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The Pilgrim Cocktail pairs dark and light rum with orange curacao, lime, fresh orange juice and a quarter ounce of pimento dram. That last ingredient is the one that gives the drink its character, and it puts the Pilgrim firmly in tiki territory even though the name suggests otherwise.
Pimento dram, also sold as allspice dram, is a Jamaican rum liqueur infused with allspice berries. It is intensely aromatic and easy to overdo, which is why the measure here is a quarter ounce against more than four ounces of everything else. Used properly it adds a warm clove and cinnamon note that sits underneath the citrus and makes the rum taste richer than it otherwise would. Two rums rather than one gives you range, with the light rum keeping things bright and the dark rum adding molasses depth. Angostura bitters tie the spice notes together at the finish.
Glass: Cocktail glass | Strength: Medium | Serves: 1 | Prep Time: 3 minutes
Bartender’s tip: Add up the ingredients and this comes to well over four ounces before you shake it, and shaking adds another ounce of dilution. That will not fit in a standard coupe. Either use the largest cocktail glass you own or serve it over fresh ice in a rocks glass, which suits the drink better anyway. Some older sources suggest serving this one warm. Skip that. Shaking with ice and then heating the result gives you a watery drink, and the fresh orange juice does not improve with heat.
Ingredients
- 1/2 oz Dark Rum
- 1/2 oz Light Rum
- 1/2 oz Orange Curacao
- 1/4 oz Pimento Liqueur
- 1/2 oz Lime Juice
- 2 oz (fresh) Orange Juice
- 1 dash Angostura Bitters








