The Calm Sunny Day. Neither dark, nor stormy.
There is one week to go before Mixology Monday drinks are due. But since we are hosting, we figured we should post a few examples of cocktails that might fit our theme of “inverted”. If you want the whole download on the theme, click here. But the basic idea is to create or share a cocktail that in some way inverts or “flips” common parts of the drink. You can invert the ratio of spirits, liquor and bitters, or flip the colors, flavors, theme, etc. Plenty of ways to be creative.
To start, we decided to go with something easy, but as we got into it we realized just how many ways you can play with a cocktail. Our first “inverted” creation is the Calm Sunny Day, essentially an inverted Dark ‘n Stormy. The Dark ‘n Stormy is a well-known long drink combining Goslings dark rum, lime juice and ginger beer (or ginger ale in a pinch). It is a bright, funky and spicy summer drink, usually served on the rocks in a highball glass.
We decided to invert the Dark ‘n Stormy into a more traditional cocktail, and this is where it got fun. The Calm Sunny Day combines aged filtered rum, ginger liqueur and lime juice (and a dash of bitters, if you like). You get the same basic flavors of the Dark ‘n Stormy, but everything else is flipped. Highball turns to cocktail, dark rum to light, brown colors are now very pale, ginger beer to ginger liqueur and the name gets a change as well. You get the idea.
A few notes on the ingredients will help with the recipe. Firstly, we use filtered aged rum like El Dorado 3 yr. or Banks 5-Island. It turns out you can filter the color from aged, darker rums and keep most of their “funk” and flavor. This kind of rum let us change the color of the drink and is a good cocktail ingredient, but if you already have Goslings or other dark rum you can use it (you just get a deeper color, extra recipe below). As for Ginger Liqueur, there are a few producers and each type varies slightly in sweetness and spice. It is best to mix your first version with less ginger liqueur and adjust upwards if needed. And you may need a dash of simple syrup to add sweetness without adding too much ginger. We also add a dash of Bittermen’s Burlesque bitters for extra funk, but it’s totally optional.
And how does the Calm Sunny Day taste? Well, depending on who you ask it either tastes like a “ginger daiquiri” or “like a Dark ‘n Stormy”. And both work for us, you get a big zip of lime, followed by funky rum and a spicy ginger finish. And the aroma is also very nice. Overall, we like the drink and ended up “inverting” a number of elements from a classic cocktail. So not only was the Calm Sunny Day a very tasty drink, it was fun to create. That is what cocktails are all about (at least here at the farm).
So that is “inverted” recipe #1. Stay tuned for #2 and, perhaps, #3. We still have a week to go. Meanwhile, tomorrow is Fat Tuesday. Go have a Sazerac and listen to some good music….;-)
The Calm Sunny Day:
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. filtered, aged rum (El Dorado 3 yr. old)
- 1/2 oz. ginger liqueur, or more to taste (Creme de Gigembre)
- 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
- Dash of simple syrup (optional)
- Dash of Bittermen’s Burlesque Bitters (optional, sub Angostura)
- Lime wheel, for garnish
Assemble:
- Combine all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until well-chilled and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass, flute or coupé. Garnish with the lime wheel. Serve.
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The Inverted Dark ‘n Stormy:
Ingredients:
- 2 oz. Gosling’s rum
- 1/2 oz. ginger liqueur, or more to taste (Creme de Gigembre)
- 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
- Lime wheel, for garnish
Assemble:
- Combine all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until well-chilled and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass, flute or coupé. Garnish with the lime wheel. Serve.
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Putney Farm 
lovely:-)
Thanks- a fun experiment..
hello, putneyfarm… i like your play with words, sir. each drink has a nicely-spun tale – playing, inverting, flipping. you like what you’re doing. after reading your mixes, i wanna get myself some drinks, haha. especially if they got a name like dark n stormy, haha. have a good week, warm regards… 🙂
PutneyFarm, we like the flavor of ginger and citrus so we’ll have to try this (although we might wait for warmer weather). Great way to invert a cocktail by 5X! You have us thinking how to invert almost every drink now (at least until next week). It would be so easy to do a classic inversion of a Sazerac, but you really have to like Herbsaint (which we do) and sugar; but the resulting buzz could be fun.
Thanks, we like the drink, but also posted it because our first inversion recipe is still in the works. Fun, but harder than expected. You will see that next week, we hope..
We may try to flip the Sazerac but make it a Peychauds drink (we do like herbsaint / absinthe, though). Hmm…
This I will I order next .. cocktail time – like that ginger touch to it.
Hope you like it…would work with vodka, too- just would need a bit more sugar.
Had somehting similar in Chicago – Sepia Mule. Liked it very much. I bet they don’t know what I’m after when I order it. *smile
Come on, give me a drink without one of that fragile stems. I want one in a glass I can wrap my hand around.
We are very dainty here at the farm. Just put it in a lowball glass… 😉
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Does it offend you to admit that I like to sip Gosling’s Black Seal neat (or is the word neet)? When at the ABC store yesterday, I got sticker shock when seeing the prices of my favorite liquors. The newer, state crafted ones were out of sight expensive. What is your absolutely favorite rum concoction?
Not offended at all- I am drinking a dark rum-based manhattan these days- mostly rum. Once you get a taste for darker rum it becomes a favorite.
My absolute fav rum concoction is Ti’ Punch. Rum Agricole (or just good rum), lime and sugar, with a few ice cubes. Simple, but really good. Here is a link:
https://putneyfarm.com/2012/02/11/ti-punch-this-weeks-cocktail/
And you should never pay that much for rum or gin, the quality rarely goes up with cost (except for some of the aged rum).
Do you have a list of your favorite brands of liquor for folks like me who tend to sip rather than mix grand concotions? Thanks, Diane
Hi,
For sipping, aged rums are great. Appleton and El Dorado are very tasty and not at all expensive. This is what we sip most often- it works in any season. A little lime of lemon or even a touch of vermouth also play well.
Rittenhouse Rye whiskey is great stuff (and not nearly as sweet as bourbon, more spicy) and a great sipper.
If you are into bourbon, Elijah Craig 12 is very tasty and an amazing value.
Cazadores tequila with just a touch of lime is delightful to sip.
Broker’s gin is lovely. So is Bluecoat, if you can find it.
Ketel One or Russian Standard vodka on the rocks are very good. Tito’s Vodka, if you can get it, is great.
And finally- one other “sipper” for summer is Lillet Blanc on the rocks. It is more like vermouth, but is perfect on warm summer days. More flavor than wine, but less booze than spirits.
Hope this helps!
Perfect oh wise one. I made my list. Many thanks, this means so much. Keep up this great blog! Diane
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