In my defense, I was left unsupervised. A few years ago I found myself with some time off. My wife still had to work and in what seemed an unprecedented surprise, but in hindsight was a blatant attempt to get me out of the house so I wouldn’t bother her all day, she suggested I take the 4 hour drive down to Atlanta for an overnight visit to Trader Vic’s. I’ve spoken some before on this first Trader Vic’s experience so I’ll just give my main takeaway; This is what a Tiki bar is supposed to be. Bamboo, nautical and Polynesian themes, glass floats and pufferfish hanging behind the bar and a circuitous dining room. Masks, Tikis, and exotic weapons lined the Kapa’a covered walls leading to a glass atrium featuring tropical plants and totems. It also featured one of Vic’s signature drinks. A drink that helped to solidify his unequivocal position as an equal to Donn Beach.  

Vic may’ve been the later comer to Tiki but so many of his creations have become indelible staples in the genre. Two of which being his use of custom ceramic mugs and the idea of blending not only different rums in one drink, but entirely different spirits. Though this technique was used before by Joe Scialom, specifically in his Suffering Bastard, later imitated by Vic himself. But, let’s not breeze over the custom mug thing. This in itself has become a cottage industry among collectors and entrepreneurs. I myself have fallen victim to the allure of a custom display mug or pop-culture property. Shout out to the baby Yoda mug.  In fact, buying-selling-collecting-and cataloging Tiki mugs is a subset of the genre almost tantamount to the drinks that fill them. Go to any Tiki convention or meet-up. The market-bizzare and symposiums are almost passable as actual interest in the genre and not just spurious attempts to justify a 3-day rum bender. 

Back to Trader Vic’s and a starry eyed Tiki podcaster asking the bartender way too many questions about the drink menu, recipes, and history. I ordered the Mai Tai from the menu. Then, the bartender made me another version from scratch. That is, not using the trademark Trader Vic Mai Tai Mix. I then tried some kind of punch the name of which is lost to the gods, but of which I do recall came in a Marqueses mug. 

After making my way to the dinner table and ordering my rangoons and fried rice I was anxious to try a Tiki classic I had never experienced. It would have been at this point that my wife may’ve said something to the effect of, “maybe you shouldn’t slam four Tiki drinks in quick succession like that?” 

I should’ve known by the sheer size of the vessel. Perhaps in my excitement I failed to process the ingredient list. I read it. I knew of the drink, even. Yet, I couldn't help but swig this delectable libation down like it was a cold beer after mowing the lawn. For this was the final drink of my stay of which afterwards I can recall only vague dream visions of what transpired. I have flash of meeting the GM and talking to him about Pod Tiki. I purchased a signature Mai Tai glass and they threw in a bunch of swizzle sticks and promo swag. I do recall the rice being quite good, and holding the prodigious hand crafted mug in my hand admiring the artwork. Then I was upstairs, face down in my hotel bed. 

It seems I should’ve heeded Vic’s warning when he stated, “Fog Cutter, hell. After two of these you won’t even see the stuff.”

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tony, and this is Pod Tiki. Today we return to as vintage as vintage Tiki gets with the infamous Fog Cutter. 

Trader Vic and Don The Beachcomber get lumped together in so many ways, and well deservedly. The two men, however acrimonious their relationship, created most of the inexorable iconography that make up the foundation of Tiki. Ask any casual imbiber to describe what they think of as Tiki and chances are they will touch on at least a few standard imageries. Donn and Vic engaged in an exotic cold war of sorts, constantly volleying claims of who invented what first. Luckily for us, this resulted in a one-upmanship battle that rendered such things as the communal Tiki bowl created by Vic. No doubt modeled after the Polynesian tradition of the Kava Bowl.  

However, as talented and protean as Vic was in his recipes, he also favored, as most of the best artists do in any medium, the idea of changing one or two ingredients and calling it something brand new. Case in point, the aforementioned Suffering Bastard. Vic’s version was nothing at all resembling Joe Scialom’s famous drink which used a base of gin, Cognac, and ginger beer. Nope, Vic’s was simply a mai tai with an extra shot of overproof rum. 

Following this rationale leads us to the origin of the Fog Cutter. Vic based most of his concoctions off the daiquiri as opposed to Donn’s use of the punch method, but not to be outdone Vic propagated a few prolific punches of his own. One of these was the Tiki Bowl. Light Puerto Rican rum, dark Jamaican rum, cognac, orange and lemon juices, and orgeat syrup. If we replace the Jamaican rum with a second shot of Puerto Rican we have another of Vic’s most famous Tiki drinks - The Scorpion. Now, if we wanna get crazy, add a ½ oz of gin and a cream sherry float and we have the Samoan Fog Cutter. 

