The Mai Tai started as a rum cocktail so popular it supposedly depleted world rum supplies in the 1940s and ’50s. In 1944, when the cocktail was invented by Victor J. Bergeron — better known as Trader Vic — it wasn’t a sugar bomb. It was a simple drink created to showcase the pungent flavor of a 17-year-old J. Wray and Nephew Jamaican rum: Bergeron highlighted the golden, medium-bodied rum with just a touch of lime, orgeat, orange curaçao, and simple syrup. According to legend, after shaking the concoction with ice and presenting the cocktail to some of his visiting Tahitian friends, they ended up liking it so much one of them exclaimed, “Maita’i roa a’e,” which translates to “out of this world! The best!” Bergeron christened his new cocktail “Mai Tai,” as in “the best.”
Mai Tai | Tiki Mug |
Shaken |