Back in August I visited my pal La in Chattanooga, where I had the best Dark & Stormy of my life.

If you ever make it to Chattanooga, hit up The Social. It's a nice mix of hipster and yuppy, with really great cocktails. On a mission to get away from gin, I tried their dark & stormy, after the bartender told me it was made from ginger beer they make in-house.

It didn't disappoint.

Finding a good ginger beer to match your particular tastes is like searching for the holy grail. Or a unicorn. Sometimes I feel it's a myth.

Ginger beer is nothing like ginger ale. It's much more akin to root beer,and is likewise not alcoholic. Upon finish, it can have quite a bite. I like little bites. Not big ones. Personally, I prefer Barritt's ginger beer, but can't seem to find it around these parts. Try a few and find what you like.

(I even tried to make my own ginger beer recently and it still had much more a bite than I'd like. Someone send me some Barritt's, please.)

For the rum, make sure you get something spiced and dark. I used Captain Morgan's Black this time around. Yum.

Making a Dark & Stormy is easy peasy. And they are sure pretty.