Cachaça Looks to Its Future

Like a lot of people in the liquor world, I haven't spent a lot of time lately troubling my mind about the fate of Cachaça. Sure, it was fun falling in love with the Caipirinha several years ago. It was delicious and easy to make, and vaguely exotic. But the Cachaça folks haven't given us much of a follow-up thrill since then, and the industry battle to have the liquor recognized as a separate category by the American government (and not as "Brazilian rum") grew rather tedious after a while.

However, that campaign eventually succeeded. By summer's end, Cachaça will have gotten the respect from Washington D.C. that it so long desired. In other news, Diageo got into the Cachaça game, buying the huge Ypióca brand for $470 million. Clearly, Diageo things the sugar-cane booze has a future. Given those events, I felt it was time to reappraise the status of Cachaça in the United States.

Here's the story I wrote for the New York Times:

Pusser's Rum Brings the Pain to Painkiller

In its single year in business, the Lower East Side Tiki bar Painkiller has arguably achieved greater name recognition than any other new tavern that has opened in the last 12 months. Constant press and regular accolades have been its lot. Question cocktail enthusiasts in Portland, Atlanta or Los Angeles and they're recognize the word as not only the name of a classic Tiki drink, but also the instantly classic Tiki bar that took the drink for its name.

But the bar's legal reign as Painkiller has come to an end. Owing to a federal law suit brought by Pusser's Rum Ltd., the bar will be henceforth know at PKNY. Pusser's has also demanded that Painkiller turn over its website address and stop selling the rum concoction know as Painkiller (which, according to them, has to be made with Pusser's).

Where does a British Virgin Islands rum manufacturer get off telling a Manhattan bar what to do? Well, it seems the 31-year-old company holds two U.S. trademarks, one for "alcoholic fruit drinks with fruit juices and cream of coconut and coconut juice," and one for "non-alcoholic mixed fruit juices," which they market as "Pusser’s Painkiller Cocktail Mix"—a product I have no familiarity with, and which, I'd hazard a guess, is far less known among cocktailians than is the Painkiller bar. 

According to the Lo-Down site, in the lawsuit filed April 12 in U.S. District Court, plaintiff Pusser’s Rum Ltd., "sued tiki bar owners Giuseppe Gonzalez and Richard Boccato, claiming irreparable harm to its brand, unfair competition and unfair business practices, according to court documents on file in the Southern District of New York." 

That Pusser's successfully copyrighted the Painkiller cocktail name is a curious thing. According to Tiki expert Jeff Berry, the Painkiller (a blend of pineapple juice, orange juice, coconut cream, rum, cinnamon and nutmeg) was invented in 1971 by George and Mari Myrick of the Soggy Dollar Bar, in the British Virgin Islands. Jerry O'Connell, who currently owns the Soggy Dollar, told Berry that the Myricks originally made the drink with Mount Gay and Cruzan dark rums. But now Pusser's—founded a decade after the drink was created—is the official, legal rum of this libation. Because of Pusser's legal action, Berry himself initially thought the company invented the cocktail.

Pusser's may have won the battle here, but it may lose a very long, painful war. It's legal strongarming of Painkiller has already inspired some bad blood within cocktail circles. Gonzalez and Boccato are extremely popular figures in the cocktail world, and their friends are faithful. Within hours of the announcement of the bar's forced name change, various bartenders and industry figures proclaimed on Facebook their antipathy toward Pusser's, and said they were thinking of boycotting the rum.

There is also a Facebook page called "Bartenders Against Pusser's Rum." At press time, it had 90 members. UPDATE: There are 250 as of 4 PM ET. Also, the page has changed its name to "Bartenders Against Trademarking of Cocktails." There is, however, a newer Facebook community called "Bartenders and Cocktailians Against Pusser's Rum." It has 70 people who "like" it as of 5:30 PM. The Pusser's Rum Facebook page, meanwhile, has 76 members.

Painkiller Unleashes Biggest Cocktail List in Town

Death & Co. has some competition in copiousness.

Painkiller, the LES tiki bar, last night unleashed what is probably the largest cocktail list in town. Gone is the cryptic placemat/menu, which divided tiki drinks into a few totemic categories ("Frozens," "Daiquiris" "Swizzles") and let the customer, with some guidance from the bartender, take it from there. In its place is a document the size, scope and look of a classic take-out Chinese menu. No longer will patrons wonder what exactly Painkiller can make for them. Instead, they will have to mull what selection, among the Greek diner-like abundance, they will settle on. The bar's gone from the elemental to exuberant expansionism.

