International Dark ‘n Stormy® Day 2023: Date, History, Facts, Activities

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.

The background 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®.

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INTERNATIONAL DARK ‘N STORMY® DAY ACTIVITIES

Take pleasure in a glass (or can) of the refreshing cocktail.

If you’re celebrating International Dark ‘n Stormy® Day, it’s a given that you’ll indulge in the drink’s rich and effervescent flavours. The only way to get it incorrect is by not drinking it at all, regardless of whether you prefer it layered in a glass or in a Goslings quick and convenient can.

Garb yourself as a seaman

The Dark ‘n Stormy is the preferred drink of sailors, so it’s only fitting that you assume their persona after consuming one…or two. However, please consume responsibly; just because you are dressed as a sailor does not mean that you have a sailor’s alcohol tolerance. Believe us, we know.

Prepare Dark and Stormy Food

Ginger, rum, and citrus are all fantastic flavour profiles for a variety of culinary preparations. Try your hand at baking or blending Dark ‘n Stormy pastries or ice cream.

5 FAST FACTS:

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®.

The Dark ‘n Stormy was ranked nineteenth on the list of the world’s best-selling cocktails published in 2020.

Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer® is the most popular ginger beer in the United States.

The Dark ‘n Stormy is the official national drink of Bermuda.

More than twenty countries import Goslings Black Seal Rum. Making the Dark ‘n Stormy a genuinely international drink.

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