What is in a Mai Tai?
The Mai tai is a well-known alcoholic cocktail purportedly invented at the Trader Vic restaurant in Oakland, California in 1944. Trader Vic’s amicable rival, Don the Beachcomber, claimed to have created it first in 1933 at his own newly opened little bar (later a famous restaurant) in Hollywood. The Beachcomber’s recipe is far more complicated than that of the Trader’s and tastes quite different. “Maitai” is the Tahitian word for “good.” An Internet search for references coupled with the word “rum” shows 40,600 hits for “Maitai” and 38,400 hits for “Mai Tai”, so correct usage for this drink can apparently be either one word or two. The Trader Vic story of its invention is that the Trader (Victor J. Bergeron) created it one afternoon for some friends who were visiting from Tahiti. One of them tasted it and cried out: “Maitai roa!” (“Very good!”) Hence the name. The first three of the following Maitai recipes are provided by Trader Vic’s to The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai website. Re
