The Dark & Stormy Coctail – Featuring Homemage Ginger Beer
Beginning with the creation of a starter culture, our Dark and Stormy recipe guides you through brewing homemade ginger beer and mixing the result into a delicious rum-based cocktail. Preparation involves fermenting a mixture of fresh ginger, sugar, and water, which is then flavored with lime. The process requires patience, especially during the fermentation of the starter culture, which can take a few days to a couple of weeks, but the resulting Dark and Stormy cocktail is certainly worth the wait!
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Homemade Ginger Beer
(Begin your fermentation journey here.)
Ingredients:
- 1 fresh ginger root
- 2 cups sugar raw cane sugar
- 3 limes
- Water
Instructions:
- The starter culture can take a couple of weeks to get going, depending on the ambient temperature. Grate 2 tsp (about 10g) ginger and 2 teaspoons of sugar into 1 cup of water. Stir well, cover with cheesecloth, and set in a warm spot. Every day or two, stir in the same amount of grated ginger and sugar. When this starter starts bubbling (depending on temperature, this can be as soon as a couple of days, or more than a week), it’s ready to use. If you don’t use it right away, keep it active by feeding it with additional sugar and grated ginger every couple of days.
- Once the starter is active, bring ½ gallon of water to a boil. Add about ¼ cup (40g) grated ginger for a mild brew, or up to ¾ cup (120g) grated ginger for strong ginger flavor, and 1½ cups (270g) sugar, and boil for 15 minutes. Allow to cool to body temperature.
- When cool, strain out and discard the ginger. To the liquid, add the juice of the limes and the strained starter culture. (Optionally, to keep the starter going for future batches, reserve a couple tablespoons of the starter culture, add more water, grated ginger, and sugar to it, continuing to feed as in Step 1.) Bottle the ginger beer in sealable bottles. Glass swing-top bottles work best, but glass or plastic screw-top bottles can also be used. Let the bottles ferment in a warm place for 10-14 days.
- Chill the bottles before opening. While the results of fermentation can vary slightly, ginger beer should contain no more than trace amounts of alcohol, and can be safely consumed by children.
The Dark & Stormy Cocktail
This cocktail features Homemade Ginger Beer!
Ingredients:
- 2 oz (60 ml) dark rum
- 3 oz (90 ml) homemade ginger beer (see above), or substitute any commercially-produced ginger beer
- 1 lime (optional)
- Ice
Instructions:
- Fill a glass with ice. Add rum, ginger beer, and the juice of half a lime (if desired) and stir.
- Garnish with a wedge of lime and serve.
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