You might readily assume from its makeup that this is from the Tiki cocktail scene, but the Army and Navy, essentially a Gin Fizz but with Orgeat replacing the sugar syrup, likely came from the Army and Navy officers’ club in Washington after an inter-forces football match, or so legend has it.
Popularised by Trader Vic’s, the Fog Cutter, or, as they call it, the Samoan Fog Cutter, was, like Mai Tais, likely created by Donn Beach of Don the Beachcomber Fame in the 1930s.It is not a drink for the faint-hearted.
Once, oddly, a signature drink at Tiki bar Trader Vic’s in the 1940s, the original method floats the butter on top, giving a smooth mouthfeel but, unfortunately, a greasy top lip to the drinker. Not a good look.
The classic Tiki cocktail, Mai Tai is all about rum. Bartenders have their favourite bespoke blends, up to 4 different rums, but whatever you use it has to be the good stuff and it should be Jamaican.
The story goes that Donn Beach spontaneously created it as a hangover cure for one of his regulars heading for an important meeting. Asked a few days later if it had worked the gent replied: “I felt like the living dead, it made a zombie out of me.”