The non-alcoholic Dark and Stormy

The classic Dark 'n' Stormy is Bermudian: about 2 oz of dark rum floated over 4 to 5 oz of ginger beer in a tall glass of ice, with a lime wedge. Gosling's owns the trademark and says it must be made with its Black Seal rum. Strictly speaking, it's a mule, but the rum changes everything. Each part has a job:

• Ginger beer brings sugar, spice and fizz. It's most of the liquid in the glass.
• Dark rum brings molasses, caramel, a little burnt bitterness and a lot of weight. It's also what makes the "storm cloud" when you float it on top.
• Lime keeps it from tasting like dessert.

A non-alcoholic Dark and Stormy has to replace that rum with something that does the same three jobs:

• Dark, cooked-sugar flavor. Caramel, toffee, vanilla, molasses and dark spice. The best dark rum alternatives are built around exactly these notes.
• A touch of bitterness. Real dark rum has a burnt edge that stops the drink from being cloying. Most zero-proof rums are softer, so a splash of dark amaro helps.
• Color for the float. Real rum floats partly because alcohol is lighter than water. A zero-proof float is heavier, so it won't sit on top for long, but a dark enough liquid still makes the storm cloud as it drifts down.

Lyre's Rum Mule is the closest canned option in our catalogue. It's made with Lyre's dark cane spirit, so it has the toffee note of a rum drink, along with gently spiced ginger and tart lime. Straight from the can it's a little sweet and more mule than storm, but two small moves fix that: squeeze in a fresh lime wedge, and float half an ounce of a dark amaro on top for the look and a bitter finish.

Curious Elixirs No. 2 is a different animal: a spicy pineapple margarita crossed with a ginger Dark 'n' Stormy, with chili and damiana. It's sweet-hot and tart. Think of it as a tropical, spicy cousin rather than the classic, and pour it over ice.

The dark rum

This is the slot that matters most. Here's the best non-alcoholic dark rum for the job, and the alternatives if you want something different.

• Lyre's Dark Cane Spirit is our pick, and the one Lyre's itself points at this drink. Caramel, molasses and maple, with vanilla, spice and toasted nuts on the finish. It's sweet and full-bodied, like a Bermudian dark rum, and it's dark enough to make a proper float.
• Fluere Spiced Cane Dark Roast is made from Dominican cane molasses, with coffee and chocolate on the nose and tonka, licorice and toffee on the palate. It's richer and a little more bitter than Dark Cane, which suits this drink well. Use it if you like your Dark and Stormy deep and roasty.
• Ritual Rum Alternative has vanilla, ripe banana, burnt orange and molasses, with Ritual's peppery warmth. It's lighter in color than the two above, so it's better stirred in than floated, but that peppery burn is the closest thing to real rum's heat.
• Lyre's American Malt is a bourbon alternative, but its vanilla, caramel and oak make a good stand-in if it's what you have. Aged rum and bourbon share a lot of barrel flavor.

The float

Dark Cane on its own makes a good float, but it's softer and sweeter than black rum. A small splash of something darker and more bitter makes it taste more like the real thing.

• Lapo's Amaro is the best fit we know. It's a dark amaro of licorice, cinnamon, orange blossom and pine on a base of date syrup and bitter orange. The date syrup gives it color and weight, and the licorice and bitterness stand in for the burnt edge of black rum. A quarter ounce is enough.
• Curious Elixirs No. 8 is a blackberry, blueberry and fig amaro with gentian and ginger. It's fruitier and just as dark, and the ginger in it echoes the ginger beer.
• Pathfinder Hemp & Root is the most bitter option, with wormwood, saffron and ginger. Use a small splash if you like your drinks dry and bracing.

If you have none of these, a teaspoon of blackstrap molasses stirred into the spirit gives you color, weight and that deep, slightly bitter sugar. With no rum alternative at all, molasses stirred into a bourbon alternative is the best DIY non-alcoholic substitute for dark rum we know.

The spiced rum option

If you like a spiced rum version, and many people search for a non-alcoholic spiced rum for exactly this drink, there are good options now.

• Ish Caribbean Spiced has caramel, Madagascar vanilla, nutmeg and baked apple, with zero sugar. Because it isn't sweet, it balances a sugary ginger beer well.
• Abstinence Cape Spice leads with allspice, cassia and clove, lifted by cardamom and orange peel, with vanilla and coconut underneath. Also sugar-free, and the most spice-forward of the three.
• Seedlip Spice 94 has allspice, cardamom and oak and no sugar at all. Seedlip suggests it with ginger ale, which tells you how naturally it sits with ginger. Use half an ounce alongside Dark Cane.

The ginger beer

The rule for the best ginger beer for a Dark and Stormy is simple: pick one that's properly spicy rather than sweet. The float already adds sugar, so a sweet ginger beer tips the whole drink into soda territory. Keep it very cold and freshly opened.

• Gosling's Stormy Ginger Beer is the traditional choice, made by the rum family to finish their own drink: bold ginger with balanced sweetness. With Dark Cane and lime, it's the whole drink.
• Q Ginger Beer is made with ginger and chili peppers and not much sugar, so it's the one to use if your float is on the sweet side. It's very fizzy and holds up over ice.
• Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Beer is brewed from three gingers, warm and earthy rather than sugary. A reliable middle ground.
• Top Note Ginger Beer uses date sugar and cane sugar, which gives it a dried-fruit depth that sits well under a molasses float.

If you want to thin out the sweetness, use half ginger beer and half Tost Sparkling White Tea, which is dry and has its own ginger. If your ginger beer is too mild, a quarter ounce of Tenneyson Black Ginger, a concentrated, unsweetened ginger spirit, adds heat and a bitter edge without sugar. Giffard Alcohol-Free Ginger does the same with more sweetness, so save it for a dry, mild ginger beer.

This is our house version. Dark Cane gives the molasses and caramel body; the splash of Lapo's gives extra color and the bitter, licorice edge of a black rum.

If it tastes too sweet, switch to a drier, spicier ginger beer like Q and add a second squeeze of lime.

How to get the float right

The float is what turns a ginger beer highball into a Dark and Stormy, and it's easy once you know the three rules.

• Leave room. Stop the ginger beer a finger below the rim, so there's space for the float to sit.
• Pour slowly over a spoon. Hold a bar spoon upside down, just touching the surface of the drink, and pour the dark mix over its back. It spreads across the top instead of plunging through.
• Serve it straight away. Without alcohol the float is slightly heavier than the ginger beer, so it sinks slowly instead of sitting on top. Poured gently, it makes the cloud on its way down.

It will keep drifting through the glass as you drink, which is the point. Don't stir it; let each sip change a little.

These are the catalogue drinks that fit a Dark and Stormy, from the can to the ginger beer and the pieces of the float.

• Moscow mule. Swap the dark float for a dry spirit stirred in, and serve it in a copper mug. It's lighter, sharper and more refreshing.
• Bourbon buck. Stir Lyre's American Malt into the ginger beer rather than floating a rum. Add mint and you're close to a whiskey mule.
• Storm and tonic. Use a crisp tonic like Fever-Tree Premium Indian Tonic in place of half the ginger beer for a drier, more bitter drink.
• Tropical storm. Add an ounce of pineapple juice and a pinch of salt. It points toward a zero-proof Mai Tai.
• Winter storm. Add a dash of Seedlip Spice 94 and a cinnamon stick. Good by the fire.

The Dark and Stormy is less common on zero-proof menus than the Moscow mule, but good alcohol-free bars will usually make one if you ask. These are worth a visit: