Allspice day
In 1983, the tale goes, the Jamaican ambassador to the United States gave this bottle of Wray & Nephew Pimento to Rep. Dante Fascell, the Democrat of Florida. Upon retirement from Congress in 1993, after 19 terms in office, Fascell gave the bottle to his longtime aide, who much later gave the bottle to his son, who yesterday poured me a shot of it.
Says the CocktailDB: "The pimento or pimiento is the berry from which the spice allspice is derived. English explorers coined the term allspice because the berry seemed to encapsulate the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove all at once. How this might relate to the flavorless, red, wadded-up thing stuffed in some cocktail olives, we would be hard-put to explain. The only currently produced brand appears to be Wray & Nephew Pimento Liqueur. Unfortunately, importation and marketing of this product ceased in the United States in the 1980s."
The bottom line? "Rare." "Highly recommended."
The consistency was honey-like, but I struggled to describe the taste until reading this allspice description. Who knew how long the bottle had been open, but the mesh of flavors was still there. Beau, son of the Fascell aide, urged sipping the shot for tasting. I was glad I did.
Pimento turned out better than our beer. Remember the beer-making? Eleven months ago? When there were snozberries and keg-rolling?
The main purpose of yesterday's small gathering was to try the beer for the first time. And we must be honest. Awful. Beau warned me in advance. The beer had somehow been better before going in bottles. Apparently not storing beer correctly for almost a year can do that.
But totally worth it. Beau added flavoring. We drank to tell the story.
It was good to see Gonzaga classmate Sante and meet neighbor Lisa, who had started the day in Geneva nearly 6,000 miles away from my subsequent host yesterday, friend Laura who had started the day in San Francisco and who along with friend Amy made a terrific dinner of Homemade Pizza Co and king cake. Then we watched the bobsledders race upside-down. Saturday was a food and drink and people winner.
