Yeah, it was 🙂  So one of the first cocktails I ever had was a dark and stormy served up by girlfriends parents.  They are a nautical couple which, I’m told, basically guarantees a fondness for the D&S.  To be honest, I’m not a huge fan, but I do like to dabble and experiment, so I set out to see if I could optimize the recipe.  I found a recipe from Garden and Gun (love that magazine title) entitled “The Perfect Stormy” http://gardenandgun.com/article/perfect-stormy.

2½ oz. Myers’s Dark Rum
2 oz. homemade ginger/lemongrass syrup (see below)
Club soda or sparkling water
Garnish: candied ginger

Trouble arose when I tried to make the syrup, as I could not find lemongrass.  Cutting my losses, I made a ginger syrup, but even that didn’t work out — fairly certain I let it cook too long.  Oh well, still worth a go — I made the “Perfect” and a standard D&S (2 ounces Goslings rum, 5 ounces of Goslings ginger beer) and did a blind taste test with my girlfriend.

Standard on the left, perfect on the right.  My girlfriend picked it out no problem, as did I — the perfect was good but it was also overpowering and sweet.  Very interesting flavor but we both still preferred the standard.  However, I’m not willing to give up yet, and will work to refine the syrup–and find lemongrass–so I can do this version justice.  I owe it to Gun and Garden 🙂