This week, Bar Beat is featuring some of the tastiest beverages in town for these last weeks of summer. See video of the making of one of these drinks: the Yacht Club’s smooth, fruit-filled and literally fiery Painkiller.
Pick up a copy of Wednesday’s Mountain Xpress to read the feature and see the full list of summer drinks
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Looks like fun. Are you really supposed to sip it while it’s on fire and keep your eyebrows intact?
Cute. Who’s idea was it to float the 151 and light it? That’s not a painkiller. A painkiller has a little ground nutmeg on the top. Also, watching him make it, he didn’t use enough rum and too much punch. The painkilling part of a painkiller is from the rum. Preferably Pussers, btw.
At least the barkeep knows the origin of the drink. And it is probably a lot cheaper to get one at the Yacht Club in Asheville than it is to travel to the Soggy Dollar and have one there. Although the beach on Yost is a little nicer…
Cheers!
VI Guy: The Painkiller, like plenty of cocktails (e.g. the mai tai), has a number of different versions. The original Painkiller does include nutmeg on top, but others also add cinnamon (even a whole stick sometimes) or leave out the nutmeg entirely. Suggested rums also vary, though plenty do swear by Pusser’s. The Yacht Club sticks to the Painkiller basics of strong rum, coconut, pineapple and orange while adding their own touch: the flaming 151-covered sugar cube. Personally, I think it adds visual flair to the drink, and as the sugar burns down, it mixes well with the other flavors. They make them plenty strong, too.
It’s an admirable part of drinking culture that innovative bars and bartenders will put their own spin on old classics. Rum drinks are particularly suited to this. I’d recommend Wayne Curtis’ great book And a Bottle of Rum to anyone, not just for the interesting stories behind the history and different versions of many famous drinks, but also for the sheer amount of tasty recipes inside.
Salud.