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.
St Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram can be hard to find.
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
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.
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
What if I only have powdered allspice?
Seems so easy to follow. Can I use whiskey instead of rum?
I don’t see why not!
Sue….I’ve made my Dram…..how do I store it??
Thanks
You can store it at room temperature.
Thanks for the post. I love spiced rum! I used Infinity Jars to keep everything fresh. They’re absolutely gorgeous and give the bottle a premium touch.
http://infinityjars.com/collections/liquor-bottles
Hmm looks so yummy
Totally going to make this! Have you tried that spiced rum called Kraken? It is so good! Maybe I’ll start with that and work from there…. 🙂
No I haven’t Dorothy, but I love spiced rum, so I’ll check it out!