Four white spirits and blue curaçao in one tall glass sounds like a dare, and the name does nothing to calm that impression. Made with fresh lemon and measured with care, though, the AMF is a bright, citrusy highball that tastes far gentler than it is.
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Taste3
Balance2.6
Easy to make3.8
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Pour in vodka, gin, rum, tequila, blue curaçao, lemon juice and syrup.
Stir briefly with a bar spoon to mix and chill.
Top with lemon-lime soda and give one gentle lift with the spoon.
Garnish with a lemon wheel and a cherry.
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Watch it made
Adios Motherf*cker (AMF)
Taste
Sweet-tart lemon and bitter orange from the curaçao over a clean spirit base, with a light fizz. It hides its strength well: treat it as a double.
History and origin
The AMF belongs to the family of drinks built on the Long Island Iced Tea template: equal small measures of several white spirits, citrus and sugar, and a soda top. Where the Long Island uses triple sec and cola, the AMF swaps in blue curaçao and lemon-lime soda, which gives it its unmistakable swimming-pool colour.
No reliable source documents who first mixed it or where. It appears to have spread through American bars and college parties in the 1980s and 1990s, and its blunt name, often softened to "AMF" or "Adios Mother", is part of the joke: the drink is notoriously easy to underestimate. Many bars still make it with bottled sour mix, but fresh lemon juice and simple syrup make a clearly better drink.
Bartender tips
Keep each spirit at 15 ml. Larger pours are common in bars, but they make the drink harsh and much too strong.
Taste before topping: if it is too tart, add 5 ml syrup; if too sweet, a squeeze more lemon.
For a cleaner blue, use a clear lemon-lime soda and a curaçao without added green or yellow tones.
