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
We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we’ve never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.
We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.
3 thoughts on “Bar Beat: See the making of the Painkiller”
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.