recipe: Fog Cutter a.k.a. Samoan Fog Cutter

i've been trying to mix a good fog cutter to replicate the ones we have gotten at Trader Vic's and the Honolulu. The recipes from both Grog Log and from David Chan of the Honolulu were nearly identical ~ but my results have always been much less sweet and full. have any of you had this experience? I wonder if there is a bartender's orange juice that is sweeter and stronger than grocery store orange juice? also, are the sherry and the brandy critical? i just got low-shelf stuff... mahalo,

to reiterate tha recipe, itz:

Fog Cutter (David Chan recipe)
2 oz sour lemon
1 oz orange juice
1 oz light rum
1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz brandy
1 oz orgeat syrup
3/4 oz sweet sherry wine floated on top (you can add a dash simple sugar syrup to it to sweeten it up, to taste)

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar on 2004-06-02 06:36 ]

Hey J$, In my experience most of the bars down here in Florida mainly use freshly squeezed juices. I know when I go to the Mai Kai they do as well. Brandy and Sherry are not really high caliber liquors to start with, so I don't think that is the problem. Try freshly squeezed oj and see if that makes a diff. Hope that helps.

From taking notes as I watched Mr. Chan make them, this is what I jotted down:
David Chan Fog Cutter, my best guess Honululu Restaurant
2 Lemon Juice
1 OJ
1 Light Rum (Aristocrat Brand)
1/2 Gin
1/2 brandy
1 Orgeat Syrup
Add Ice and Shake
Sherry (float on top)
i.e. try using more orgeat to sweeten it a little. Also, Mr. Chan used reconstituted bottled lemon juice (such as ReaLemon)which could be quite a bit different from fresh juice. Although I never saw a particular brand of OJ, I suspect that given the inexpensive nature of most of his known ingrediets that he used a store brand or even canned.

Sorry, forgot to add that I also saw him use Ronrico brand rum.

thanks will!
j$

hey will, as of 1 june i tried your suggestion for the 1 oz orgeat, and i added a little simple syrup to the sherry to make it nice and sweet. it was perfect, pretty much the same as the honolulu version! thanks for the suggestions.

[ Edited by: Johnny Dollar on 2004-06-02 06:35 ]