Cocktails with Allspice
Allspice is the dried unripe berry of pimento, a single spice tasting like a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
Substitutes for Allspice
One berry that tastes of three spices, which is why a blend gets close and never quite converges. It is also far gentler than clove: allspice runs about 1 to 3.6% eugenol by weight against clove’s 11 to 17%, so it seasons where clove dominates. Whole can be lifted out of an infusion and ground cannot, so the form decides how much control you keep.
Often confused with
Pimiento pepper
A sweet red pepper, unrelated, and the shared name comes from Spanish sailors calling the berry a pepper. No recipe means one when it says the other, but the labels invite the mistake.
Pimento dram
Allspice liqueur, sweet and rum-based, dosed in milliliters. It replaces the spice and adds sugar and alcohol, so a recipe wanting infused berries needs rebalancing.
Storage
Whole berries keep for months sealed and dark and crush easily under a glass. Ground allspice fades much faster, and the clove note goes first, which leaves it smelling flatly of cinnamon.
