This is a drink of the ’80’s. A time period which doesn’t have a stellar reputation for producing anything of real style or substance. Hot pink lycra, oversized shoulder pads and big hair certainly, but I think most of the cool, classy stuff belongs to a few decades earlier.
But it just so happens that I was a big fan of the fuzzy navel back in the day and in a recent moment of nostalgia, decided to mix one up.
Turns out there are some things that can be brought back and enjoyed all over again. The fuzzy navel is fruity and tropical and oh-so-easy to make. Half peach schnapps, half orange juice. That’s it.
The fuzzy comes from the fuzz of the peach and navel from the navel orange (not from the body part). Throw in some vodka and you’ve got yourself a drink with a bit more heft and the moniker Hairy Navel.
Generally it’s served over ice in a tall glass. I’m not a huge fan of drinks on ice so I decided to elevate the elegance factor by shaking in a cocktail shaker and serving it in a coupe. And my favourite adulteration is the tiniest drizzle of cream. Tropical deliciousness.
And while we’re on the subject of fuzzy things, might I recommend the movie Hot Fuzz on Netflix for your weekend entertainment. A highly decorated London police officer is banished to the countryside by the Met because he’s so good at his job that he’s making everybody look bad. He finds himself in the sleepy, idyllic village of Sandford, where a rash of gruesome deaths—a man decapitated by a falling church spire, a florist who seemingly falls on her garden shears—are written off by the town as nothing more than freak accidents. But our hero, Nicholas Angel, will have none of it and begins asking a few pointed questions and discovers some very dark secrets lurking behind white picket fences. This is a hilarious, deadpan send-up of action movies, which ends with a bang. It’s stuffed with familiar faces and is gloriously over-the-top…and no lycra or big hair in sight.
