Pain Killada - How to Make the Tiki Drink Inspired by the 1971 Painkiller & the History Behind It

Here’s how to make the Pain Killada, a tiki remix of the famous, Painkiller, cocktail. It’s easy to make and uses navy strength rum, Tangerine Juice, Pineapple Juice, Coconut Cream, Cinnamon Syrup and fresh Nutmeg. The drink was originally created in the British Virgin Islands in 1971 and seems to draw its inspiration from the Piña Colada, which, at that time was nearing the height of its pop culture celebrity.

The drink was created by George and Marie Myrick. They owned the Soggy Dollar Bar in Jost Van Dyke, BVI in 1971 and back then they originally made the drink with Mount Gay (Bajan) and Cruzan (Virgin Island) rums. Sixteen years later, the Myricks were making the drink with Myers and a light rum (probably Cruzan).

In 1979, Pusser’s rum was founded and in 1980, they started bottling rum that was designed to reproduce the British Navy rum ration. Pusser’s, a Virgin Island’s-based company, eventually trademarked the Painkiller, so that the drink could no longer be made with the rums above, and had to be made with Pusser’s. It had to be made with Pusser’s if it wanted to be called a Painkiller, that is. The timeline on this is a little fuzzy. They first attempted it in 1989, but it looks like they did it successfully by the 2000’s.

In 2010, two NY bartenders from the heart of the cocktail renaissance, Giuseppe Gonzalez and Richard Boccato, opened a tiki revival bar on the Lower East Side called Painkiller. Gonzalez was credited with rebalancing the Jungle Bird to modern palates by lowering the pineapple juice to 1.5 oz (from 4 oz) and he created my favorite Coquito recipe (   • How to Make Coquito - the Homemade Pu...  ).

The bar was sued by Pusser’s in 2011 for using the name Painkiller. The bar gave up its website and changed its name to PKNY. However, this lead to Pusser’s getting boycotted by the bartending and cocktail enthusiast crowd.

The fallout from this, 9 years later, has been largely forgotten in the wake of more immediate scandals and outrages. The enduring legacy seems to be the fact that Painkillers are now made strictly to spec or both the name and the recipe are changed to avoid any legal ramifications.

I took the latter approach to this drink and my remix of the classic recipe makes the drink more tiki. The flavors are a little more exotic with the tangerine and cinnamon. And by lowering the pineapple, it gives some of the other ingredients room to breathe. They are not just drowned in pineapple juice.

For the rum, I like it with Hamilton Navy Strength, which is an overproof blend of Jamaican and Demerara rums. If you have 151 Demerara and Jamaican or OFTD or even navy strength Pusser’s, they should all work pretty well in this one. You want it to be bold enough to not get totally lost in the other ingredients and strong enough to dull the pain.

The cinnamon syrup is amazing in this drink, which is why it’s important to use unsweetened coconut cream. That way you can control the flavor of the sweetener and give the drink that big spicy punch. Okole Maluna!

#EasyTiki #Painkiller #PiñaColada

Recipe:
2.5 oz navy strength rum
3 oz pineapple juice
1 oz coconut cream
1 oz cinnamon syrup
1 oz tangerine juice*
garnish fresh grated nutmeg
garnish dried pineapple ring & pineapple fronds (optional)

Shake all (except garnish) with ice. Fill a tiki mug or rocks glass with crushed ice and double strain the drink into the glass. Grate fresh nutmeg generously over the top and optionally garnish with fresh fruit.

*if you have to sub orange for tangerine, use Cara Cara orange juice.


Music:
Chat by Bassio
Better Get It Right (Instrumental Version) by Mama Zula
Salamanca by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist
via Epidemic Sound


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Featured in this Episode:

Hamilton Navy Rum
http://bit.ly/2gRpv8n

Coconut Cream
https://amzn.to/2x3CnBc

Cinnamon Syrup
   • How to Make Cinnamon Syrup - a Blend ...  

Whole Nutmeg
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Beachbum Berry Remixed by Beachbum Berry
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Potions of the Caribbean by Beachbum Berry
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To Have and Have Another by Philip Greene
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The Last Woman on Earth (DVD)
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Bar Tools:

Hers Mug by Pie Eyed Tiki
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Mai Tai Old Fashioned Glass
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Japanese Style Jigger - Gunmetal Black
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Koriko Weighted Shaker Set
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Hawthorne Strainer- Gunmetal Black
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Fine Mesh Strainer
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Microplane Grater
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Citrus Juicer (Lime)
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Breville Juicer
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Cutting Board
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Small Knife
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Lewis Bag & Ice Mallet
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