Cocktail & Other Recipes By Spirit Rum Cocktails

Rum & Ginger

By
Kelly Magyarics
Kelly Magyarics
Kelly Magyarics
Kelly Magyarics, DWS, is a wine, spirits, travel, food and lifestyle writer and wine educator.
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Updated 08/1/21
A short Collins glass rests on a bronze stool. The glass is filled with a few large, clear ice cubes and a dark brown highball.
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BlackTail

BlackTail—the Lower Manhattan retro Cuban bar from the team behind famed Irish bar the Dead Rabbit—has closed, but its legacy lives on. When it was open it was known to modernize classics like the Rum & Coke and the Daiquiri, and its contemporary riff on the Dark ’n Stormy was simply called the Rum & Ginger. Bartender Nate Dobson took the trifecta of dark rum, ginger beer and lime juice and added passion fruit, bitters and a blend of funky Jamaican spirits.

While a Dark ’n Stormy, by trademark law, must be made with Gosling’s Black Seal rum, the Rum & Ginger is free from any such obligation and is made with Dead Rabbit’s unique blend of rums. Mixing rum bases is a popular move for drinks like the Mai Tai, and this particular blend consists of four different labels. While most of them should be easy to find, the Bacardi Superior Heritage Limited Edition likely won’t be; substituting another expression of Bacardi can work. Since you’ll likely be making more than two ounces of the blend, you can try it in any other white rum drink, like a Daiquiri, Mojito or Mai Tai.

The four rums that go into the DR blend aren’t the only ones in the Rum & Ginger—it also gets a quarter ounce of Wray & Nephew overproof. This rich, clear rum adds a significant punch at 126 proof, as well as a bit of that Jamaican rum “funk,” also known as hogo.

For the fruit aspect the Rum & Ginger gets a teaspoon of passionfruit puree, which adds a subtle fruitiness and tartness that enhances the lime juice. It’s topped with Blenheim ginger ale, rather than the traditional ginger beer seen in the Dark ’n Stormy. Unlike most ginger ale, Blenheim has a decent level of spice, so if substituting make sure to avoid using a generic ginger ale brand—try using a ginger beer, instead.

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Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 ounces DR rum blend*

  • 1/4 ounce Wray & Nephew overproof rum

  • 3/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed

  • 1 teaspoon passion fruit puree

  • 1 dash Angostura bitters

  • Blenheim ginger ale, to top

Steps

  1. Add the rum blend, overproof rum, lime juice, passion fruit puree and bitters into a Collins glass over ice.

  2. Top with the ginger ale.

*DR rum blend: Combine 4 parts Bacardi Superior Heritage Limited Edition rum, 3 parts Caña Brava rum, 2 parts Barbancourt white rhum agricole and 1 part Banks 5 Island rum.