Light rum, brandy and gin stack into a deceptively smooth base over lemon, orange and almond-sweet orgeat, shaken bright and tart and poured over a heap of crushed ice. A float of sherry crowns the mug and drifts down with each sip, threading nutty, raisined depth through the citrus as the drink goes on.
Garnish: Mint Sprig
Shaken · Tiki Mug · Crushed
add
Combine the white rum, brandy, gin, lemon juice, orange juice, and orgeat in a shaker with ice.
shake
Shake well until chilled.
strain
Strain into a Fog Cutter (or tiki) mug filled with fresh crushed ice.
top
Float the Oloroso sherry gently over the top.
garnish
Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.
The Fog Cutter is most often credited to Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron and his Oakland, California restaurant during the 1940s, but rival stories place its birth at Edna Fogcutter's or at Don the Beachcomber's, and there is no broad agreement on who truly made it first. Bergeron put the recipe in his 1947 Bartender's Guide and kept it unchanged when the book was revised in 1972, while the Trader Vic's menus cautioned guests to "positively" stop at two. A Samoan Fog Cutter variation also exists, and the original is counted among the drinks that define tiki.