Name: Homemade Allspice Dram Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 14 d 10 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Rum
Ingredients: 2/3 cup whole allspice berries; 1 2/3 cups white rum; 1 - 2 cinnamon sticks; 2 cups water; 1 cup brown sugar or demerara sugar

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Last Updated on June 13, 2023 by Leah Hall

Allspice Dram is a great addition to any cocktail, but especially Tiki Cocktails!

With fall coming, it is the time for everything pumpkin spice and apple cider which means it is time to find new ways to bring delicious warm baking spices into our cocktails. Most people think about cinnamon and nutmeg when you think about warm baking spices, but the folks from the land of Tiki drinks have another spice they love to use in cocktails, allspice!

Allspice commonly finds its way into all kinds of drinks from the Caribbean by way of a special liqueur, Allspice Dram.

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Allspice Dram is a simple, spiced liqueur flavored by the small dried berries of the pimenta tree. The pimenta tree is native to islands like Jamaica and the Greater Antilles and tropical locales around all around the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

The small dried berries of the pimenta tree are more commonly known as allspice, which is prized for its big bold spice flavor that combines hints of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg (hence its name Allspice!) Once discovered back in the 1500s by European explorers, and prized for its unique spicy berry, it started to be cultivated all over Caribbean colonial locations.

Allspice Dram

With such a great flavor of warming spices, its no wonder that all spice found has found its way all into sorts of Caribbean cuisine, serving as a spice in things from Jamaican Jerk to Mexican Moles. With allspice being so prominent in food, its no wonder it became a flavor that found its way into the cocktails of the Caribbean and the recipe books of famous Tiki icons like Don the Beachcomber in the form of Allspice Dram.

Flip Top Bottles / Cinnamon Sticks / Cheesecloth / Spice Grinder

How To Make Allspice Dram

Allspice Dram is a common ingredient found in tons of Tiki cocktails, where it is used to bring a flavor of warm baking spice and hints of bitterness to the often sweet cocktails. For years, Allspice Dram was hard to find in the United States except at the classic Tiki bars and some very well stocked liquor stores. With the recent revival of the Tiki scene, Allspice Dram has made a comeback and more recipes are calling for the spicy bitterness of Allspice Dram.

What Ingredients are Needed for the Allspice Dram?

Cinnamon Stick
Water
Brown Sugar
Allspice Berries
White Rum

While we could buy Allspice Dram, its fun to make our own blend (it is kind of our thing) and make our own homemade Allspice Dram. Making it homemade let us tweak the spice mix and bring in a bit more cinnamon flavor (or other spice flavors if you are into anise or nutmeg.) But, we wanted to make a DIY Allspice Dram!

Plus making our own let save a little bit of cash (off the shelf bottles tend to be pricey as they are rare) which we could then spend on more rum!

If You Are Looking for More Recipes with Liqueur, Try These!

This was really pretty easy to make, the hardest part probably was the waiting for the spice mix to full infuse the rum used as the base and remembering to give the bottle with the infusions a shake once a day. It is cool to see the rum change colors as the allspice gives up its essential oils, but avoid the temptation to take a taste unless you want to make yourself pucker!

Allspice by itself is very bitter (which is why it is such a unique flavor component.)

Next Steps for Allspice Dram

Until you add the sugar syrup at the end, this mixture is bitter and will completely dry your mouth out. Think about the worst case of cotton mouth you have ever had! The dram needs sweetness to help counter the dry bitterness of the raw spice mixture.

This is another place you can experiment, as different types of sugars (we used simple brown sugar, but demerara is good) can change the flavor of this as well. You can also tweak the amount of syrup to help get your desired taste. Once the brown sugar syrup is added at the end, it brings everything into balance and lets you get a great spicy flavor!

If You Are Looking for More Cocktails with Rum, Try These!

If you are a Tiki fan, you totally need to make this recipe! Be sure to have this spicy super star in your home bar! Make sure to check out our Homemade Banana Liqueur, Peach Liqueur or Salted Caramel Vodka, too!

Cheers!

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Like this recipe? Try these below, too!

Tropical Rum Punch

Holiday Honey Punch

Other Tiki Ingredients/Tiki Cocktails

Homemade Orgeat – The Drink Blog
Brazilian Caipirinha – Cooking with Curls

Homemade Allspice Dram Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Infusion Time: 14 days

Total Time: 14 days 10 minutes

Allspice dram is a standard of tiki cocktails, and we made our own homemade version.

Ingredients

2/3 cup whole allspice berries
1 2/3 cups white rum
1 - 2 cinnamon sticks
2 cups water
1 cup brown sugar or demerara sugar

Instructions

Prepare yourself. This is a long process!

Grind allspice in a spice grinder. You want coarse, large pieces, not a fine grind. Or you can use a mortar and pestle for coarser pieces.

Place allspice in a glass jar like a Ball jar with a lid and pour the rum over, making sure to cover the allspice.

Seal and shake well.

Let this steep for 4 days, shake once a day.

On day 5, place the cinnamon stick(s) in. Shake.

After at least a week, still shaking daily, and 12-14 days total steeping, strain through a fine mesh sieve. Then strain again through cheesecloth or a coffee filter into another clean glass jar.

Heat water and sugar on stove over until boiling, stirring, about 5 minutes.

Let the syrup cool, then add it to the allspice mixture.

Shake and then let rest in the fridge for 2-4 days before using. This gives it time to let the solids settle as well, so you may have to strain again to get some more solids out. We store ours in the fridge.

Cheers!

Notes

This will keep for a good long while, especially in the fridge. Ours doesn't last that long, but it will keep for around a year, really well. Cheers!

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 47Total Fat: 0.1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 0mgCarbohydrates: 5.6gFiber: 0.3gSugar: 4.7gProtein: 0.1g

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Molly Thomas

Sunday 17th of December 2023

I read about this beverage in the WSJ. Decided to give the recipe a try and make it. It is delicious and a versatile flavor beverage to have in your kitchen. I also ordered a bottle of ST ELizabeth Dram from an online source just to see how it would taste. I think my recipe is just as tasty or maybe a bit better than the bottled. Would be delicious in hot tea or coffee.

Leah Hall

Oh yay! We love to hear things like this! We just love our homemade version as we can always have some on hand. So glad you like it, and cheers! Jay and Leah

Bernice

Saturday 10th of September 2022

I was looking for a pimento liqueur recipe. Happy I found it on this page.

Jason

Sunday 17th of July 2022

Did you also try toasting the allspice berries lightly for a few minutes before grinding them? A lot of other recipes call for that so I'm wondering if you tried that approach but didn't care for it.

The Noms

We never tried it with toasting it at all, so we can't tell you if it changes the flavor at all. You can sure try it out, cheers!

Mary

Wednesday 27th of October 2021

Hi. Do you use overproof white rum (63% alcohol) or just regular 40% alcohol rum for this recipe? Thanks!

Hey there, just regular 40 proof works great! If you want a higher proof, nothing wrong with that! Cheers!

John McCrackin

Tuesday 5th of January 2021

Would it be a good idea to make the sugar syrup a 1:1 ratio or would that take away from the spice?

The 'Noms.

Hi John, You could, but it will make for a much sweeter dram. We liked the sweetness level at this amount and with that much water. There is a bit of a dryness that the dram has that dries out the palate, and I don't think I would want to go much sweeter. You could sure try it with less water and then add more if it's too sweet? I will be making another batch here soon, and can try out a small amount to see how it goes!