Tell you the truth it's not the pain that gets me in tattoos it's the unability to sit completely still for extended periods of time. A couple beers before I think is tenfold better than any painkillers, although Stewart used something on my leg that pretty much worked like magic in removing the pain completely on my leg.
I also have gotten tattooed on this stuff my doctor gave me for migraines called Barbitual (not for the tattoo, just had a migraine). Side-effect is you sit like a fuckin rock.