Aside from the Top 10 Classics (Jet Pilot, Mai Tai, etc.) and a set of six Scorpion bowls, there are 103 tiki cocktails to choose from, by my count. According to co-owner Giuseppe Gonzalez, at least a third of these are modern creations, invented by him and the Painkiller staff, or outside contemporaries.

Gonzalez' reasons for creating the more explicit and explosive menu were two-fold. He said he wanted to show his customers all that tiki could be and all his bartenders could create; he got tired of seeing his customers order and his bartenders make the same several drinks over and over again.

I sampled two of the new libations. First came the LES Luau Mist, which Gonzalez said involved a triple infusion with bacon, pineapple and clove—all the elements in a luau roast pig. After that I had something modestly called The Most Interesting Flip in the World. (A Flip is a very old and frothy class of cocktail that included egg.) The boast was not altogether empty. It was damn interesting, and kept getting more interesting as I topped it off with the rest of the bottle of Ballantine, which was left with me. The drink is made of Cognac, Curacao, Grenadine and orange bitters. 2 dashes of orange bitters.I can't explain it, but distinct hints of Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray Tonic and Cream Soda were in that drink.

Hot Tiki Drinks Just in Time for Christmas

Just published this item on the Times' Diner's Journal blog. If I didn't have a family—and one that  would kill me if I went out drinking on Christmas Eve—this is where I'd be on Dec. 24.

Hot Tiki!

By Robert Simonson

Starting this week, the painkilling will run both hot and cold at the Lower East Side tiki bar Painkiller.

Most drinkers associate tiki cocktails with huge heaps of shaved ice. But that, said Painkiller’s co-owner Giuseppe Gonzalez, is only part of the Polynesian playbook.

“Hot drinks are actually a very classic tiki thing,” said Mr. Gonzalez, noting that a good 20 percent of the classic concoctions found in the books of the tiki archeologist Jeff Berry are designed to be served warm. “It’s an escapist mentality that tiki bars try to inspire, so a lot of bars have hot drinks all year round no matter what. Trader Vic’s always had their famous Coffee Grog on the menu.”

Painkiller will offer the Coffee Grog — a mix of hot java, rum, a special batter and spices — as well as the 151 Buttered Rum and Hot Zombie. Mr. Gonzalez will also be doing a hot mai tai, his own invention. “It’s a deconstruction of the drink. Instead of lime juice, we just squeeze a lime wheel in there. There’s Curacao, house-made orgeat, a double measure of Jamaican rum, top that off with hot water and give that a float of almond cream.” Another spin on an old standby will be the warm Sazerac, “primarily because Donn Beach, the inventor of tiki, is actually from New Orleans, and the Sazerac is, to me, a drink that only gets better as it gets warmer. So why don’t we just serve it warm?”

Painkiller will likely start the new menu of hot drinks on Christmas Eve, “primarily because I’m going to be open,” said Mr. Gonzalez. “I’m a new bar and I got bills to pay, brother.” He will also be staffing the shakers on Christmas day, for those who choose to seek their cup of yuletide cheer outside the house.

The new year, meanwhile, will bring a reworked menu at Painkiller. “We’ll have a Painkiller top 10,” he said. “We’ll have staff picks, which don’t have to be tiki. Just to give people the impression that, yes, you’re in a tiki bar, but hey, we’re good at anything. We can make anything for you.”

Painkiller Offering Zombie Bowls

Feeling reckless?

Painkiller, the new tiki bar on the Lower East Side, is now serving "Zombie Bowls," which, as co-owner Richard Boccato described it, is basically a punch bowl-size Zombie cocktail.

The menu addition is notable in that Painkiller is known for denying customers more than one Zombie, as the legendary rum cocktail is lethally alcoholic. The Zombie Bowl—cost: $80—is obviously intended for a group of people. And Bocatto still reserves the right to deny service. He said recently that he had served only two of the bowls so far. Others who ordered the specialty were politely turned away, as already being one or two sheets to the wind.

