Vintage American Cocktails

The History Of The Scorpion Cocktail.

The original scorpion was not a bowl or an individual cocktail but a punch from Victor Bergeron’s First book from 1947 and was a punch made for 12. The original scorpion recipe was 1.5 bottles of rum, 2 oz gin, 2 oz brandy, 1 pint of lemon juice, 1/2 a pint of orange juice, 1/2 a pint worth of orgeat, 1/2 a bottle of white wine, and two sprigs of mint. Those are odd proportions like Trader Vic added the gin and mint as a joke. That original scorpion punch is also in the 1972 edition, but the updated edition included his more popular versions of the scorpion.

Trader Vic heavily modified the recipe over the years and, in his 1972 edition, added the scorpion bowl and a single scorpion cocktail. The recipe here is the single-serve version and, in my opinion, the best version of the drink. But I will say those flaming scorpion bowls are a ton of fun. Oddly enough, the scorpion bowl, which is made to serve 3, is not just 3x the ingredients of the single-serve one. The ingredients are the same, but the volumes are different.

What Does The Scorpion Taste Like?

The scorpion was Trader Vic’s third most popular cocktail, and while I think this is the best version of the drink, it’s not a top-tier tiki cocktail in my book. It’s just kind of juice and booze. Again that is a personal opinion, and taste is subjective. It’s good but not outstanding. I envision juice, booze, and spice when I think tiki, but this cocktail lacks spice. The orgeat adds a nice nuttiness to the drink, but the white rum, orange juice, and lemon juice are the most prominent flavors. And if it’s going to be heavy on the juice, let it be exotic juices like pomegranate, passion fruit, pineapple, papaya, etc., not just orange and lemon. This is a tiki drink I would have loved when I first started drinking tiki drinks, but a decade and a half in, this comes off bland to me.

Recipe Resources

• 1972 Trader Vics Bartender’s Guide – Bergeron

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