And Here We Go Again Dept: Pusser's Painkiller

[Capn Jimbo]

I really hate to be a pain, but...


Pusser's goes with their Painkiller like Gosling's Black Seal goes with their Dark 'N Stormy. How so? Most of you already know - both of these are trademarked and the copyrighted property of Pussers and Gosling's respectively. Both have invested years and millions of dollars in what have become valuable properties, and you can believe they can, will and should protect them. Why?

They don't want to lose their investment in considerable time and treasure.

One of the problems with becoming popular and accepted is the risk that these protected names - if allowed to be used withoug challenge - then enter the public domain and can be used by anyone for anything, including suggesting other rums or spirits to make the drink. No distiller or owner can either tolerate or risk a loss of millions in that fashion.

In another thread, we documented the recent enforcement by Goslings in re a small blog that posted a "Dark & Stormy Challenge" that suggested and scored alternative rums in that drink. The webmaster received a kind but firm legal notice from family Gosling's New York law firm, to which he promptly complied and removed the article.


Is it happening again?

Yes, and this time with a nice blogger named Professor Cocktail and with Pusser's Painkiller (link). In this article our good Professor posts two recipes: one very interesting and non-protected martini called the "Income Tax Cocktail". The other is - gulp - is named the "Painkiller", which - double gulp - specifies the usual Painkiller ingredients, but not specifyiing Pussers.

Oops.

That my fellow idiots is a big no-no. Having been present throughout the "Dark & Stormy Challenge" fiasco, I did my public duty to raise my hand and address the bespectacled fellow...

Moi:

"Do forgive me, but the Painkiller® is a registered and protected trademark owned by Pussers. Any rum recipe named "Painkiller" must specfically specify Pusser's Blue Label rum. Your recipe cannot be sufficiently distinguished.

Some readers may remember that the former RnD rum review site published, then retracted a recipe for "Painkiller" that didn't specify Pussers. They promptly corrected it. More recently a blog had to retract an article that suggested rums other than Gosling's for their copyrighted "Dark 'N Stormy". This blog actually received a legal notice from Goslings, a rather shocking reality check.

Please allow me to suggest that you specify Pussers, or change the name of the drink. It's the right thing to do. We reviewers especially have the obligation to set a good example, not to mention respecting Charles Tobias and his wonderful Pusser's rums and his Painkiller."

What will the Professor do? As a participant over at the Shillery, I'm confident he knows about the D&S Challenge, and its unfortunate outcome. Stay tuned. Again....

[Capn Jimbo]

The Art of (protecting your) Drink...


There's a great site called the Art of Drink, run by a very knowledgable and quite ethical fellow who takes his art - and morals - very seriously. He recently addressed this issue in terms of the many recipe books...

The Art of Drink:

"There is nothing wrong with protecting ones work, and if protection weren’t available via the patent system, we wouldn’t be as technologically advances as were are today.

For all the naysayers, just read through old recipe books prior to copyright laws, the vast majority are plagiarised, pretty much word-for-word. It’s so bad that actually tracking down who created the recipe is extremely hard, plus there are always little changes which makes it even harder to reproduce the original drink / product. Protection and documentation keeps things clear."

I surely couldn't have said it better, and "Art" deserves full credit for an attitude we should all respect, particularly those of us who publish reviews and recipes. My family was flush with self-made entrepreneurs and at least one inventor. Hard work, property rights and the patent office were their friends.

We all have names and property, not to be abused and are obligated, both legally and morally to support the distillers who worked long and hard to provide the rest of us the spirits and signature drinks we all enjoy.

Further affiant sayeth naught...

[Capn Jimbo]

By the way, matey...


You will read many stories about how Pusser's Painkiller came about. Those who mock copyright are quick to allege for example, that Gosling's "Dark 'N Stormy" was about before Gosling's trademarked it. This of course is a distinction without a difference, as even back then it was made with Gosling's Black Seal.

The story behind Pusser's Painkiller is equally interesting.

According to the fine and talented webmaster of The Art of Drink, the drink was actually invented by a "Daphne Henderson who operated the Soggy Dollar in the British Virgin Islands". He states the name came from the notion that the bar had no dock, so sailors were obligated to swim in to the bar.

As for Pussers...

"Art" further related that Charles Tobias (the marine who negotiated with the Admiralty to produce Pussers) loved the drink and "reverse-engineered" it to create what he called and trademarked the "Painkiller". Think Trader Vic Bergeron's "Mai Tai" which was likewise produced from Donn the Beachcomber's "QB Cooler". "Art" insists that Henderson's Soggy Dollar drink still remains secret.

Now the nature of reverse-engineering is that it is absolutely impossible to exactly reproduce the ingredients of a truly secret recipe. For example Vic's Mai Tai and Donn's QB Cooler taste remarkable alike but the known ingredients are completely different.

For this reason - different ingredients - you are strongly advised to keep your panties smooth and flat. Tobias' Painkiller is indeed his own invention, and carries the name he gave it...

