He went on to trademark the cocktail name Painkiller in multiple countries, so that on a cocktail menu, it must be made with Pusser's Rum in order to be called a Painkiller. The owner of Pusser's Rum, Charles Tobias, reverse engineered the recipe and came up with his own version. The bar's owner, Daphne Henderson, was locally famous for her secret Painkiller recipe (although some sources say the drink was developed by the previous owners of the bar, George and Mari Myrick). It was developed in 1970 at a bar called the Soggy Dollar Bar in the British Virgin Islands.

As any Painkiller ought to be, Frizell dubbed it “a crowd-pleaser.This tropical drink has a pretty interesting backstory.

The coconut and rum harmonized well in almost Piña Colada–like fashion. To that, he added three ounces of pineapple juice, two ounces of store-bought toasted coconut syrup and one ounce of orange juice, all flash-blended and topped with an impressive arrangement of a pineapple fan, pineapple fronds, an orange wedge and an orchid. Lucia, pot-still Jamaican rum Worthy Park 109 and the Guyanese Hamilton Demerara rum. Third place went to Chris Coy, of the Inferno Room in Indianapolis, whose recipe similarly called on a split rum base of four expressions in equal half-ounce measures: Bounty Dark Rum and Bounty Spiced Rum from St. As McGee observed, “It tastes like a Painkiller you would get at a cocktail bar.”

Johnson’s was also the only drink served on Kold-Draft ice cubes rather than with pebble ice, making it read more like a traditional cocktail than a colada. The judges thought the nutmeg was particularly well integrated thanks to Johnson’s decision to shake the drink with grated nutmeg, rather than simply dusting it atop the finished drink. The judges quickly picked up an additional source of acid, in this case lemon juice, and likewise found the rum to shine through thanks to four different expressions, led by Coruba Jamaican rum alongside Plantation O.F.T.D., El Dorado 12-year and a teaspoon of Rum Fire. Second place went to Jelani Johnson, assistant distiller at Great Jones Distilling Co. Frizell noted that the drink’s spirit-forward construction might be “too much of a good thing,” but praised the drink for its refreshing qualities and long finish.

It was among the most rum-forward of the bunch, and the judges unanimously enjoyed the unorthodox garnish of a lavish mint plume alongside the requisite freshly grated nutmeg. His interpretation of the Painkiller leans on a blend of Smith & Cross Jamaican rum, El Dorado 15-year Guyanese rum and Lemon Hart 151 Demerara rum for the base, with only an ounce and a half of pineapple juice (compared to four ounces in the original spec) alongside an ounce of Coco Lopez and three-quarters of an ounce of orange juice. Taking top honors was Matthew Belanger, of Death & Co. Though some pulled the formula too far into Serious Cocktail territory, with unorthodox additions such as Pedro Ximénez sherry and cold-brew concentrate, those that succeeded managed to honor the uncomplicated nature of the original, calling for thoughtful changes that made the vacation drink feel worthy of a spot on any contemporary cocktail menu. “It just starts off with a terrible recipe.”īut judging by a recent tasting of 10 recipes submitted by bartenders across the country, the Painkiller is not a lost cause. “There’s no acidity,” notes rum expert Paul McGee, of the often cloying combination of ingredients. A combination of rum, pineapple and orange juices (both typically from a can) and coconut cream, it puts refreshment above complexity, inviting bartenders to try their hand at balance in a cocktail that never had it in the first place. Originally created in the early 1970s at the British Virgin Islands’ Soggy Dollar bar-reachable only by sea-the Painkiller is a textbook boat drink.

Painkiller cocktail