Allspice or Pimento is a dried unripe berry that is the fruit of the Pimenta Dioica plant in many warm Caribbean climates. Upon arriving to the new world, and discovering this berry, the explorers concluded it was basically every spice rolled into one. As a result, the name Allspice kind of stuck. Given the area’s thriving rum industry, its unsurprising that eventually it was turned into a rum liqueur. While it was initially a viable product commercially and used in many classic cocktails, it eventually died off in the 80s before being revived by those exploring classic cocktails. Among the renditions available is St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram.
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
Sight: A deeply caramelized woody brown with a lighter orange hue around the edges. Moderate opacity.
Smell: For lack of a better descriptor, the nose starts with complex heady notes of allspice. There is a certain amount of caramelized sugar and rum ester, but these are dominated by the smell of allspice. Complete with the gamut of clove, cinnamon, pepper, and nutmeg notes.
Sip: The sip is sweet and thick to start, the flavors of all-spice begin to creep in quickly, leading with the more clove like notes before breaking into cinnamon and nutmeg. These add a very mild component of bitterness. Touches of peppercorns and caramelized sugar join in, as well as a general anesthetizing sensation.
Savor: The ending maintains the clove, cinnamon, allspice character, but adds a subtle numbing and fruity character.
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram is delightfully laced with spice and character plus some gentle rum notes. What it nails in spades is the flavor of Allspice, which is loaded into the bottle. While the overall final liqueur is too powerful to enjoy straight, but perfectly balanced for cocktails.
In Cocktails:
Thanks to the strong flavor of baking spices, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram is a very versatile ingredient when used in small quantities. It finds a home in a number of Tiki classics (including some of the classics like Montego Bay, Rum Barrel, and Three Dots & a Dash) as well as their contemporary inspirations. We’ve also found it works fantastically adding fall flavors to darker liquors include bourbon and applejack cocktails. Bear in mind, even a bar spoon of St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram is extremely pungent, so don’t expect to go through a bottle quickly.
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram Overall
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram is one of a few choices on the market for Pimento Dram / Allspice Liqueur. However, they cut no corners in making a solid product that really emphasizes the allspice berry. The fact that it blends so seamlessly into cocktails is an added bonus. While a bottle is in the mid $20 range, you can expect to use it slowly. For anyone expanding into Tiki Cocktails, this is a soon rather than later add to your bar.