A tiki sour built for the long afternoon: light rum and a backbone of brandy stretched over orange and lemon juice, with orgeat lending a creamy almond sweetness that rounds the citrus edge. Flash-blended with shaved ice and crowned with mint, it arrives frosty and bright, and drinks gentler than it pours.
Garnish: Mint Sprig
Blended · Coupe · Crushed
blend
Combine the white rum, brandy, orange juice, lemon juice, and orgeat in a blender with a scoop of crushed (shaved) ice.
blend
Flash-blend just until frothy and chilled — a few seconds, not a slush.
strain
Pour into a chilled coupe (traditionally a grapefruit-supreme glass), adding a little fresh ice if needed.
garnish
Float a sprig of fresh mint (a gardenia in Trader Vic's original presentation).
Some point to a 1930s Hawaiian drink made with Okolehao moonshine as a loose ancestor, but the rum-and-brandy Scorpion belongs to Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron, who worked it out at his Oakland bar in the 1940s. His 1947 recipe presented it as a shared punch for the bowl, with gin and fresh mint in the mix, and a 1972 revision scaled it down to a single serving. Bergeron counted it among his signature drinks, ranking it just behind the Mai Tai and the Fog Cutter.