Homemade Allspice Dram is an essential ingredient in the best Fall cocktails, and now you can make this spiced liqueur yourself, right at home using rum and whole spices.
Have you heard of Allspice Dram? If you’re hitting the cocktail scene this month chances are you’ll run into this allspice liqueur.
I had no idea it existed until I was talking with my daughter’s boyfriend about fall drinks for this series of posts. They’re now settled in Madison Wisconsin and he’s working at a very cool farm-to-table restaurant and craft bar. I figure if anyone has their finger on the pulse of current fall spirits, he does. The minute he mentioned Allspice Dram, and told me that it was an allspice infused rum liqueur, I knew I had to try it.
Allspice is a Jamaican spice— the dried fruit, or berries, of the Pimenta dioica tree.
It’s widely used in Caribbean cooking, and the name comes from the fact that the English, who first tasted it back in the 16th century, found the flavor to be a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. I think to this day a lot of people avoid buying it because in the back of their mind they think it’s just a mix of common spices.
After looking in my local stores, I hit the mega liquor store BevMo. They didn’t have any either, and it’s out of stock on their website. Turns out this is somewhat of an elusive liqueur, sometimes available, sometimes not, so many bars make their own. If you like the flavor of spiced rum, you will love this.
This recipe is slightly adapted from Serious Eats. It’s simple to put together, and the hardest part is going to be waiting for it to ‘stew’. In the meantime I put together a fun list of fall cocktails and drinks that use Allspice Dram, below. If you love the idea of making your own liqueur, try my Homemade Pumpkin Liqueur, my Homemade Irish Cream. or my Instant Pot Limoncello!
Homemade Allspice Dram
Homemade Allspice Dram is an essential ingredient in the best Fall cocktails, and now you can make it yourself, right at home!
Prep Time:3 days days
Cook Time:10 minutes minutes
Total Time:3 days days 10 minutes minutes
Ingredients
- 1/8 cup whole allspice berries
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 cup rum, you can use light or dark, I used dark
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
Instructions
Crush the allspice berries in a spice grinder, or with a mortar and pestle. You want them roughly cracked and crushed, don't grind them into a powder.
Put the allspice in a sealable glass jar, a mason jar is perfect.
Pour the rum in the jar, put the lid on, and give it a shake.
Let the rum sit for a day, then break up the the cinnamon stick and add it to the jar.
After 2 days, strain out the rum with a fine mesh strainer. Then put it through a coffee filter to filter out the smaller particles.
Meanwhile, bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes. Let cool, then mix into the infused rum. Pour into your final bottle and let rest for 2 days before using.
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Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Keyword: allspice, cocktail mixer, cocktails, dram, rum
Nutrition
Serving: 1 · Calories: 1198 kcal · Carbohydrates: 168 g · Protein: 2 g · Fat: 3 g · Saturated Fat: 1 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2 g · Sodium: 84 mg · Potassium: 524 mg · Fiber: 8 g · Sugar: 142 g · Vitamin A: 170 IU · Vitamin C: 12 mg · Calcium: 363 mg · Iron: 4 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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notes:
- This is a potent liqueur, and a little goes a long way. You won’t be guzzling this down on its own. The allspice gives it a powerful spicy kick, and the holiday-like flavors linger on your tongue.
- Recycle bottles in your kitchen, (my ‘infusing jar’ is a Classico spaghetti sauce jar) or find lots of interesting bottles here.
Fall Cocktails made with Allspice Dram:
The Boozy Mulled Cider
Northern Spy
The Soothsayer
The Pumpkin Flip
Black Wednesday
Fall Ginger Smash
Winter Waltz
The Lion’s Tail
Jalisco Pear
The Tackler
Hot Buttered Rum
Lizzie’s Pippin
Solstice
Cheers!
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FAQs
Since I've already made my own falernum, I wanted to try to make allspice dram at home as well. Rob from Rob's home bar made his own allspice dram awhile back, and I wanted to try out his recipe. It's pretty minimal when it comes to ingredients, a cinnamon stick, overproof rum, sugar, and allspice berries.