But, wait! What’s this Samoan you speak of, Tony? Well, in the early days, circa WW-II, Vic apparently was trying to get people fucked up. I guess he figured folks needed something strong to numb the cultural PTSD. On a much milder scale remember the (pun intended) fog we all had to ease out of post pandemic. Or, maybe the Fog Cutter was Vic’s attempt to compete with Donn’s high-gravity Zombie. This original version of the Fog Cutter lacked the complexity and acute balance of the Zombie. This was never going to do for Vic, who was a perfectionist priding himself on a culinary approach to cocktailing. So, sometime in the 1950’s he reimagined his recipe into the Samoan Fog Cutter, a more refined and frankly, better drink. Still a pretty deep in the bottle drink Vic mellowed it out by reducing the alcohol by a full ounce and blending it with crushed ice rather than shaking. Don’t be fooled by this, though. Boasting three ounces of booze the Samoan Fog Cutter still lives up to doing the exact opposite of its name. I can attest. For somewhere between Trader Vic’s restaurant, the elevator ride, and my hotel bed, a fog descended upon me the likes of which could only be attributed to the Tiki gods. The ancestors were guiding me to safety. 

So, what is this strange imbibement that induces such quixotic clemency? Well, let’s make a drink and find out! 

Let’s knock out the easy stuff. Vic opted for lemon juice as the sour here. A dichotomy to Donn’s almost exclusive use of lime. This may seem strange at first considering Vic’s education in the daiquiri from Cuban masters such as Constante Ribaluaga Vert. However, lemon is commonly used in place of lime in drinks containing gin, or brandy. Both of which are found causing mischief in the Fog. Lemon works well to brighten things up and accent the botanical notes of gin. It also unexpectedly works well to compliment the rich fruity notes of brandy. Think, Sidecar. We’ll also need some orange juice. I beg you, unless you’re making brunch drinks, don’t use orange juice from a bottle. Please just squeeze it. A simple analog metal juicer works wonderfully, or simply squeeze by hand. Think of it like one of those stress relief balls everyone’s parents had in the car in the eighties. Maybe not all parents had one and my sister and I were just extra stressful. 

For sweet Vic reached for Orgeat. Made famous in modern times by its use in the Mai Tai, orgeat syrup is another ingredient introduced by Vic that Donn never used hitherto. Orgeat is a syrup made with almonds, sugar, rose water, and orange blossom water. Originally it was made with barley, which is how we get the word. Hordeaceus, latin for ‘with barley’, was turned into orge, the French word for barley. As a cocktail anecdote, the Spanish also had a barley based spirit known as orxata, which turned into Horchata. Although, neither one longer contains bartley orgeat and horchata have nothing in common outside of their milky appearance. 

Now, let’s jump into the booze. The biggest quantity of spirit will be light Puerto Rican rum. Anyone who’s listened to this show for any amount of time knows I have opinions on light Puerto Rican rum. Mainly, that they get a bad rap for being popular. But, guess what? You might want to sit down. Bacardi is a really good expression of light Spanish style rum. So is Don Q, although I think the only reason people claim it’s better is to disparage Bacardi. That style of rum was invented to be light and fruity in order to appeal to the rising U.S. tourism to pre-Castro Cuba. It gained popularity because it’s easy to drink and quite palatable to all patrons. Much like American lager. And, like American lager cut through the haze of over-hopped craft beer we’re now seeing lighter offerings cutting through the fog of over-hyped designer rums. Don’t misconstrue, I love all kinds of rum. My intention is only to stop the overlooking of Puerto Rican rum. There are great light rums from Jamaica, Barbados, and Martinique, as well as many other regions, but Puerto Rican rum is specifically utilized for its crisp fruity flavor. I can definitely see how it would be a shoe-in to compliment brandy and gin. 

Next we’ll need some of that brandy and gin. Vic doesn’t specify style or brand of gin so, keeping with what is generally used in Tiki, I assumed he would have used a London Dry. I feel the rich botanicals necessary to cut through the, umm… fog, of the other ingredients. Any of the lighter gins, albeit good for sipping or Martinis, would just be extra alcohol with little to no flavor enhancement. 

Similarly, there’s no distinction in brandy. The only clue we have to what Vic may’ve used is that he didn’t call for Cognac or any specific brand. Which leads me to believe any generic brandy will do. Of course, for the sake of our future selves we don’t want to go too bottom shelf. Something in the middle that you wouldn’t mind sipping on later is perfect. 

The last spirit ingredient is Cream Sherry. To understand cream sherry we need a little education on fermentation. Sherry is a fortified wine, that is wine with brandy added post fermentation, a process called oxidative aging. As oxygen hits the surface of the spirit it reacts with the elements creating the unique flavor compounds. During this process of air hitting the liquid a thin layer of yeast forms on the surface. This is called ‘flor’. 

As no Tiki recipe is complete without at least a little controversy, it comes here in the form of dry Oloroso vs cream sherry. A lot of other Fog Cutter recipes do prefer oloroso due to its nutty fruity nature. But, as cream sherry is made with a blend of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez, relying heavily on the Oloroso, I find the controversy a bit trite. Vic does specifically ask for cream sherry in the Fog Cutter, while he doesn’t for other ingredients, and I can see how the sweetness works. 

