The Holidays are over (everyone exhale), but unfortunately winter’s just getting started. It’s time to fill the chilly winter nights with family and friends, great food and wine and a tasty seasonal cocktail or two.
This drink features two delicious winter fruits –pomegranates and mandarin oranges– with a dash of exotic Allspice Dram to add both depth and warmth to the flavor. Allspice Dram, known in classic cocktail recipes as “pimento dram” (no relation to the orange things stuffed into olives), is a warm, spicy liqueur flavored with Jamaican allspice berries, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper. It adds character to nearly any citrus-based cocktail (particularly fruity rum drinks), but also spices up mulled wine or even sangria.
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram can be hard to find in liquor stores, but it’s available online for $29.99 (750 ml) at www.drinkupny.com. It’s fairly expensive, but a little goes a long way.
Recipe
(for one drink)
2 oz vodka
3/4 ounce Cointreau
juice of 1/2 mandarin orange
1 ounce pure pomegranate juice (such POM Wonderful)
Two dashes (about 1/4 teaspoon) of St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram.
Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Garnish with a spoonful of pomegranate seeds or a strip or orange peel.
To health and happiness in the New Year!
