Storm in a Cocktail Glass
You are probably familiar with Bermuda’s most famous cocktail – the dark ‘n’ stormy.
For those who are not initiated into the shaken and stirred world of cocktails, dark ‘n’ stormy is a cool concoction made of Gosling’s Black Seal Rum and Ginger Beer. Served with a wedge of lime to add a citrusy zest to the drink, it is a popular cocktail that is being hotly discussed today. The name is a trademark owned by Gosling’s Rum and so any mixologist or bartender who mixes dark rum and ginger beer can’t claim to serve a dark ‘n’ stormy unless he uses Gosling’s Black Seal Rum and Ginger Beer.
There are those who argue that the trademark is difficult to enforce since a bartender can mix any dark rum and ginger beer when a customer orders a dark ‘n’stormy. The Gosling’s claim is that when a customer orders a dark ‘n’ stormy he expects to be served with a cocktail made with Gosling’s rum and hence, if the bartender uses a different brand, he/she cannot call the drink “dark ‘n’ stormy”.
Cocktails using dark rum and ginger beer are popular in Australia too. Bundaberg Rum in Australia has the right to sell their trademarked pre-mixed dark ‘n’ stormy only within Australia and nowhere else. This is because they filed for a trademark in Australia before Gosling’s Rum filed theirs. In any case, Gosling’s Rum is not sold in Australia, so there is no competition there.
When you are in Bermuda, if you order a dark ‘n’ stormy, you are certain to be served one made with Gosling’s Rum. Elsewhere, they’d better call it by another name if they don’t use Gosling’s Rum or the bartender may be slapped with a trademark violation!
I could call this the “perfect storm” but I know that there is a cocktail by the same name and it does have a dash of bitters too. So why not call this a storm in a cocktail glass?
