A berry native to the West Indies and Central America, allspice grows on evergreen trees and dries into a hard pellet like a peppercorn. Spanish explorers dubbed it “pimiento” because of that resemblance; early exporters also called it “sweet scented Jamaican pepper,” and it was often ground like pepper and used as a condiment to enliven meals.
It eventually got renamed “allspice” because of its distinctive medley of tastes—it seemed to contain the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. That beguiling combination led to its association with the holidays as it found its way into gingerbread, fruitcakes, spice cakes, and Christmas cookies. No doubt, it’s a wonderful winter spice, providing a comforting, warming sensation that can take the edge off a chill.
Among spices, allspice also has a bit of swagger. Pastry chef and cookbook author Caroline Schiff once described it in Bon Appétit as “pumpkin spice’s cool, sophisticated cousin who subscribes to The Paris Review, drinks natural wine, and claims to have never been to Starbucks.”
Even so, over the centuries, allspice has risen and fallen in prominence on the rack. A curiosity at the outset, then a staple, it more or less returned to curiosity status in the twentieth century, an archaic, retro spice found chiefly in the West Indies and holiday cookies. In other words, catnip to craft bartenders, who love to rummage around history’s attic in search of forgotten flavors. Allspice has proved especially popular in modern tiki drinks—one sip transports you to more tropical climes.
It has also been cropping up in reinvented classics—including the Long Distance Relationship, a drink devised at the Patterson House, a pioneering craft cocktail bar in Nashville. Beverage director Alex McCutchen says that former bartender Harrison Peaks created the drink in 2019 as a sort of “winter seasonal cosmo.”
Although it’s made with vodka, a spirit noted for its invisibility, the drink’s flavor profile is complex thanks to the port, which tastes like dark chocolate’s fruitier, more extroverted cousin, and the allspice, which adds warmth and a brush with exoticism. “It’s more of a ruby port cocktail,” McCutchen says. “We use vodka to fortify and add more oomph to the drink.”
But the allspice dram is the key that unlocks this recipe, fully altering it from a summer citrus drink to something suitable for chillier weather. “I really like that warming aspect to it,” McCutchen says. “That’s what I want in a wintertime cocktail.”
Like allspice itself, the Long Distance Relationship offers a charming reminder that innovation sometimes means reaching into the past. The Patterson House, which earlier this year moved from a basement-like space in Midtown to a Gulch penthouse, continues the tradition of culinary archaeology. The only tools required? A jigger, a shaker, and a sense of adventure.