Because, Oloroso gets more grape spirit during fermentation, preventing flor and exposing the surface to more oxygen. This aids in giving it that unique ‘cream’ texture, which it does have. It doesn’t have any actual lactose, so it’s not silky like a milk punch, more like a cream soda flavor. It definitely lives up to its name with vanilla and cream strong on the nose. It keeps a long finish which hangs on the back of the palate like white cake with icing. 

Now that we have everything, the Samoan Fog Cutter recipe:

2 oz Lemon Juice

1 oz Orange Juice

½ oz Orgeat

½ oz Brandy

½ oz Gin

1 ½ oz Light Puerto Rican Rum

½ oz Cream Sherry (float) 

8 oz Crushed Ice

Blend everything except sherry for 10 seconds, open pour into Fog Cutter mug, add ice to fill, float cream sherry on top, garnish with mint and swizzle sticks. Before we jump into tasting it stands to say that, with the exception of specifying cream sherry and light rum, Trader Vic purposely left this recipe vague. Unlike Donn Beach, who went to great lengths to obfuscate his recipe’s, Vic openly published books on his. In this case it seems he wanted, perhaps, for the Fog Cutter to be a style of drink rather than a set recipe. Bartenders in various parts of the world were encouraged to improvise with local spirits. Martin Cate, famously of Smuggler’s Cove, uses Pisco in place of rum in his version. If you’re curious about mine, I used Bacardi rum, Sapphire gin, Raynal French brandy, and Wisdom & Warter Delicate Cream Sherry. My only adjustment would be to go as little light on the sherry, maybe even down to ¼ oz, or it tends to overpower as the drink goes on. 

On my initial sip I got fruity, very bright, with a smoky sweetness. Not cloying sweet, actually very well balanced. That actually surprised me. With all the spirits I was expecting something more like Tiki’s answer to Long Island Iced Tea, instead we got Vic’s response to Donn’s Zombie, albeit more tropical than exotic. There’s a sense of botanicals from the gin blending nicely with the almond orgeat as well as the rich body of brandy. Given the amount of juice it’s really not that sour. It actually needs it to compete with all the alcohol. As the cream sherry descends the drink changes. It took me a while to put my finger on the right flavor profile rendered by creamy-vanilla-nutty sherry mixing with fruity rum, but I think I got it. It’s kind of weird, but when I mentioned a smokiness earlier It’s because the flavor of the second half of a Fog Cutter is redolent of pipe tobacco. 

It’s really quite brilliant the way the drink evolves from tropical punch into elegant notes of fragrant tobacco and island spiced dark fruit. 

It also adds to the experience to have a true Fog Cutter mug. The Fog Cutter is a tall, hourglass shaped mug featuring a scene molded around the outside. Over the years the scene on the mug changed, mine has bikini girls, palm trees, a gentleman with a pipe, and a woman straddling a barrel for some reason. I believe it’s from the 90’s. They are available presently at TraderVics.com, but I found mine on ebay. Even if you don’t like the Fog Cutter the mug is one of those requisites for any home tiki bar or collection. It’s really a decorative piece. 

I really like this drink. I liked it when I had it at Trader Vic’s and I like my version here. But, of course, I wouldn’t be doing my job as a cocktail researcher if I didn’t at least try the original Fog Cutter….

Right off the bat I can tell it’s not as balanced of a cocktail. The extra half ounce of brandy goes unnoticed, and the extra half ounce of rum only dilutes the other flavors. It’s still quite bright if not a bit too sour, so it’s nice when the sherry kicks in. However, the sherry is not as creamy and rich. Again, I believe it becomes diluted in the extra ounce of liquid. It’s amazing how such minute variations in measurement can alter a cocktail so much. This is not me nerding out about an incremental difference. No, one extra ounce of liquid drastically changes the profile of this drink. I can see why Vic adjusted the recipe. The gratuitous alcohol doesn’t add anything to the flavor profile and probably is a detriment. If someone gets too drunk off one drink they probably either won’t order another, or may even become what I’ve been accused of becoming when I drink too much, “loud and obnoxious.”  I can attest first hand to its fog inducing qualities. 

The cool thing about the Fog Cutter is that it’s a classic first generation Tiki drink that can be made with basic ingredients in most bars. With the exception of orgeat there’s no exotic, hard to find liqueurs or syrups. All in all the Fog Cutter is exactly what you want in Tiki. A balanced, boozy drink that will leave you boozy and off balance. And definitely in the fog. 

Sources: wineenthusiast.com article What Is Cream Sherry? 9 Bottles to Try by Sofia Perez, liquor.com, Potions of the Caribbean and Beachbum Berry Remixed both by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry. 

Most of all thanks for listening. My name is Tony, and this has been Pod Tiki. Keepi Tiki!