The Pineapple Juice You Use Can Make Or Break Your Painkiller Tiki Drink

tiki cocktail garnished with pineapple
tiki cocktail garnished with pineapple - Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock

While Painkiller tiki cocktails are relatively easy to make, the smooth recipe can be impacted by the ingredients you choose to use. One ounce each of creme de coco, orange juice, pineapple juice, and dark rum are shaken with ice and strained to be served garnished with a fruit slice or decorative leaf. Yet as delicious and boozy as this drink can be, reaching for the wrong kind of juice to mix into your drink can dull the overall impact of your beverage.

As you begin to collect supplies to start slinging drinks at home, pay attention to the ingredient labels on the juices you place into your grocery cart. Pineapple juices with added sugar can overly sweeten your Painkiller beverage, and juices that have been diluted with water can dampen the taste of your drink. Since the whole is only as good as the sum of its parts, do yourself a favor and pour fresh juice strategically into your drink shaker in order to take the day's pain away, instead of adding to it with a painfully sugary or watered-down cocktail.

Read more: 13 Liquors Your Home Bar Should Have

Ingredients Matter When Recipes Are Straightforward

bartender garnishing drink
bartender garnishing drink - Urbazon/Getty Images

Depending on the amount of pain you're trying to alleviate for yourself, adding more dark rum to your drink recipe and garnishing your poured glass with a dusting of nutmeg can turn up the volume of the tropics. For less of an alcoholic wallop in your Painkiller cocktail, simply increase the amount of pineapple juice you mix the rest of the ingredients with.

If you want to go the extra mile when mixing a tiki cocktail for yourself at home, consider blending your own pineapple juice from fresh fruit. Though the effort may seem excessive when you can buy bottled juice from the store, your homemade syrupy sweet liquid will do more than just brighten cocktails. Fresh pineapple juice can also be added to barbecue sauces, tangy salad dressings, marinades, and your next baked goods project. Simply blend the flesh of a pineapple, strain, and place in your fridge for easy inclusion in your drink and food recipes. The refreshing, cold ingredient will be well worth the time you put into making it, and your tiki cocktails will be that much more lively.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.