Dark 'n' stormy cocktail warms spirits when temperatures drop

ONE EARLY FALL DAY here in northeastern New England, we spent the afternoon swimming in the lake under low, dark skies. All the summer people were gone, and the water was suddenly chilly, the light bleak.

We tramped back up to our farmhouse, and after hot showers and a change into pajamas, we were hankering for a dark 'n' stormy, that classic maritime cocktail of ginger beer and dark rum—Gosling's Black Seal, to be specific, a Bermuda-made brand so closely

associated with the cocktail that its distiller has trademarked the recipe. It's a perfect drink for this time of year: spicy, warming, bracing, zippy. Invented in Bermuda in the early 20th century, it made its way up the Atlantic seaboard as one sailor served it to another.

The ginger beer of choice up here, Maine Root, is so potent it renders moot the question of whether it would be better to make one's own. Its heat stands up to the boozy sweetness of the Gosling's, and the sugar of both is cut by tart lime juice.

Being one who tends to want more of everything good, I wagered ginger-and-lime simple syrup would amp up every aspect of the drink. So I made a batch—honoring the Gosling's trademark insofar as my choice of rum—and found I'd wagered right.

As the sun set, we sat in the kitchen with the kerosene lantern lit, feeling as if we were in the captain's quarters of a ship. After supper—a New England bouillabaisse of chorizo, shrimp and haddock—we played Spite and Malice with two ancient decks of cards. I made another round of dark 'n' stormies with kick-it-up-a-notch syrup, and we toasted our new motto: "More of everything good."