Pimento, huh? Not the chili pepper or the cheese. If you’ve never heard of Pimento Dram for cocktails, then you’re not alone. It’s not a bitter or a booze, but an allspice liqueur blooming with sweet, spicy, and intense notes that are perfect for warming up cocktails in the fall and winter.
Bartenders Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck of The Bitter Truth, a company that makes all the bitters, showed The Manual a few ways to use Pimento Dram in cocktails for Friendsgiving, snow days, or a holiday nightcap.
These cocktails are suited for beginners but will make you feel like a pro. But first … what does Pimento Dram taste like and is it my vibe?
If you’ve partial to pumpkin pie and love fall spices and dark rum, you’ll love Pimento Dram. Clove is the most forward taste, which fades into a pure expression of cinnamon and nutmeg. Finally, warming pepper lingers on the tongue. Only a splash is needed to punch up your drinks.
Upgrade from Fireball shots to crafted Pimento Dram Cocktails this season with these 5 recipes.
Ooooh Hello
Fun fact: Pimento Dram is a favorite ingredient among tiki cocktails! So transport yourself from the chilly weather and weird family dynamics, and pretend you’re on a beach sipping an Ooooh Hello!
Ingredients:
- 1 oz Tiki Lovers White Rum
- 1 oz Tiki Lovers Dark Rum
- .25 oz The Bitter Truth Pimento Dram
- 1 oz Coco Lopez
- 1 oz pineapple juice
- .75 oz lime juice
- 4 dashes aromatic bitters
Method: Combine all ingredients in a shaker with a few cubes of ice. Shake until ice is diluted and pour into a fantastic vessel filled with pebble ice. Garnish with fresh nutmeg as well as dazzling garnish piece.
Lion’s Tail
- 2 oz Rye or Bourbon Whiskey
- .5 oz The Bitter Truth Pimento Dram
- .5 oz fresh Lime Juice
- 1 tsp. Sugar Syrup (1:1)
- 1 dash Aromatic Bitters
Method: Consider this an easy Thanksgiving twist on an old fashioned. Just shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
When I Dip You Dip
- 1 oz Tiki Lovers White Rum
- 1 oz Tiki Lovers Pineapple Rum
- 1 oz lime juice
- .75 oz pineapple juice
- .5 oz orgeat
- .5 oz vanilla syrup
- .25 oz The Bitter Truth Pimento Dram
- 1 barspoon absinthe
- 2 dashes aromatic bitters
- 2 dashes house habanero tincture
Method: Build over crushed ice.
Balm Cocktail
- 2 oz dry sherry
- 1/6 oz Orange Curaçao
- 1/6 oz The Bitter Truth Pimento Dram
- 1 dash The Bitter Truth Orange Bitters
Method: Stir in mixing glass with ice & strain into a cocktail glass.
Waikiki Beach Cocktail
We weren’t joking when we said Pimento Dram is bizarrely perfect for tiki cocktails. Punch up the heat in your apartment, slip into a Hawaiian shirt, and watch the snowfall with a Waikiki Beach in-hand.
Ingredients:
- 50 ml (1.5 oz) dark rum
- 20 ml (2/3 oz) The Bitter Truth Pimento Dram
- 30 ml (1 oz) fresh lime juice
- 70 ml (2.5 oz) passionfruit juice
- 10 ml (1/3 oz) almond syrup
Method: Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a tiki glass filled with crushed ice.
