Calling this drink a Fog Cutter is a grand misnomer. Much better thought of as a fog maker. In Grog Log, Beachbum Berry has a great quote from Trader Vic that sums up his creation nicely. “Fog Cutter, hell. After two of these, you won’t even see the stuff.” To give you a hint of why this is the case let’s take a peek at the recipe to get us going.
Fog Cutter (Grog Log)
2 oz Lemon Juice 1 oz Orange Juice 1/2 oz Orgeat 2 oz Light Rum 1 oz Brandy 1/2 oz Gin 1/2 oz Sweet Sherry
1) Combine the ingredients (except sherry) in a shaker 2) Shake with ice until well chilled 3) Pour into a tiki mug 4) Float sherry on top
If you take a look you’ll notice that there are 3 1/2 oz of hard alcohol in this drink, 4 oz if you include the sherry. See what I mean when I say fog maker? After a couple of these and the fog settles in deep and wonderful.
When I first mixed this drink my first comment was that this is another tart but delicious cocktail. The sourness from the lemon was a little overwhelming. After a little thought it occurred to me that maybe it wasn’t the recipe but rather my ingredients. It would seem that my lemon juice this go-round is tarter than usual. This is a nice segue into a good point I should make. It’s always a good plan to give you cocktails a small taste before you shake and serve them. This will give you an idea of whether your is mixed correctly. For example perhaps your lemon juice is too tart.
To really give this drink the review it deserves I mixed up another with only 1 1/2 oz of lemon juice. The resulting cocktail is much more balanced. So, now that you know the drink is ~1/2 hard alcohol, on tasting it you’d never guess. The sherry really only comes through in the scent, which explains why the recipe calls for it to be a float. I don’t notice the gin in this drink but I used Junipero which isn’t a particularly strongly flavored example of the spirit. The brandy and rum meld nicely to make a harmonious core flavor with the citrus and the orgeat adding a subtle background flavor.
This is a great drink. Whether you choose to mix it to cut your fog or perhaps deepen it a bit I’m certain you’ll be quite pleased with the results.
[Note] There are some other cool pictures from this cocktail. I even got to play with dry ice. Check them out on Flickr.