National Mai Tai Day

When: June 30

The Mai Tai is one of the great cocktails in American history — invented by Trader Vic in 1944, corrupted by decades of bad bar programs, and now being properly revived. The original recipe has four ingredients and is built entirely on the quality of the rum.

The tiki cocktail that survived the whole tiki revival — and the one worth understanding if you want to understand rum.

The tiki cocktail that survived the whole tiki revival — and the one worth understanding if you want to understand rum.

In 1944, Victor Bergeron — "Trader Vic" — had a bottle of 17-year-old J. Wray & Nephew rum from Jamaica that he wanted to showcase. He mixed it with fresh lime juice, a splash of orange curaçao, and a small amount of orgeat — the almond syrup that was his secret weapon for softening rum's edges without sweetening it into meaninglessness. He shook it over ice and served it to two Tahitian friends visiting his Oakland restaurant. One of them tasted it, paused, and said: "Mai Tai — Roa Ae." Out of this world. The best. The rival claim belongs to Donn Beach, who opened his Don the Beachcomber tiki bar in Hollywood in 1934 and made drinks he called the "Mai Tai" before 1944. The dispute between Beach and Bergeron was genuine and was never settled — both men went to their graves claiming credit. What cocktail historians generally agree: the specific recipe that became the cultural standard, the one taught in bartending schools and reprinted in every tiki reference book, is Bergeron's. The...