Pusser's Rum
Pusser's is a navy-style rum first bottled in 1979 to the Admiralty's blending recipe, a blend of West Indian rums that includes pot-still rum from Guyana's wooden stills. The standard bottling is 40% ABV and Gunpowder Proof is 54.5%. Pusser's holds the Painkiller trade mark, which is why our Painkiller names it.
Quick Facts
Upright, away from light. Indefinite once opened.
None of the 14 listed allergens. Recipes change: check the bottle.
About Pusser's Rum
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Dense and dry for a dark rum: molasses and oak with a woody, faintly medicinal edge that comes from the pot still rather than from sugar.
The rum the Navy stopped pouring in 1970
The Royal Navy gave its sailors a daily tot of rum for more than three hundred years and issued the last one on 31 July 1970. Sailors called it Black Tot Day; some wore black armbands, and some ships held mock funerals for the tot.
Pusser is naval slang for the purser, the officer who ran a ship's stores, and the rum took his name.
Pusser's bottles the Admiralty blend
In 1979 Charles Tobias obtained the right to use the Admiralty's blending information and to sell the rum as Pusser's. It is a blend of West Indian rums, including pot-still rum from the Guyanese wooden stills described under Demerara rum. Pusser's says it adds no flavouring or sweetener, only caramel for a consistent colour, and a donation from its sales goes to the Royal Navy Sailors' Fund.
Pusser's strengths against the old proof line
Pusser’s Blue Label (outside the US)
- ABV
- 40%
- Old British proof
- About 70 proof
Pusser’s Gunpowder Proof
- ABV
- 54.5%
- Old British proof
- About 95 proof
British 100 proof
- ABV
- 57.15%
- Old British proof
- 100 proof
| Bottle or measure | ABV | Old British proof |
|---|---|---|
| Pusser’s Blue Label (outside the US) | 40% | About 70 proof |
| Pusser’s Gunpowder Proof | 54.5% | About 95 proof |
| British 100 proof | 57.15% | 100 proof |
The Painkiller is a trade mark
The Painkiller is usually credited to the Soggy Dollar Bar, a beach bar in the British Virgin Islands. Pusser's filed a US trade mark for the name in 1989 and has enforced it; the most reported case came in 2011, when a Manhattan tiki bar using the name settled and became PKNY. Our recipe follows Pusser's: 60ml of its rum, twice that of pineapple juice, and orange juice and cream of coconut at half the rum each, shaken and topped with fresh nutmeg.
Made with another rum it is a good drink, but a bar cannot put the trade-marked name on it where the mark applies.
Using Pusser's Rum
Usage
Our Painkiller takes 60ml, shaken with pineapple, orange and cream of coconut and topped with nutmeg. Pusser's own guidance leaves the rum measure to the drinker and treats 60ml as standard; the higher-strength bottle suits a punch.
Pro Tip
Shake a Painkiller hard and long enough to break the cream of coconut into the juice; a lazy shake leaves a slick on top. Strain over fresh ice so the drink starts cold and is not watered down by the shaking ice.
Top Tips
- Check which bottle you have. The standard Pusser's is 40% and Gunpowder Proof is 54.5%, so the same 60ml differs by over half a unit.
- The producer says it adds no sweetener, only caramel for colour. A recipe written for a sweeter dark rum may need a touch more syrup.
- Grate the nutmeg fresh over a Painkiller. Ground nutmeg from a jar gives far less aroma on the top of the drink.
- In a punch that sits for an afternoon, the stronger bottling keeps the rum tasting of rum as the ice melts.
Possible Substitutions
- Dark Rum: A pot-still one of similar weight; most are sweeter. Not in a Painkiller
Production Method
A blend in the style issued to the Royal Navy for three centuries: pot-still rum from the Caribbean, aged in oak, with no sugar or flavouring added after distillation. Bottled at standard strength and at the higher Gunpowder Proof that recalls the strength a sailor could test against gunpowder.
History & Context
The last daily tot was poured in the Royal Navy on 31 July 1970, ending a custom of more than three hundred years; sailors called it Black Tot Day, and some wore black armbands. In 1979 Charles Tobias obtained the right to use the Admiralty's blending information and the Pusser's name, and the company makes a donation from its sales to the Royal Navy Sailors' Fund, known as the Tot Fund.