Clinton Cawood documents the beginnings of the tropical classic that is the Mai Tai.
Out of this world – the best…” was the verdict of the first person to ever taste a Mai Tai, although they said it in Tahitian, “mai tai-roa aé”, inadvertently naming this most famous of tiki classics in the process.
On encountering a good example – there are many out there that aren’t – that seems a fair appraisal, with rum, lime juice, curaçao, orgeat and rock candy syrup working together in tropical harmony, deftly showcasing the base spirit.
That’s the combination that Victor Jules Bergeron, or Trader Vic, reportedly came up with one night at his Oakland bar in 1944, handing it to a pair of guests visiting from Tahiti.
The rum, in case you’re wondering, was a 17-year-old expression from J Wray & Nephew, later labelled Trader Vic’s Personal Selection. It has since been discontinued, although it was recently recreated in very limited quantities as Appleton Estate 17 Year Old Legend. In case you didn’t get your hands on any, Bergeron offers an alternative in Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide – equal parts dark Jamaica rum and Martinique rum.
In that same volume he quite emphatically defends his claim on this classic, but others have taken credit over the years, Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt, or Donn Beach, among them.
In 1970, Bergeron issued a press release entitled Let’s Set the Record Straight on the Mai Tai, that’s available online and well worth reading – not least the bit where he says that competing claims “aggravates my ulcer completely”.
Bergeron names Harry Owens as another claiming credit, although by most accounts Owens, or Mister Hawaii, merely played a part in recreating the cocktail at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel Surf Bar. His version bears a resemblance to the original, but includes falernum and a float of dark 101 rum. A fine drink, if not necessarily the best.