Soggy Dollar Bar Painkillers, Jost Van Dyke. How many of you have sat on White Bay Beach with a Painkiller in hand? Or even DREAMED of sitting on this fabulous beach in the British Virgin Islands with a painkiller in hand?
We have been some of the lucky ones, or unlucky ones, whichever way you want to look at it who have sat with our toes in the sand imbibing the essence of the Caribbean!
What is the Soggy Dollar Bar Painkiller Recipe?
You can get a good idea of what is in it, but they will tell you the proportions are top secret!
I can tell you from experience that the proportions in these recipes are not so secret..Start with about 99% rum, I think, and break up the rest!
They will give you an option of 1-5 in strength 
Soggy Dollar Bar, British Virgin Islands, Painkillers
I think you are just going to have to get yourself down to Soggy Dollar Bar and sample enough to make your own decisions on what is in them!
Who invented the Soggy Dollar Bar Painkiller?
Let’s go on a bit of history lesson here. The story, as I know it, according to George and Marie Myrick.
George and Marie landed on Great Thatch in the 1960s, running guest accommodation and meal packages there. When their lease ran out, it was off to Jost Van Dyke and building the Original Sandcastle.
Trivia: Every year in weather, the seas would toss up stones on the east end of White Bay, and several months later, the weather would take it all away.
One year they collected 146 loads over a month on their boat IVORY GULL.
The First Sandcastle Resort was built out of these in concrete aggregate.
George and Marie Myrick’s Recipe original recipe for a Painkiller
“By some delightful experimenting, Marie and I came up with a delicious rum drink. Our mix consisted of orange juice, pineapple juice, and coconut cream.
We added the coconut cream slowly until we said: “wow, this is it!” We sloshed it over some measured ounces of rum, Mount Gay or Cruzan Rum- dealers choice.
Last, but not least, ground nutmeg was sprinkled on top. This, we decided, was a terrific house drink.
Marie named our drink the Painkiller, after a local bush”
This was in the early 1970s.
George Myrick passed away in the last few years, and you may have to search for the book now.
Painkiller Recipe
Never fear though, our recipe for the Soggy Dollar Painkiller has been tested and tried over thousands of guests back when we ran BVI Yacht Charters
My Proportions are:
- Rum: However much you want…
- 40% Coco Lopez ( This is Cream of Coconut)
- 40% Orange Juice
- 20% Pineapple Juice
- Grated Nutmeg (fresh please)
- And maybe a rum floater depending on the crowd you are serving
Ivans Stress-Free Bar Painkillers
If you wander down the beach at White Bay on Jost Van Dyke to Ivan’s, you can find his twist on the painkillers, which include lovely VANILLA painkillers! Ivan is an iconic figure in the British Virgin Islands and made even more famous by being a “must stop” place when Kenny Chesney is around. You can definitely lose your stress at his stress-free bar!
Have you made a Painkiller Cake?
Perhaps you would instead make a PAINKILLER CAKE? I think that sounds like a great idea!
We made it once, and it is decadent beyond all delight.
I have reproduced the recipe here but you can certainly go to Walters page to see it in its original form! Walter also shares many pictures of making this labor of love!
Walter Magnums PainKiller Cake
Cake ingredients
- One package pineapple cake mix – the Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix or something similar works best.
- One small package Jello Coconut Cream Instant Pudding Mix — yes, use it in addition to any pudding that might already be in the mix. If you cannot get Coconut Cream, Vanilla is almost as good.
- Four eggs
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 1 cup coconut flakes
- One can (8 oz.) chunk pineapple in juice
- 1/2 cup rum (Pusser’s preferred, but any dark rum will do).
- 1/2 cup Coco Lopez (cream of coconut — not coconut milk!)
Glaze
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup Coco Lopez
- One cup rum (Pusser’s preferred, but any dark rum will do).
- 1/2 cup Grand Marnier
Additional
- Freshly grated nutmeg
Method
- Pour the cup of pineapple juice to a saucepan. Strain the liquid from the can of chunk pineapple, adding the fluid to the pan.
- Reduce the liquid over medium-high heat until you have 1/2 cup of juice in the pan. You have now intensified the pineapple flavor.
- Very lightly chop the pineapple chunks (about five quick pulses in a food processor).
- Thoroughly mix all of the cake ingredients and pour into a greased pan. A bundt or ring-type pan will cook quicker, but you can also use a loaf-type pan.
- If you use a loaf-type pan and only fill it about 1/3 full, you will have enough batter left over to make
- Bake at 350F (175C). If you use a bundt or ring pan, the cake should be made in around 45 minutes. A loaf pan will take about an hour.
- Be sure to leave lots of room in the oven above, as this cake rises a lot.
- When the cake starts to turn nice and brown on top, check for doneness with a toothpick. Poke a toothpick into the cake and pull it back out. The cake is done when the toothpick comes out clean.
- Don’t overcook, as you want this cake to be very moist inside.
- About a half-hour after putting the cake into the oven, make the glaze.
Continuing to completion
- Bring the butter, sugar, orange juice, and Coco Lopez to a boil over medium heat.
- Remove from heat and add the rum and Grand Marnier. Return to heat and reduce over high heat until the glaze reaches 240F (the soft-ball candy stage – see note below).
- Drizzle glaze over cake while the cake is still warm.
- Drizzle from the center, allowing glaze to run to edges. Let the Cake rest for a couple of minutes to run down the side.
- Slowly add more glaze to the very top.
- Don’t worry much about the glaze that runs off the side of the cake as it will form a delicious soft candy as it cools.
- Grate a very light sprinkling fresh nutmeg over the glaze.
- Lightly sprinkle coconut flakes over the top of the cake.
Finishing off your Soggy Dollar Painkiller Cake
- Then a note on the glaze: Cooking a sugar-based glaze is very easy but requires a little bit of care. If you don’t cook it long enough, it will not set. If you cook it too long, you wind up with hard candy.
- Cook the glaze until it is about 240F (the “softball” candy stage).
- Be patient — this may take 15 to 20 minutes or more over high heat. (A thermometer helps here.)
- The liquid in the pan will remain at around 210 degrees for a long time while the water boils off. Once it passes this stage, though, the temperature will rise quickly.
- Do NOT let the temperature exceed 245F!
- * WARNING*If you drink enough of the Painkillers. First, you won’t care what you put in the cake, though, and may eat the ingredients you bought raw.
