Fog Cutter

A Tiki classic with a little less flourish than would be expected, the Fog Cutter has plenty of booze. This cocktail is usually credited to either Trader Vic or Donn Beach, but its creation is up for debate.

Like a lot of Tiki drinks, this cocktail calls for a variety of ingredients but, once you have them lined up, isn't terribly difficult to make. Other than the Orgeat (which you can easily make at home), there's nothing too difficult to source, so it's a great introduction to the Tiki style.

Since the Fog Cutter has plenty of liquid, we like to serve this drink in a nice big Tiki style glass. If you don't have silly Tiki glasses at home, that's fine. A nice tall glass or a Collins glass works well too.

But watch out, this drink is strong. As they say about the Fog Cutter: "Fog Cutter, hell. After two of these, you won't even see the stuff."

Total Time 5

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

45 mL White Rum
15 mL Gin
15 mL Brandy
60 mL Orange Juice
30 mL Lemon Juice
15 mL Almond Syrup or Orgeat*
15 mL Sherry
Garnish with sprig of mint

Instructions

Put Rum, Gin, Brandy, Orange Juice, Lemon Juice, and Orgeat into a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice. Shake everything until cold.
Strain into a tall glass with ice. If you have fun Tiki glasses, even better!
Float the Sherry on the top of the drink by pouring it slowly over the top of a bar spoon. You shouldn't be aiming to mix the Sherry and the rest of the cocktail, you want it on top of the drink.
Garnish, enjoy.

Notes

*Although you can buy Orgeat, it's pretty easy to make. Orgeat recipe here.

Make sure all juices are fresh and all spirits are of high quality for drinks like this. It's a great cocktail, don't diminish it with poor ingredients.

The Fog Cutter was traditionally served in a ceramic mug at Trader Vic's bars but, as mentioned, anything will work, especially if it's a Tiki style glass. Personally, we prefer a glass because then you can see the Sherry as a separate element to the drink. It's fun!

As emphasised, the Fog Cutter is a pretty strong drink so approach this cocktail with caution. The large amount of alcohol is easily hidden behind the fruit juices and the Orgeat, so it's possible to drink this drink a little fast. There are variations of this recipe that cut down on the booze somewhat, which may be a good idea if you're having a few of these.

Our Review of the Fog Cutter

Rum, gin, and brandy? Plus tons of fruit juice? And throw in some sherry for good measure? The Fog Cutter sounds fun!

There is just so much going on in this cocktail, it’s hard not to like it. The juice makes it a bit sour, the orgeat sweetens it up a little bit, and there are more than a few flavours from the three different kinds of spirits being used. If you don’t like one of the flavours, don’t worry, you’ll find something else to concentrate on.

My biggest question with the Fog Cutter is how it was ever invented, but I supposed that’s the same with a lot of Tiki cocktails. There’s just so much going on and such a unique flavour, you wonder how many iterations and experiments Trader Vic or Donn Beach had to make. It’s really a cocktail that’s made by someone who really knew their stuff.

Personally, I like making cocktails, and I like drinking cocktails. I like to think that I make a pretty good cocktail, but I’m not much of a cocktail inventor. This is why I’m also impressed with a cocktail recipe that uses plenty of different ingredients and manages to be amazing.

So, obviously from this review so far, it’s probably clear that I think you should try this cocktail. I’m assuming you have plenty of different spirits on hand and used our cocktail generator to see what cocktail you could make. So welcome to a recipe that is guaranteed to be fun!

If drinking a whole one of these on your own is too much for you, that completely makes sense. There is a lot of alcohol in it (but honestly, not that much more than a lot of other cocktails). So feel free to invite a friend over and split a Fog Cutter. There’s nothing wrong with that! Cocktails are fun and they taste great, but ultimately you need to enjoy them responsibly.

And perhaps that is something negative I can say about the Fog Cutter: it feels very boozy but at the same time the booze is well hidden. I know it may be odd to complain about a cocktail with alcohol in it, but we’re not necessarily drinking to get drunk here. We’re drinking to have something that tastes great and maybe relax a little bit. But that’s hardly a complaint. It’s just me searching for something negative to say about an otherwise wonderful cocktail.

9.5/10

Review by Ziggy

And there’s even more cocktail recipes for you to enjoy

Take a look at some of the links below, we have a few more cocktail recipes for you to go through. All sorted by category:

Top 10 Gin cocktail recipes: if you’re enjoying the Gin aspect of this cocktail recipe, maybe you want to try a few other cocktails with Gin!

Top 10 Rum cocktail recipes: whether it’s White Rum or another kind of Rum, we’ve created a list of the Rum cocktail recipes we like the best. Hopefully you like them to.

All White Rum cocktail recipes: or if it’s just White Rum, why not browse the cocktail recipes we have that are made with white Rum?

All Tiki cocktail recipes: finally, if it’s just Tiki cocktails you’re after, we have a secion of the site with all the Tiki cocktail recipes we have.