Gammel Dansk Dram — Denmark's bitter dram, poured small at room temperature and drunk to a toast

Gammel Dansk Dram

Denmark's bitter dram, poured small at room temperature and drunk to a toast

Number of people

Ingredients

  • 1 ozGammel Dansk
    Room temperature, poured small

Instructions

  1. Keep the bottle at room temperature

    Deliberately not chilled, unlike most bitter liqueurs

  2. Pour 1 oz into a small shot glass
  3. Raise the glass, say skål, and drink it in one

Technique Notes

Room temperature, not chilled. Cold flattens the orange and cinnamon into a single bitter note, and this is one of the few bottles on the site that is genuinely better warm.

Why the Gammel Dansk Dram Works

Almost every other bottle on this site improves with cold; this one does not. Gammel Dansk is built on orange, cinnamon and gentian, and those separate out at room temperature into something you can actually taste in the second it spends in your mouth.