Pimento Dram

[thirtyoneknots]

St. Elizabeth just hit Spec's here in Texas.

Wow, it tastes great. I could totally see it in eggnog.

Lion's Tail is pretty good. Any other recommendations?

←

Jasper's Jamaican, which is a sour with lime, Pimento Dram, and Jamaican Rum (Appleton V/X works really well).

Also tasty in a Reveillon around Christmas time.

While I don't think it is something I would surrender readily from my liquor cabinet, I find the versatility of allspice liqueur to have been drastically exaggerated from a few years back when it was being billed as 'the most important liqueur in the world'. When it works, it works really well...but when it doesn't, it can be frustrating.

edit: spelling

Edited August 16, 2009 by thirtyoneknots (log)

[campus five]

Last night I made a Rum Old Fashioned with Pimento Dram.

1.5 oz Appleton 12

0.5 St. Elizabeth Dram

1 tsp 2:1 Demerrara

2 dashes Fee's Aromatic

2 dashes Fee's Orange

Lemon and Orange Twist

Stir, cook, strain, on a 2" rock.

[Wild Bill Turkey]

Sorry, I'm not a pro bartender. What does it mean to "cook" a drink between stirring and straining? Also, what does "on a 2-inch rock" mean? I'm guessing it refers to a rocks glass, but?

[thirtyoneknots]

Sorry, I'm not a pro bartender. What does it mean to "cook" a drink between stirring and straining? Also, what does "on a 2-inch rock" mean? I'm guessing it refers to a rocks glass, but?

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Cooking means to let the drink sit on the ice it is stirred with. Insofar as I understand (and use) this technique, it is more of a ticket management method to facilitate making several drinks at once rather than a necessary or desireable step for the home bartender. Ymmv.

2" rock to me sounds like a particularly large piece of ice.

[Wild Bill Turkey]

Thanks, guys!

[Alchemist]

I think that "Resting" might be a better description of the very passive act of letting a cocktail just sit there. Cooking implies some sort of activity.

But onto pimento dram. I love it with pineapple juice.

2.0 oz Cognac

.75 oz Lemon

1.0-1.5 oz Pineapple juice

.50 oz St. Elizabeth

.25 oz Curacao

3 dash Regans #6

Glass: Coupe

Garnish:Flamed Orange

Or switch the cognac out for gin, curacao out for simple and put it on Crushed Ice.

Cheers,

Toby

[Chris Hennes]

1 c Lemon hart 151 demerara rum

1/2 c Wray & Nephew overproof rum

1/2 c allspice berries, crushed

5 black pepper berries, crushed

5 cloves, crushed

2 cinnamon sticks, broken

2 nutmegs, crushed

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Chris, do you have a recommendation for some easier-to-source rums for this? I can't get the Lemon Hart OR the W&N here in OK. Flor de Caña? Bacardi 8?

[Chris Amirault]

Moderator's Note: I moved the "cooking" discussion over here to the topic dedicated to that.

Dashing pimento dram into many rum sours, including a Daiquiri, can really work wonders, especially if combined with a few drops of Angostura. I've been fiddling with this take on a Waldorf, subbing out gin for rhum and adding a wee dram of the dram:

Ja, Mon Cocktail

(tx to Dave the Cook for the name)

2 oz punsch (Erik's Underhill version)

1 oz rhum agricole (I've used both Neissen and DePaz)

1 oz lemon

2 dashes pimento dram (homemade)

1 dash cinnamon tincture

I usually have this shaken and strained over rocks in an Old Fashioned glass, but it also works as a fizz.

[Chris Amirault]

1 c Lemon hart 151 demerara rum

1/2 c Wray & Nephew overproof rum

1/2 c allspice berries, crushed

5 black pepper berries, crushed

5 cloves, crushed

2 cinnamon sticks, broken

2 nutmegs, crushed

←

Chris, do you have a recommendation for some easier-to-source rums for this? I can't get the Lemon Hart OR the W&N here in OK. Flor de Caña? Bacardi 8?

←

Matter of taste. Up here, Andy prefers Wray & Nephew overproof with Meyers dark instead of the demerara. I have my MIL doing an emergency two-day steep with three things in her cabinet (Bacardi white, LH demerara, Meyers). You're getting a ton of flavor from the spices and sugar, and you need proof from somewhere. Bacardi 151 & Flor de Caña?

[thirtyoneknots]

1 c Lemon hart 151 demerara rum

1/2 c Wray & Nephew overproof rum

1/2 c allspice berries, crushed

5 black pepper berries, crushed

5 cloves, crushed

2 cinnamon sticks, broken

2 nutmegs, crushed

←

Chris, do you have a recommendation for some easier-to-source rums for this? I can't get the Lemon Hart OR the W&N here in OK. Flor de Caña? Bacardi 8?

←

Matter of taste. Up here, Andy prefers Wray & Nephew overproof with Meyers dark instead of the demerara. I have my MIL doing an emergency two-day steep with three things in her cabinet (Bacardi white, LH demerara, Meyers). You're getting a ton of flavor from the spices and sugar, and you need proof from somewhere. Bacardi 151 & Flor de Caña?

