Rum

Samoan Fog Cutter

Name: Samoan Fog Cutter
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Collins

Trader Vic's three-spirit citrus sour with sweet sherry float, the Samoan variant of the Fog Cutter, distinguished by reduced rum and brandy.

rum gin brandy tiki mid-century shaken orgeat

Ingredients

fresh lemon juice (2 oz)
fresh orange juice (1 oz)
orgeat syrup (0.5 oz)
light Puerto Rican rum (1.5 oz)
gin (0.5 oz)
brandy (0.5 oz)
shaved ice (1 scoop)
sweet sherry (0.25 oz)
mint sprig (1)

The Samoan Fog Cutter appears in Bergeron's 1972 Bartender's Guide, Revised (p. 178) as a variant of the standard Fog Cutter (rank #10). The documented distinction is REDUCED rum and brandy amounts, not a different float, both the standard and the Samoan use a sweet sherry float. Vic 1972 calls for: ½ oz orgeat, 2 oz lemon juice, 1 oz orange juice, ½ oz gin, ½ oz brandy, 1½ oz light Puerto Rican rum, ¼ oz sweet sherry float (blended with shaved ice, poured into fog cutter mug, sherry floated on top).¹^,² The spec below follows the 1972 Vic build.³

Brand recommendations. Best: Probitas or Plantation 3 Stars for the light Puerto Rican, Pierre Ferrand 1840 cognac for the brandy, Plymouth or Tanqueray for the gin, Small Hand Foods orgeat, Lustau East India Solera or a dry oloroso for the sweet sherry float. Economical: Bacardi Superior or Don Q Cristal for the rum, Paul Masson VS or E&J VSOP for the brandy, Beefeater for the gin, BG Reynolds orgeat, supermarket sweet sherry.

Instructions

In a shaker or blender combine fresh lemon juice, fresh orange juice, orgeat syrup, light Puerto Rican rum, gin, and brandy with shaved ice.
Blend or shake briefly.
Pour into a tall fog cutter mug or chimney; add fresh ice cubes.
Float sweet sherry on top.
Garnish with a mint sprig and a stirrer.

Sources

Bergeron, Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide, Revised (1972), p. 178, Vic's published Samoan Fog Cutter spec: reduced rum (1½ oz vs. the standard's 2 oz) and reduced brandy (½ oz vs. the standard's 1 oz), with the same sweet sherry float as the standard Fog Cutter. ↩
Cate & Cate, Smuggler's Cove (2016), Fog Cutter entry (p. 275), discusses the Samoan variant within the Fog Cutter entry; corroborates the sweet sherry float (not a 151 Demerara float, which is a separate modern reconstruction not attested in Vic 1972 or Smuggler's Cove). ↩
"Fog Cutter." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_Cutter (accessed 2026-05-03), secondary corroboration of the sweet sherry float convention for both standard and Samoan variants. ↩