Mai Tai (Trader Vic's)

Review:

A Mai Tai is basically a Daiquiri based on aged rum, with orange curaçao liqueur and orgeat syrup contributing to its flavour and sweetness. Trader Vic's Mai Tai is the undisputed king of Tiki cocktails and one of the most enduring of all vintage cocktails. However, like most classics, there's controversy over its origin, while poor renditions have sadly tarnished its reputation.

Variant:

Mai Tai (Difford's)
Mai Tai (Beaumont-Gantt's)
Tia Mia
Bitter Mai Tai
Well-oiled Mai Tai

History:

In 1934, Victor Jules Bergeron, or Trader Vic as he became known, opened his first restaurant in Oakland, California. He served Polynesian food with a mix of Chinese, French and American dishes cooked in wood-fired ovens. But he is best known for the rum-based cocktails he created, particularly for the Mai Tai.

The story goes that one evening in 1944, he tested a new cocktail on two friends from Tahiti, Ham and Carrie Guild. After the first sip, Carrie is said to have exclaimed, "mai tai-roa aé", which in Tahitian means 'out of this world - the best!'. Thus, Bergeron created and named the Mai Tai cocktail.

Others, particularly Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt, then owner of a Hollywood bar called Don the Beachcomber's, have also laid claim to the creation of this drink. But as Vic says in his Bartender's Guide, "Anybody who says I didn't create this drink is a dirty stinker." Indeed, due to the controversy surrounding the origin, he says rather more in his 1972 Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide Revised Edition:

There has been a lot of conversation over the beginning of the Mai Tai. And I want to get the record straight. I originated the Mai Tai.

Many others have claimed credit. Some claim it was originated in Tahiti. All this aggravates my ulcer completely. The drink was never introduced by me into Tahiti except informally through our good friends, Estham and Carrie Guild.

In 1944, after success with several exotic rum drinks, I felt a new drink was needed. I thought about all the really successful drinks: martinis, Manhattans, daiquiris... all basically simple drinks.

I was at the service bar in my Oakland restaurant. I took down a bottle of seventeen-year-old rum. It was J. Wray Nephew from Jamaica - surprisingly golden in colour, medium bodied, but with the rich pungent flavour particular to the Jamaican blends. The flavour of this great rum wasn't meant to be overpowered with heavy additions of fruit juices and flavorings. I took a fresh lime, added some orange curaçao from Holland, a dash of rock candy syrup, and a dollop of French orgeat for its subtle almond flavour. I added a generous amount of shaved ice and shook it vigorously by hand to produce the marriage I was after. Half the lime shell went into each drink for colour; and I stuck in a branch of fresh mint. I gave the first two of them to Ham and Carrie Guild, friends of Tahiti, who were there that night.

Carrie took one sip and said, "Mai Tai-Roa Aé." In Tahitian this means "Out of this world - the best." Well that was that. I named the drink "Mai Tai".

The drink enjoyed great acceptance over the next few years in California, and in Seattle when we opened Trader Vic's there in 1948.

In 1953, I took the Mai Tai to the Hawaiian Islands when I went down for the Matson Steamship Lines - to formalize drinks for the bars of their Royal Hawaiian, Moana, and Surfrider hotels. Any old Kamaaina can tell you about this drink and of its rapid spread throughout the islands.

In 1954, we further introduced the Mai Tai when we included it among other new drinks in a bar service for the American President Lines.

Now it is estimated that they serve several thousand Mai Tais daily in Honolulu alone; and we sell many more than that daily in our twenty Trader Vic's restaurants throughout the world.

Anybody who says I didn't create this drink is a dirty stinker.

Victor Bergeron, Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide (Revised Edition), 1972

Vic's original Mai Tai was based on 17-year-old Jamaican J. Wray & Nephew rum, which in his book he describes as being "surprisingly golden in colour, medium-bodied, but with the rich, pungent flavour particular to the Jamaican blends". Vic's recipe calls for "rock candy" syrup, an old term for the rich sugar syrup I prescribe: two parts sugar to one part water. The term 'rock candy' refers to the fact that you can dangle a piece of string in the syrup to encourage crystallisation and make rock candy.

Mai Tai (Trader Vic's original)
2 ounces seventeen-year-old J. Wray & Nephew Jamaica rum
½ ounce Holland deKuyper orange curacao
½ ounce French Garier orgeat
¼ ounce rock candy syrup
Juice of 1 lime
Hand-shake and then garnish with half of the lime shell inside the drink and float a sprig of fresh mint at the edge of the drink. The drink should be chilled nicely with a considerable amount of shaved ice in a 15-ounce glass

Victor Bergeron, Trader Vic's Rum Cookery & Drinkery, 1974

Nutrition:

One serving of Mai Tai (Trader Vic's) contains 279 calories