Fire & Ice: Backyard Dark ’n Smoky

Fire & Ice: Backyard Dark ’n Smoky

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The Dark ’n Stormy’s a sailor’s drink — rum and ginger beer, sharp as sea air. But when you set it in the backyard, swap the ocean breeze for smoked ice cubes, it becomes something else entirely.

The ginger still snaps, the rum still rolls smooth, but the smoke anchors it to the pit. It’s bold, simple, and steady enough to carry through a whole evening.

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Ingredients

• 2 oz dark rum

• 3 oz ginger beer

• ½ oz lime juice

• Smoked ice cubes (freeze water that’s been smoked)

• Garnish: lime wedge

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Fill a tall glass with smoked ice cubes. Pour in the rum, squeeze lime juice over, and top with ginger beer. Give it a quick stir, drop in the wedge, and let the smoke melt slow with every sip.

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Hosting Notes

✦ For flair: Freeze smoked water into oversized cubes for slower melt.

✦ For garnish: Add a candied ginger skewer for sweet-spicy contrast.

✦ For elevation: Float a splash of blackstrap rum on top for depth.

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Pitmaster’s Pour

For a pour that tastes like it sat through the whole cook, add molasses to your rum. Stir a spoonful into rum, rest, strain, and you’re left with a spirit that’s darker, rounder, and richer. Paired with the ginger beer, it feels like dessert and smoke in one glass.

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From the Porch

The Backyard Dark ’n Smoky belongs to those long summer nights when the cornhole boards are set up in the grass and the score hardly matters. Friends drift between the pit and the game, kids chase each other barefoot across the yard, and laughter carries under the porch lights. The smoked ice keeps the glass cool, the ginger beer keeps the energy high, and the night feels like it could run forever.

 

These recipes are intended for adults of legal drinking age (21+ in the United States; please follow the laws in your region). Fire up the grill, not the driver’s seat. Stoking the Coals encourages moderation, community, and safe enjoyment of food and drink. Please never drink and drive, and always respect your health, your guests, and the law.