How do you make DRAM? ›
Heat a heavy skillet over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Toast the allspice berries until fragrant, about 1 minute, then roughly crush. Combine the rum and crushed allspice berries in a quart-sized glass jar, seal the lid tightly and give it a good shake. Steep for 10 days.
What can I substitute allspice dram with? ›
Allspice dram substitute
You can make a quick substitute for allspice dram with rum, Angostura bitters, and simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water). Combine 1 oz of white rum, 3/4 oz of simple syrup and 5 dashes of Angostura bitters. Use this in place of the allspice dram in your drink recipe.
What is the best allspice dram? ›
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram—the brand we're using here, and the one we recommend—is made from a base of Jamaican pot-still rum and infused with the allspice berry, which carries all those rich, winter-spice flavors.
What are the five spices in allspice? ›
Five spice is a mix of fennel, clove, anise, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorn (some Chinese add several other spices, considering “five spice” more of a concept than a hard rule). Allspice is ground up pimento berry… while it reminds of several other spices it's actually just a single spice.
Is allspice dram the same as allspice liqueur? ›
Pimento dram is an herbal liqueur with a rum base that is flavored with the distinct taste of allspice. Also called allspice dram, this is not a mixer that you'll find too often as you explore cocktail recipes.
Is DRAM cheap to make? ›
DRAM is less expensive per bit of storage than other types of memory. Due to its complex layout, SRAM costs more per GB. Further, DRAM prices have been dropping for years, with manufacturers making it more affordable.
What is DRAM for dummies? ›
DRAM (dynamic random access memory) is a type of semiconductor memory that is typically used for the data or program code needed by a computer processor to function. DRAM is a common type of random access memory (RAM) that is used in PCs, workstations and servers.
How much powder is in a DRAM? ›
The answer is very simple. A standard measure of 1 pound's weight is composed of 16 ounces. Each ounce is composed of 16 equal parts…or drams. And thus because a pound of gunpowder contains 7000 grains (a volumetric measure), each dram is equal to 27.3 grains.
Does allspice dram go bad? ›
Note that the dram is quite intense, so a little will go a long way in a cocktail. Store in bitter bottle. Your allspice dram will keep for six months and look fabulous on your bar in a bitter bottle. The taste may change over time, but will not spoil.
While allspice is a spice on its own, not a blend, it's very easy to create a similar-tasting mixture with spices you already have in your kitchen. Whisk 3½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg and a pinch of ground cloves, then use as a 1:1 replacement for ground allspice in a recipe.
What does allspice dram taste like? ›
A simple liqueur flavored with allspice berries that adds a dark, strong, and spicy counterpoint to rum and cocktails.
What is the king of all spices? ›
Black pepper is known as ''King of Spices''. Black pepper is produced from the still-green, unripe drupes of the pepper plant.
What spices are in McCormick allspice? ›
McCormick Culinary Ground Allspice features a woody flavor combination reminiscent of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sourced especially for chefs, McCormick Culinary Ground Allspice is carefully ground for authentic flavor and soft, consistent texture in any chef-inspired recipe.
What's the difference between allspice and Jamaican allspice? ›
Allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento, is the dried unripe berry of Pimenta dioica, a midcanopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now cultivated in many warm parts of the world.
What is St Elizabeth's allspice dram? ›
This spicy liqueur is made by steeping pimento berries in Jamaican pot still rum. The Pimento Dram is a dried, unripened berry from a West Indian tree called Pimenta dioica, which is related to the eucalyptus.
What does Jamaican allspice have in it? ›
It is also called the Jamaica pepper, kurundu, and myrtle pepper. What spice is this? Allspice is made up of the dried berries of the plant Pimenta dioica. Some think allspice tastes like a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
What is a dram liqueur? ›
Elizabeth Allspice Dram - a delicious liqueur that brings depth and warmth to your tiki cocktails. Made with Jamaican rum and allspice berries, this versatile ingredient has been used for centuries by bartenders and mixologists to add a unique and unforgettable twist to their creations.
