Ingredients
- 1 cup allspice berries
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 750-milliliter bottle of white rum (such as Bacardi Superior)
- Small handful cloves
- 10 star-anise pods
- 1¼ cups brown sugar
- 1-quart airtight Mason jar
Allspice Dram Recipe
Lightly break up the allspice berries—a mortar and pestle come in handy—and crack the cinnamon sticks. Place all ingredients except the brown sugar in the Mason jar, shake hard, then put in the dishwasher on its hottest cycle. Place the brown sugar in a large heatproof bowl. Immediately strain the hot rum mixture over the sugar, adding more sugar or water to taste. (You’re looking for balanced sweetness and spice, with a bit of booziness.) The brew is technically ready as soon as the sugar dissolves, but the flavor is better a day or so later. Keeps indefinitely.
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This article appears in our July 2016 issue of Washingtonian.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
