Fog Cutter

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FOG CUTTER.  Read that out loud.  Just the name alone takes me to a dark and foggy night on a ship on the open sea with no land in sight.  There are many tiki cocktail names that have similar connotations: Painkiller, Navy Grogg, Dark and Stormy- but none are as complex.  The Fog Cutter is a classic cocktail from Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron and is a unique drink that uses not only rum but also gin, brandy, and sherry! A little background on Trader Vic and his sometimes arch enemy Don the Beachcomber:

Don opened the first American tiki bar just after Prohibition ended.  Vic Bergeron visited the bar and was so inspired that he revamped his own bar in Oakland and purchased over $8,000 worth of Polynesian artifacts from Donn to decorate it.  Vic recreated many of Donn’s drinks but the recipes were not easily parted with, so Vic used them as a base and tweaked them to his own taste. An example is Donn’s “Q.B. Cooler which became Vic’s world famous Mai Tai. Vic also loved the use of lemon in drinks, which is in contrast to Donn Beach, who preferred lime. The Samoan Fog Cutter, however, was Vic’s original creation, written about in the iconic 1947 Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide. At Trader Vic’s, this vintage drink was limited to two per person.  In fact, in his Bartender’s Guide, he was quoted as saying “Fog cutter, hell. After two of these you won’t even see the stuff.”  Martin Cate, owner of Forbidden Island in Alameda, California, has his own version and has even registered the name on his car license plate, FGCUTTR.  This cocktail is a perfect example of the importance of measuring- given the use of rum, gin, brandy, AND sherry.  When made correctly all 4 spirits should be present, and the citrus combined with the orgeat adds the classic tropical, complex layers of flavor you expect in this style of drink.  There are many variations of this classic, because all of us in the mixing business  take an original recipe and change a few ingredients to make it our own.  I personally prefer the Trader Vic version but have included a couple of others that are also delicious.  

Samoan Fog Cutter from Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide

  • ½ oz. Orgeat Syrup
  • 2 oz. Lemon Juice
  • 1 oz. Orange Juice
  • ½ oz. Dry Gin 
  • ½ oz. Brandy
  • 1 ½ oz. Light Puerto Rican Rum
  • ¼ oz. Dry Sherry
  • Mint, for garnish

Blend all ingredients except sherry in blender with one scoop of shave ice. Pour into mug.  Add ice cubes and float sherry. Decorate with mint and swizzle.

Lost Lake Chicago’s  Fog Cutter Recipe

  • 1 oz. Gin
  • 1 oz. Aged Rum (Lost Lake uses El Dorado 3 Year)
  • 1 oz. Cognac
  • 2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
  • 1 oz. Orgeat
  • ½ oz. Sherry (Lost Lake uses Lustau East India)
  • ½ oz. Curaçao (Lost Lake uses Pierre Ferrand Dry)
  • ½ oz. Simple Syrup 
  • 1 dash Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin with crushed ice and shake hard.  Strain into tiki mug with more crushed ice, garnish with all things tiki-- flowers, mint, umbrellas.  

Difford’s Guide Fog Cutter Recipe

  • 1½ oz. Bacardi Carta Blanca Superior White Rum
  • ¾ oz. Cognac
  • ½ oz. Rutte Dry Gin
  • 1½ oz. Fresh Orange Juice
  • ½ oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
  • ½ oz. Giffard Orgeat Syrup
  • ½ oz. Amontillado Sherry

Shake first 6 ingredients with ice, pour into tiki mug or glass, fill with fresh ice and float sherry on top.