Pusser's Painkiller. And now you know the rest of the story...

[Capn Jimbo]

Columbo... "and just one more question, Ma'am"...


Now you all know (a) how I tend to ramble and (b) my obsessive-compulsive nature to find and divulge all manner of myths and supposed secrets. So here I go again, full credit to one of the world's greatest, and surely the most authentic rums...

Pussers:

"Origin of the Pusser's Painkiller®"

The infamous Pusser's Painkiller® had its start at the six-seat Soggy Dollar Bar on a long stretch of white sand beach at White Bay on the island of Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. There's no dock, so the usual way in is to swim. Of course, your dollars get wet - hence the name: Soggy Dollar Bar.

When all this started, the bar with its four adjoining cottages was owned by an English lady, Daphne Henderson. Boaters, including Pusser's founder Charles Tobias, came from all around to sample her tasty Pusser's Painkiller® for which she'd become locally famous. The fact that Tobias had gone to Great Britain's Royal Navy and gotten permission to commercialize the rum in 1980 made him more curious about this deliciously concocted recipe made with Pusser's Rum.

Daphne Henderson and Charles Tobias became good friends, but in spite of their friendship, and no matter how hard he tried, she refused to divulge her secret recipe for the Pusser's Painkiller®. Two years passed, then late one Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of a long session of Painkilling, Tobias somehow managed to get one of her concoctions back through the surf and over the gunwale into his boat, and ultimately into his kitchen on Tortola where he lives. There he went to work, trying to match her flavor as closely as possible with his own recipe which he finally worked out to be "4-1-1" ratio - four parts pineapple, one part cream of coconut and one part orange juice - adding Pusser's Rum to suit.

The following Sunday, Tobias returned to the Soggy Dollar Bar for another afternoon of West Indian food, Painkillers and swimming. Shaking the water off after his swim ashore, Tobias announced to Daphne Henderson that I'd finally broken her secret, "At last, Daphne, I have the Painkiller® recipe which I promise to not divulge to anyone if you tell me that I'm right,” he said.

"If you've got it, what do you need anything from me for?" she replied smiling as she continued to josh Tobias about my not being able to come even close. "Wait and see," he told her, and in a few minutes, he mixed one of his and started to taste it against hers. Tobias discerned a slight difference, but thought his mixture better, not quite so sweet as hers, and told her so. Understandably, she insisted that hers was better and challenged him to a contest. Tobias accepted, and the bet was on for $100.

There were about ten patrons around the bar. Tobias ordered two rounds: one that Daphne made, and one that he made to his recipe. They marked the cups and proceeded to test. Tobias’s recipe won 10 out of 10 taste-tests! They preferred his version to hers. She humorously insisted that somehow Tobias paid everybody off to win. Of course, he hadn't, and vehemently denied her charges. Tobias took payment on the bet in the form of 40 Painkillers which the crowd all drank to celebrate the occasion.

Soon after, Tobias started promoting the Pusser's Painkiller® in the two Pusser's bars he had at that time on Tortola. But he always gives Daphne Henderson credit with a by-line in Pusser's printed media: AS INSPIRED BY DAPHNE AT THE SOGGY DOLLAR BAR AT WHITE BAY ON JOST VAN DYKE. From this modest beginning, the fame of the Pusser's Painkiller® has spread throughout the boating and sailing communities of the Caribbean and the U.S., and is probably the most popular mixed rum drink amongst sailors today in the West Indies. And it continues to spread throughout many other parts of the world.

Thanks to Daphne Henderson! ...the inspiration behind the Pusser's Painkiller®."

I normally (and properly) extract information and quotes as needed to assist in our mutual education, but I'm confident that in this case, the story is best told by Pussers and is so delightful that I hesitate in editing it.

Enjoy it, and Pusser's wonderful "Painkiller" as Sue Sea and I once enjoyed in Key Largo as made by the family member and rep at the then annual kayak races.

[Capn Jimbo]

And yet again...


And for yet another twist, Jeff "Beachbum" Berry has another version, which must be considered. I have communicated with Jeff over the years and know him to be even more fanatical than I in matters of history.

His knowledge?

Berry is reported to have related he believed the precusor to the Painkiller was created circa 1971 not by Tobias' Daphne Henderson, but the couple who owned the Soggy Dollar (the Myricks). The problem: he learned this from the current owner, a "Jerry O'Connel. who claims the drink was made not with Pussers, but with Cruzan and Mount Gay. How do you spell h-e-a-r-s-a-y. Unfortunately Berry seems to have lacked the incentive to really track this one down (in comparison to the Mai Tai). And even this version fails under the hearsay rule.

You pays yer money, you takes yer choice...


*******
Capn's Note: I checked my "bible" - "Beachbum Berry Remixed" (highly recommended) - and the above version is confirmed by Berry in his own book. Still, he was careful to specify Pussers for the Painkiller, and also noted two things: first, that Pussers is now "the official pour" at the Soggy Dollar and second that the Painkiller was the only recipe in his book that specified Pussers.