More About Painkiller

Richard Boccato and Giuseppe ("Joe") Gonzalez' new tiki bar Painkiller opens officially tonight. I visited the place on Monday, and talked to Boccato about the debut menu shortly after. Here are my findings, published yesterday, in the New York Times' Diner's Journal.

Zombies Descend for Drinks on the Lower East Side

By ROBERT SIMONSON

If the patrons at the new Lower East Side tikiden Painkiller want to order a Zombie — as many will — they’ll have a choice.

“We have to pay respect to Donn Beach,” said Richard Boccato, one of the owners of Painkiller, which officially opens on Friday. Beach, who founded the legendary Don the Beachcomber bar in Hollywood in 1934, is one of tiki’s founding fathers. But one of his signature drinks, the lethally alcoholic Zombie, is also one of the most debated cocktails in tiki history, with several differing published recipes.

How to Tag a Tiki Bar

Last night, May 3, the new Lower East Side tiki bar Painkiller has a soft opening for "family and friends." Preparations were so up to the brink that the storefront was still getting spray-painting up until the doors opened at 9 PM, and even afterwards. The artists, we were told, are graffiti taggers of some renown. Inside, there were Painkillers, Zombies, Mai Tais and about 587 people.

A Painless Painkiller

Here's an update on the upcoming New York tiki bar Painkiller, written for the New York Times' Diner's Journal blog a few days ago.

An Island Cocktail Lounge, Manhattan Island

By ROBERT SIMONSON

If you like piña coladas, free hot dogs and a live-and-let-live approach to life, Painkiller, a tiki bar due to open on the Lower East Side this spring, may be your cup of rum.

Richard Boccato, the veteran bartender and bar owner who will run Painkiller with his Dutch Kills colleague Giuseppe Gonzalez, said he hoped to kick off a new era in tiki culture with the bar.

“We’re not trying to do a classic tiki bar,” Mr. Boccato said. “We’re not going to build our father’s or grandfather’s tiki bar. We want to foster the inception of a New York tiki culture. We’re not taking you off the island of Manhattan onto the island of Oahu. We’re staying right here.”

Patrons should expect some “thatch and some bamboo,” as they would at any tiki bar, he said. “But you should also expect some graffiti and some subway tiles and things that are more reminiscent of the Bowery circa 1978. We’re trying to do an amalgamation of that.”

In preparation, Mr. Boccato and Mr. Gonzalez went on a multinational research trip, visiting acmes of tiki culture in California; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Puerto Rico; and London. Among the more than 20 bars they inspected on the whirlwind 10-day tour were Martin Cate’s Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco and Mark Peel and Jay Perrin’s Tar Pit in Los Angeles, where, until recently, Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club was a partner. Along their travels, they hit upon some themes that may prove novel in New York’s sometimes doctrinaire cocktail world. Standing at the bar — anathema at some of the more exclusive Manhattan cocktail bars — will be allowed. There will be free hot dogs, a la Rudy’s, the celebrated Eighth Avenue dive. And there will be a place on the menu for the piña colada, a drink that has never been celebrated by the cocktail elite.

“We took a look at the different piña colada situations that are going on” in Puerto Rico, Mr. Boccato said. “We thought about things in a different way. We pretty much do what we do behind the bar with our shakers and ingredients. But there’s really something to be said about the machine thatblends it all together and keeps it cold. It was eye-opening.”

The opening menu will feature 15 to 20 drinks, including some classics by tiki trailblazers like Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s, as well as some original creations, and a “Scorpion Bowl” menu. There will a half dozen booths and an equal amount of stools, but nobody need feel pressured to sit.

“We’re not going to restrict standing,” Mr. Boccato said. “We don’t want to have anything less than a convivial, festive environment. If there are people standing, so be it. If there are people cursing, so be it. This is not Tiki Chic. This is not Sleepy Tiki. This is New York City Tiki.”

Above all, Mr. Boccato wants Painkiller to be a painless experience for the customer. “This is almost a natural progression into something that’s no less historically valid but a little bit more lighthearted, more relaxed,” Mr. Boccato told me recently. He said that what the rum expert Jeff Berry “and other tiki-philes will tell you is that to them the essence of tiki is really an escape, it’s almost a retreat, coming into a bar and feeling you’re somewhat removed from your life. That’s the reason people go to dive bars. So why not have a beautiful Polynesian setting to help you along the way?”

Mr. Boccato expects Painkiller to be open “between the Ides of March and April Fool’s Day.”