Rum Mule’ with Lime Juice included. This is a homage, like the Gimlet, to the ingenuity of British Naval Sailors in the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries. This is basically the cocktail known as the ‘Safe Harbour’, which sometimes uses Ginger Syrup and Soda Water instead of Ginger Beer. My preference is for the ‘Mule’ approach of mixing ‘lime juice’ and ‘ginger beer’ in a copper vessel with loads of ice.

If you can (and I know this is a big ask), use a copper vessel (Mule Mug) for these cocktails. It has to be ‘copper’ on the inside otherwise it is just an aesthetic choice. The copper reacts with the acidity of the Ginger Beer and Lime, and creates a flavour shift that is just perfect with a cold mule cocktail. Just don’t do this all the time … too much copper is bad for you.

I find the Ginger Beer sweet enough and I enjoy the tartness of the lime, however you can add some sugar, or simple syrup, or flavour infused simple syrup (perhaps the mint syrup from the previous ‘Southside’ cocktail) if you want to add sweetness and other flavours.

If you are using a first-rate Dark Rum, you can also lessen the lime juice or leave it out completely if you are trying to get at the heart of the rum flavours. Goslings is certainly a fine rum and the only choice if you are using the IBA or trademarked recipe. For a ‘Rum Mule’ or ‘Safe Harbour’ I would suggest Diplomatico (Venezuela), Appleton (Jamaica) or Plantation (Caribbean and Single Origin). The Plantation O.F.T.D. (Old Fashioned Traditional Dark – Over-proof 69% ABV) would make a great choice and is also very dark in colour.

For my Lock-down inspired ‘Sydney Safe Harbour’, I am using 60ml Plantation (aged 2005 Jamaican) Rum, approximately 30ml lime juice (one small fresh lime – hand squeezed) and Bundaberg Ginger Beer, which to fill the copper mugs that I’m using, turned out to be around 150ml of the Ginger Beer.

YOUR LOCKTAIL EXPERIENCE – If you’d rather taste than read, I am progressively building an ingredient list and other sourcing information on this site. I will re-use ingredients where I can (good for my budget too), so that the cost goes down overtime if you are ‘playing at home’.

Let me know what you think.

Cocktails you’d like reinvented.

Recipes you’ve tried and your ‘score’.

This is the eighth of the 1911-1920 bracket of ‘Locktail’ remixes. See the full list in the index.