Mai tai

From Citizendium
Revision as of 00:10, 26 June 2007 by imported>Hayford Peirce (added link, I hope, to the two oldest TV recipes)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Mai tais at the Halekulani Hotel in Honolulu

The Mai Tai is a well-known rum-based cocktail most probably created by Victor J. Bergeron at his Trader Vic's 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 in Hollywood, which later became a famous restaurant.[1] Trader Vic's recipe is far less complicated than that of the Beachcomber and tastes quite different. [2]

"Maita'i" is the Tahitian word for "good." The spelling of the drink, however, makes it into two words. [3]

The Trader Vic story of its impomptu invention is that Bergeron created it one afternoon for some friends who were visiting from Tahiti. One of them tasted it and exclaimed, "Maita'i roa!", a common Tahitian phrase that means, literally, "good very!" and, figuratively, "Terrific!" or "Out of this world!"[4]

Mai Tais have become the iconic drink of the Hawiian tourist business and there are today many recipes for it. At the Trader Vic's restaurant chain, which has remained in uninterrupted business since the 1930s, three different recipes for Mai Tais have been used over the years, with today's drink apparently being less sweet than the original."[5] One of the main differences between any of the Trader's recipes and that of Don the Beachcomber is that the former uses orgeat, an almond-flavored syrup, while the latter uses falernum, a syrup from the Caribbean with a very different ginger and lime flavor. The recipes from almost all other sources specify orgeat.

Mai Tais should not be confused with Maotai, or Moutai, which is a well-known Chinese liquor.

References

  1. Hawaii Tropic Rum Drinks & Cuisine by Don the Beachcomber, by Arnold Bitner and Phoebe Beach, Mutual Publishing, Honolulu, 2001, page 31-33
  2. Hawaii Tropic Rum Drinks & Cuisine by Don the Beachcomber, by Arnold Bitner and Phoebe Beach, Mutual Publishing, Honolulu, 2001, page 30
  3. http://www.webster.com/dictionary/maitai
  4. http://tradervics.com/maitaistory-0.html — Trader Vic's story of its invention
  5. The two oldest versions can be found here: http://www.kevdo.com/maitai/ find the highlighted link to Mai Tai Recipes and click on it.

Sources

Hawaii Tropic Rum Drinks & Cuisine by Don the Beachcomber, by Arnold Bitner and Phoebe Beach, Mutual Publishing, Honolulu, 2001

External links