Lion's Tail

Demerara syrup helps tie all ingredients together, but if you don’t have it on hand, you can use simple syrup instead.

While not really part of the recipe, you could consider adding an egg white to smooth all the flavors and to create a velvety texture.

We like adding lime zest instead of the twist as it plays really well with the rest of ingredients.

If you want to lift the whiskey flavors in this cocktail, consider using overproof bourbon.

If you don't have access to allspice dram, you can make your own! It is as easy as infusing rum with a few spices. Give it a shot!

The first appearance of this recipe was in James Tarling’s The Café Royal Cocktail Book (1937).

It is very likely that the cocktail was created years before, by an American bartender, who fled to England during Prohibition.

The name of the cocktail is derived from the expression “Twisting the Lion’s tail”, which was American slang that meant provoking the British.

The expression “Twisting the Lion’s tail” comes from the fact that the British Coat of Arms contains a lion.

Allspice dram was heavily used during the Tiki era (1930s - 1960s), but as Tiki fell out of favor, so did the liqueur.

In 2008, Austrian company Haus Alpenz, started exporting their St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram into the States, making the liqueur (and this cocktail!) widely available again.