Rum in a tall glass
Rum and Cola, Dark 'n Stormy, Rum and Ginger: long drinks with rum
A rum long drink is rum with soda in a tall glass, typically 4 to 5 cl of rum to 12 to 15 cl of cola, ginger beer, ginger ale, or tonic. Success depends on cold temperature, carbonation, and a rum that can hold its own against the soda's sugar.
Rum and Cola: what ratio works best?
Most bars mix rum and cola at a ratio of one to three or one to four. More cola makes the drink milder, but also sweeter: classic cola contains around ten grams of sugar per 100 milliliters. That's 100 grams per liter—five times what the EU allows as sweetening in rum. This sugar masks a lot, which is why light, column-distilled rums nearly disappear into the cola without a trace.
An aged rum with vanilla and wood notes holds up better, while a Jamaican rum brings banana and spice to the drink. With the juice of half a lime and the peel in the glass, Rum and Cola becomes a Cuba Libre, tasting drier and fresher.
The carbonation lasts longest when everything is cold. Fill the glass to the brim with ice, then add the rum, followed by the soda straight from the fridge, poured gently along a bar spoon. A single gentle stir is enough. Large ice cubes melt more slowly than small ones and dilute the drink less.
Dark 'n Stormy: a protected name from Bermuda
The Dark 'n Stormy comes from Bermuda and consists of just two ingredients: dark rum and ginger beer. Gosling's, a rum house in Bermuda, has trademarked the name in the US. Anyone selling it under that name there must use Gosling's Black Seal. Outside the US, bars also mix it with other dark rums.
The layering is characteristic. Ginger beer goes over the ice first, then the dark rum is poured slowly on top, forming a cloud that gives the drink its name: dark and stormy. A lime wedge is customary. Dark rums of this style are often darkened with caramel coloring, and their color says nothing about their age.
Ginger beer or ginger ale: what's the difference?
Despite its name, ginger beer is usually non-alcoholic. It has a notably sharper ginger bite, is often cloudy, and was originally fermented. Ginger ale is a clear, milder ginger soda with more carbonation and less bite. The Dark 'n Stormy needs the sharpness of ginger beer, as it stands up to the heavy rum.
Rum with ginger ale is calmer and pairs well with aged rum, whose vanilla notes get along with the mild ginger. It gets sharper with rhum agricole blanc and tonic. The quinine in tonic—a bitter compound from cinchona bark—meets the grassy notes of cane juice head-on. Rum with soda, finally, is the most honest long drink, since the water masks nothing and every flaw in the rum is laid bare.
Dark rum in a long drink: what the color means
Many recipes simply call for dark rum. That's not a protected term, just a color description. In the EU, rum may be colored with caramel, and in Germany this must be stated on the label as "with coloring." So a dark rum can be young and colored, while a light one can be filtered after years of aging.
For a long drink, raw material and still type matter more. Heavy molasses rums from pot stills, such as those from Jamaica or Guyana, bring molasses, licorice, and ripe fruit, and can carry the soda. Light column-distilled rums taste fresher and stay in the background.
Be cautious with spiced rum and cola. What's labeled this way is legally not rum at all, but a rum-based spirit flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, or caramel and often heavily sweetened. Combined with cola, it makes for a very sweet drink. For less sugar, mix rum with soda and lime instead.