←

The last batch I made was with all Wray & Nephew and it is gloriously funky although this may at some point limit it's versatility (I'm still working my way through the last batch and so haven't used it much). I actually think the Goslings 151 may be a better compromise between age, proof, and funk, but as much as I love that rum it seems to be even harder to find than Lemon Hart.

[Chris Amirault]

Giving a tweak of Andy's version a shot.

1 1/2 c Myers's dark rum

1 1/2 c Wray & Nephew overproof rum

1/2 c allspice berries, crushed

6 black pepper berries, crushed

a few bits of mace

10 cloves, crushed

2 cinnamon sticks, broken

1 1/2 nutmegs, crushed

Strain. Add:

simple made with 12 oz of turbinado sugar & 1 1/2 c water

edited to reflect a few on the fly tweaks -- ca

Edited August 28, 2009 by chrisamirault (log)

[Friend of the Farmer]

Any recommendations for which bourbon is best in a Lion's Tail?

[Chris Amirault]

FotF, I'd try to find the Henry McKenna single barrel, which has a ton of spice that would match well with the pimento dram. Hell, most bourbons (and rums, and ryes, and...) do, too.

Andy is right, btw: the above batch is the best I've ever done.

[Kent Wang]

Does the St. Elizabeth have any other spices in it other than allspice?

I made a pumpkin pie with .75 oz of it and it's great. Just has a bit of a tingle. But could I have achieved the same effect by putting in a whole bunch of allspice?

[thirtyoneknots]

Cheers, Mr. Amirault. I think the Wray & Nephew adds something marvellous to the party, though my last batch was made with it alone and is, ah...intense. The funk is as always beautiful, but sometimes steals the show. Personally I think it's pretty hip but it doesn't work for everyone.

Kent, most pumpkin pie recipes call for a variety of spices including allspice and clove. If you really want to add something cool to your pie try a tbs of Angostura. Stole that from an old Abbott's brochure (though those are far too precious these days for that purpose) and haven't looked back since.

[FireAarro]

There aren't many overproof rums on the shelves here in Melbourne - I think Bacardi 151 and Inner Circle Black (both at about 151 proof) are pretty much the only two. At least there's no W&N in sight. What rums should I choose to make the dram given this fact? Maybe the Inner Circle for steeping, cut with a lighter (white?) rum? And taking cost into consideration, would the product suffer from using lower, say 80, proof rum? Perhaps I could use the Inner Circle Green (at 114 proof), again cut with a bit of white rum?

Edited November 16, 2009 by FireAarro (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

There aren't many overproof rums on the shelves here in Melbourne - I think Bacardi 151 and Inner Circle Black (both at about 151 proof) are pretty much the only two. At least there's no W&N in sight. What rums should I choose to make the dram given this fact? Maybe the Inner Circle for steeping, cut with a lighter (white?) rum? And taking cost into consideration, would the product suffer from using lower, say 80, proof rum? Perhaps I could use the Inner Circle Green (at 114 proof), again cut with a bit of white rum?

From what I've heard about it, I wouldn't think there's any reason to cut Inner Circle Green with anything, just use it and some handy arithmetic to arrive at your desired proof by diluting the infusion with a syrup of some kind.

[FireAarro]

Ok, cool. What's a good sort of proof for the final product? Do you think it'll be mixable enough using such a full flavoured rum?

[thirtyoneknots]

Ok, cool. What's a good sort of proof for the final product? Do you think it'll be mixable enough using such a full flavoured rum?

If the rum is of a Jamaican-style (which all info I've seen on IC indicates it is) then you should be fine. I generally shoot for around 50-60 proof in the finished product.

[Chris Amirault]

As a hoarder of IC green (can't find black around here, even when IC was being distributed), I can say that it would make a fine, fine base for pimento dram. Not precisely a Jamaican style but close enough and a remarkable product in general.

[FireAarro]

Great! Final question, would the flavour extraction suffer notably if I went with a 80-proof base such as Inner Circle Red or Myers? I happen to have those around the house already.

Edited November 16, 2009 by FireAarro (log)

[thirtyoneknots]

Great! Final question, would the flavour extraction suffer notably if I went with a 80-proof base such as Inner Circle Red or Myers? I happen to have those around the house already.

You may or may not be able to tell the difference but hitting a higher proof with the end result will be easier if you start with higher proof. If you're using 80 proof I'd recommend increasing your infusion time accordingly.

[Chris Amirault]

Made a batch at work this week using this recipe:

1 c Gosling's dark rum

1 c Wray & Nephew overproof rum

1 c Smith & Cross rum

1/2 c allspice berries, crushed

6 black pepper berries, crushed

10 cloves, crushed

2 cinnamon sticks, broken

1 1/2 nutmegs, crushed

Will strain and sugar in a couple weeks.

[tammylc]

Do you think that one could make a quicker Allspice Dram using the NO2 infusion technique? A la Kaiser Penguin's 5 minute Falernum? Or is the long steep necessary?

[Chris Amirault]

I haven't fiddled around with it (mkayahara??), but my guess is that you need some time for it to settle post-infusion anyway. It's pretty raw right after you add the simple syrup to the infusion, and only rounds out after maybe a month or so from the start of the infusion.

There's one way to find out, Tammy: give it a whirl!